Why are recs absolutely necessary at some schools, while not expected at others?

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Do you mean submitted to the school's Panhel or submitted to the sorority's HQ?

To the school's Panhellenic -- just like recruitment registration. When my dd registered for recruitment, some of this information was requested, though limited in scope. Just looking around at various sites – I see SMU’s page lists info for PNMs to include (and instructs to upload a photo as well):
https://smu.mycampusdirector.com/register/

Back in the bad ol’ days, the only way a chapter would have these details on a girl might be from a recommendation of an alum who knew her well. If this is no longer (potentially) necessary, then the only purpose remaining would be the check in the box recommending the PNM for membership (which as someone mentioned earlier in the thread -- might be from the PNM’s mom’s dentist’s wife’s aunt or something). And does this result in a “better” pledge class at Big Southern U than at Northern State where this step is not customary?

Alums could still recommend a PNM for membership -- as far as I know, there is nothing to prevent an alum from sending a letter of support for any PNM she is passionate about (whether the PNM requests a rec or not). This would require a lot less paper to manage on everyone’s part – and it might help confine the letters to PNMs who the alum actually knows well.

And similarly, if so inclined, alums can track and ***warn*** chapters of Jezebels and felons -- I don’t really see any need to complete a rec form for that:

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Really and truly, those ***warning*** recs are more valuable than the ones for the (presumably) "good" girls.

Please alumnae...if you know something, alert the chapter! Don't assume that if there's no rec, they won't pledge that candidate!

Personally, I just wouldn’t feel right about agreeing to write recs for PNMs I then threw under the rush bus, unless there was a very compelling reason to do so. I guess girls should remember that when an alum offers or agrees to write them a recommendation, it may not be because the alum plans to write a positive recommendation.