A VERY Retro Recruitment!

[1964Alum]

The next round was two parties each night for two nights. Each party lasted about two hours, so there was more time to get to know members of the sororities. For the first night I went to Cleopatra and Bianca.

Cleopatra's party was held at the ranch of one of the alums, a pretty posh place. I don't remember much about it other than getting into a car with several of the actives and making general chit-chat with them as we drove out to the ranch. There were skits in this round, and I must say that the skit was very clever. They had written a short poem for each of the rushees there, and mine was very complimentary. As were all the others. All of them made reference to our LOOKS! But given that they were always at the bottom with their GPA, I had to wonder if they had hired a ghost writer! I met and chatted with a good many of the actives, but the subjects were more along the lines of cocktail party chatter. I didn't feel any connection with any of them, and I doubted that they did with me.

The second and final party for that day was with Bianca, which had been rushing me very strongly and which I had liked all along. I don't remember the theme of their skit but did enjoy the opportunity to get to know several of their members better. Elizabeth once again greeted me and showed me around. Conversation flowed, but it was slowly dawning on me that my strongest connection to them was with the very sweet and gracious Elizabeth who had been my primary rusher from the beginning, starting the previous spring. I also started looking around to see which other rushees were attending the second round of parties and recognized several familiar and compatible faces at the Bianca party. Not so at the Cleopatra party. In fact there, there was one girl from my dorm who regularly came in drunk and looking like she had been ridden hard and put up wet! And they seemed to be crazy about her.

The next evening it was on to Beatrice for my first party. I finally got some one on one time with several of their actives and had very substantial conversations. Oh, dear. They were slipping into occupying Bianca's place in the great scheme of things in my mind. Their skit was cute, but I won't say much about it as describing it would reveal their identity to many here. They incorporated each rushee individually by name into their skit. I didn't particularly care for that as it put each of us literally into the spotlight, which I figured was for the benefit of the actives to take a close look at each of us. But it also gave us a good opportunity to look at the other girls attending their party. Again, I saw several familiar faces and ones I appreciated seeing. I left feeling the connection with them but not the warmth of Bianca. I wondered if perhaps they were looking too much at resumes. Or just that I didn't know them as well as yet. Or that we really didn't connect on a personal, friendship level.

My final party of the evening and also the skit round was Portia. I had decided to wear my new empire-waist dress to parties that night and had received many compliments on it. I didn't see that silhouette on anyone else at either party. The skit was a very clever circus theme, light-hearted and fun. Rushees and actives mixed and mingled the rest of the evening. I liked that the actives were introducing rushees to each other as well! I saw many more familiar faces, including two of the girls already pinned I had seen the first day as well as girls I had seen at other parties. One thing that emerged more clearly to me was how individualistic the members of Portia were. There were beauty queens, but not all were beauty queens. Lots of elected members of student government as well as many other organizations on campus., including honoraries and elected officers. Those among the less physically attractive had very compelling personalities and were campus leaders. Several others were members of a selective service club and yet others were members of Angel Flight, which was a big deal at that time. There was also a very wide cross-section of majors, including several having mine. I was feeling more and more that this was IT for me! I strongly felt that each member had been selected for her unique qualities,something I was looking for in a sisterhood.

Then at the very end of the party, the president, an officer of the forum for women I was to be a "Candlelighter" for, and one of the varsity cheerleaders came over to talk with me. Two of them complimented my dress, which did stand out in a sea of shirtwaists and wrap skirts. I also wore my great grandmother's gold cuff bracelet for luck. But then the president said, "Yes, I like your dress, but aren't you afraid that people will think you are pregnant?" The other two actives went white and my jaw must have hit the floor! The other two immediately jumped in to chide her, but I honestly didn't know what to make of it. You must remember that back in that day no "nice" girl would do the deed no matter how tempted or how committed she and her boyfriend were to each other. There were no coed dorms, no men allowed in the dorms past the front desk, and a young lady could be expelled from school if caught in a man's apartment. I was really mortified that anyone would even hint that I might be pregnant and especially a Portia and the president no less! They all left me standing there alone for a few minutes. What was I to think of that? And what were my prospects? The rush chairman went out of her way to walk me out when the party was over which reassured me a bit but not entirely.

[tinydancer]

Wow! Talk about an awkward moment.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by 1964Alum

Then at the very end of the party, the president, an officer of the forum for women I was to be a "Candlelighter" for, and one of the varsity cheerleaders came over to talk with me. Two of them complimented my dress, which did stand out in a sea of shirtwaists and wrap skirts. I also wore my great grandmother's gold cuff bracelet for luck. But then the president said, "Yes, I like your dress, but aren't you afraid that people will think you are pregnant?" The other two actives went white and my jaw must have hit the floor! The other two immediately jumped in to chide her, but I honestly didn't know what to make of it. You must remember that back in that day no "nice" girl would do the deed no matter how tempted or how committed she and her boyfriend were to each other. There were no coed dorms, no men allowed in the dorms past the front desk, and a young lady could be expelled from school if caught in a man's apartment. I was really mortified that anyone would even hint that I might be pregnant and especially a Portia and the president no less! They all left me standing there alone for a few minutes. What was I to think of that? And what were my prospects? The rush chairman went out of her way to walk me out when the party was over which reassured me a bit but not entirely.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

LOL! Some people have no filter between their brain and their mouth. Every thought comes straight out of their mouth. (I married one of them.)

There was probably a lot of desperate hissing going on between the actives -- "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT? WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW? SHE'S GOING TO HATE US AND WE REALLY WANTED HER! WHAT IF SHE TELLS OTHER RUSHEES THE AWFUL THING YOU SAID TO HER? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WE SHOULD JUST LEAVE YOU IN THE KITCHEN, BUT WE CAN'T BECAUSE YOU ARE PRESIDENT."

[TriDeltaSallie]

Just wow. I can't imagine it being said today, but back then? Yikes.