University of Texas Recruitment 2014

[micky80]

I am a frequent lurker but rarely post. But this post about UT recruitment and the "dance party" got my attention. I live in Austin and have heard about the dance party for years. I have a few friends who were in the chapter that hosts the dance party. One friend in particular is appalled by it, and while she looks back fondly on her time in XYZ, she was turned off many times by the exclusivity of her sorority. She wished that they had ventured outside their comfort zone of only rushing girls from certain camps/high schools/etc. She was involved in many other student organizations and met people from schools all over Texas and the rest of the nation, and she said these were the experiences that really helped her see the world in a different way. Had she just surrounded herself with the same types of girls she went to camp/high school with, her world view would have been much more limited.

When I went through rush at UCSB many years ago, we definitely had a lot of girls from certain high schools who got bids because they had friends in the house. But many of the girls we pledged were out of staters or people from small towns in California who we fell in love with during rush - people who none knew. But they became amazing sisters.

Ultimately, you can't make a sorority change its ways. I just feel they're doing a disservice to themselves by not being more open minded. And I'm personally offended by the way they publicly let all the PNMs know who is desired and who isn't. It makes a joke out of the recruitment process.

[PinkSkyAtNight]

This "dance party" thing is really disgusting. I read about it yesterday, and I am having a hard time understanding why UT Panhellenic continues to allow them to participate in recruitment or why their nationals haven't stepped in and put their foot down. It is embarassing for for all greeks. Are people too afraid to stand up and do what is right?

How do you think their founders would feel in they attended recruitment at this chapter?

[APhiLife]

Buzz is that UT Rush was brutal this year. I live in the Plano area and I have heard about several girls from this area who were dropped (or quit after their "dream house" didn't invite them back). These were quality girls- but as others have stated, almost all girls going through UT Recruitment are polished, quality girls with connections.
Somone posted on a local Mom's board that girls from Plano did better at Alabama rush than at UT this year. I heard 15 girls with Plano as their hometown received bids at Bama last week.
It does seem strange to me that UT has such a small Greek system as I went to a big school in the MidWest where Greek Row stretched on for blocks.

[PNMDAD]

Originally Posted by PinkSkyAtNight

This "dance party" thing is really disgusting. I read about it yesterday, and I am having a hard time understanding why UT Panhellenic continues to allow them to participate in recruitment or why their nationals haven't stepped in and put their foot down. It is embarassing for for all greeks. Are people too afraid to stand up and do what is right?

I agree wholeheartedly

Originally Posted by thetalady

I sure wish PNMs could refuse to allow themselves to be treated like that, too!

Maybe their behavior is starting to haunt them. No girl from my daughter's school pledged the offending house.

Originally Posted by sassafrass11

PNMDAD, I hope your daughter had a successful recruitment. I hope she has a house. would you share her final home?

Thanks for your concern. Luckily, she got the house she had been aiming toward for the last 6 months.

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by PNMDAD

Luckily, she got the house she had been aiming toward for the last 6 months.

SO glad to hear that your daughter pledged a house that she liked from the beginning. Congratulations to her!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by PinkSkyAtNight

This "dance party" thing is really disgusting. I read about it yesterday, and I am having a hard time understanding why UT Panhellenic continues to allow them to participate in recruitment or why their nationals haven't stepped in and put their foot down. It is embarassing for for all greeks. Are people too afraid to stand up and do what is right?

As pinapple mentioned, Panhellenic does fine them and they keep right on doing it. To disallow them from participating in formal rush would just open a really big can of worms regarding ritual and membership selection. I was thinking why don't they just do rush on their own, and then said to myself duhhhhh, because they are at or over total and wouldn't be able to take quota. Right? (paging gatordeltapgh)

[PinkSkyAtNight]

Originally Posted by 33girl

As pinapple mentioned, Panhellenic does fine them and they keep right on doing it. To disallow them from participating in formal rush would just open a really big can of worms regarding ritual and membership selection. I was thinking why don't they just do rush on their own, and then said to myself duhhhhh, because they are at or over total and wouldn't be able to take quota. Right? (paging gatordeltapgh)

I'm not disagreeing with anything you wrote, but how would it infringe on ritual and membership selection to disallow them to have their dance parties... or else? I'm not suggesting that can't have their private decisions remain private, but what they do IN FRONT of a PNM and how they engage with her can be regulated by Panhellenic. Where in the recruitment booklet does it say that at some houses some of you will be required to get up and dance? Do PNMs know and expect this coming in? This just seems like they are throwing a giant middle finger to the recruitment process as a whole. There are plenty of chapters with outstanding return rates that aren't behaving in such a manner, I guess I wonder why they feel the need to belittle everyone else they aren't pursuing? Do they think it adds to their aura of exclusiveness?

[txhorn]

I'm not sure of which house you had left that you would not be interested in joining, and don't need to know, but this is just a reminder that some of the houses do COB. If you might be interested in that, let UPC know as soon as you're ready (best sooner than later). The chapters doing COB can get lists from UPC of interested girls.

[PNMDAD]

One final thought from me and I'll crawl back in my hole.
This dance party thing really threw me for a loop. I am older than most Dads at UT, and it has been a while since I've been actively involved in the Greek system. As I mentioned earlier, I was our schools IFC president after being president of my fraternity. In that time long ago and place far away, there was truly a communal spirit among the greek houses. There were issues of course, but if there was censuring to be done or behavior to be modified, we banded together to encourage civility for the betterment of the entire greek system. The "dance party" of this house and the forces that allow it to continue are the antithesis of the teaching of the greek concepts of brotherhood and sisterhood as well as gaciousness to all to whom you come in contact. Especially those who you invite to enter your house. I hope that these concepts are not out of date.

I will say I see a spark of it the advice and encouragement several of you have given to Texasdancer. Thank you for that

[AZTheta]

Frankly I am tired of the dogpile and the cannibalizing. I suggest that those of you who are so inclined spread the word among future PNMs to just stand stock still if the music starts and people are flailing around. OR, they could all clap their hands over their ears, with a horrified expression, eyes bugged out, and drop to the ground en masse, clutching their chests. OR they can imitate Donald Sutherland in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 1978 remake). That would be my move, personally. Scares me to death when I see him stretch out his arm, point, and emit that horrifying screech. Gah!

OK?

[PinkSkyAtNight]

Yep, she wrote disallow them from participating in rush. That is exactly what I'm suggesting. How does that infringe on ritual if they've been warned, fined and told not to do something? Sounds like fining them is pretty much ineffective at this point and people are content with them allowing them to be bullies.

[33girl]

Because when Panhellenic starts saying "you may not do x, y, or z during a rush party" they do not know what groups may have in their policies or in their rituals (for some groups, pref party is standardized and part of ritual). When you start prohibiting behaviors, it's a very slippery slope.

Panhellenic is doing all they can and should do.

[DubaiSis]

Considering a middle aged woman in Leawood Kansas who has never had any connection with UT knows which chapter and how this works, I can't imagine a Texas rushee doesn't know. But just in case, I think if I were part of an alumnae panhellenic in Texas, I would counsel rushees that it is real and give them some coping techniques. Clearly neither the national or the college panhellenic have any power over the situation so dealing with it at the rushee level is the next best option.

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Here's the language from the Manual of Information (aka Green Book) on sanctions:

5. Sanctions
A. Appropriate Sanctions. Each College Panhellenic shall strive to achieve a fair and reasonable
resolution for infractions. Sanctions should fit the nature and degree of the offense.
• Monetary fines shall be acceptable only for a measurable offense of the Panhellenic’s
governing documents or stated membership recruitment rules.
• The amounts of monetary fines shall be predetermined by a vote of the College Panhellenic
Council and stated in the Panhellenic standing rules and/or membership recruitment rules
prior to the beginning of recruitment.
• Examples of reasons for monetary fines may be limited to the following:
o Late recruitment event invitation lists
o Recruitment events that exceed designated event times
o Prohibited postings on social media outlets
o Required chapter attendance at Panhellenic-sponsored events
Sanctions shall not:
• Forbid formal or informal recruitment activities or the observance of an inter/national
fraternity event such as an educational program, ritual ceremony or historical celebration.
• Affect a fraternity chapter’s quota or total.
• Affect the time of new member acceptance and/or initiation.
• Forbid the right of an NPC fraternity to vote in College Panhellenic meetings.
• Include removal from the College Panhellenic.

It seems to me that the CPC doesn't have the authority to restrict a chapter's participation in formal recruitment as a punishment.

[PinkSkyAtNight]

Originally Posted by AZ-AlphaXi

Here's the language from the Manual of Information (aka Green Book) on sanctions:

5. Sanctions
A. Appropriate Sanctions. Each College Panhellenic shall strive to achieve a fair and reasonable
resolution for infractions. Sanctions should fit the nature and degree of the offense.
• Monetary fines shall be acceptable only for a measurable offense of the Panhellenic’s
governing documents or stated membership recruitment rules.
• The amounts of monetary fines shall be predetermined by a vote of the College Panhellenic
Council and stated in the Panhellenic standing rules and/or membership recruitment rules
prior to the beginning of recruitment.
• Examples of reasons for monetary fines may be limited to the following:
o Late recruitment event invitation lists
o Recruitment events that exceed designated event times
o Prohibited postings on social media outlets
o Required chapter attendance at Panhellenic-sponsored events
Sanctions shall not:
• Forbid formal or informal recruitment activities or the observance of an inter/national
fraternity event such as an educational program, ritual ceremony or historical celebration.
• Affect a fraternity chapter’s quota or total.
• Affect the time of new member acceptance and/or initiation.
• Forbid the right of an NPC fraternity to vote in College Panhellenic meetings.
• Include removal from the College Panhellenic.

It seems to me that the CPC doesn't have the authority to restrict a chapter's participation in formal recruitment as a punishment.

Thank you for clarifying.

It is sad that a national organization has allowed this practice to continue. It shouldn't take a PR event to put a stop to this kind of behavior.