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[Titchou]

Yes, I am still clutching my metaphorical pearls. And I'll tell you why. First, I don't know where most of the folks here went to school. And unless you have your GLO in your screen name, I probably don't know which one you belong to. I really don't bother keeping a chart of all that. So this is not directed at any of that.

I've been a regional or national officer with my GLO since 1980. I also served as an interim Greek Adviser at a small public commuter school with only 4 NPC chapters. I went to BIG SEC school. During my time as a regional and national officer, I worked with all sizes of chapters, chapters with alll levels of success, traveled for the Fraternity from New York to Florida to California to Oregon...and many places in between. I learned a lot about regional and campus differences. My goodness, some places didn't even have housing! How could they exist like that? We had some successes and we had some failures. And I learned a lot. So here's what I know:

RFM is the single best thing to come along since sliced bread. Seriously. Some of the campuses I worked with would have benefited soooo much from RFM. But the limits placed by the old method just didn't allow WRCs many options to succeed. Yes, it was hard always being the one chapter doing COB. Yes, you had to be creative to handle all the rushees at a party when you were smaller. Yes, you needed help from other chapters and maybe even a few alums on the floor but CPH often wouldn't allow you that latitude. Yes, it was hard to pay for that house when you were so far below total. True your national didn't help as much as you hoped. Yes, you were blind sided when the chapter closed. Yes, yes, yes to all of your complaints. Because mine closed too...and was gone for 32 years. So I know exactly how it feels.

But that is ancient history. And it isn't doing anyone any good to come here and spew your venom, complain about things that are decades past and talk as if it's common place now. It isn't. RFM has truly helped the WRCs increase their numbers. I can site many instances but I don't want to call out any specific groups or campuses. But they are all around. As for the numbers on the floor recruiting like at Clemson, that is not the only place that happens. It's very common, ladies. I've seen it many times. Often it's the Fire Marshall who controls the numbers allowed in the suite. That was the case at Auburn. And it helped the smaller chapters a lot because it wasn't obvious they had fewer members as the total number allowed was limited. Pretty much all you have to do these days is ask CPH for help and they'll give it. Some places, not so much it's true. But NPC and the I/NPs have forged an alliance and they are really working for the good of all.

Pardon a couple of shout outs here: 3 cheers for AST for pulling up stakes in Birmingham and moving to Indy where they have more options to co-op programs with the other GLOs who have their HQs there. It's helping them immensely to be able to do that. And to the TPA on here, one of your most revered alums is a good friend of mine and I'm not so sure she would agree with your point of view. She's on a different campus at least once a week or more and i know she must have been at no less than 4 Conventions this summer. She's coming to a place near you. GO see her. She's awesome!

[ladybug12]

Great post Titchou! I agree that RFM is the best! Some of my favorite visits in recents years have been to WRCs that had successful recruitments and pledged quota due to RFM leveling the playing field.

My collegiate experience is the polar opposite of yours...went to small public university with 3 NPC groups...but my 25 years of area and national officer service sounds very much like yours.

[AGDee]

I agree that RFM has been a smashing success for campuses that use it. I also think that changing Total to average chapter size right after recruitment will go a long way toward taking the stigma away from COR.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I agree that RFM has been a smashing success for campuses that use it. I also think that changing Total to average chapter size right after recruitment will go a long way toward taking the stigma away from COR.

^^This. If RFM had been around earlier, my alma mater might not have lost three of the four chapters it lost in the mid-1990s.

[DubaiSis]

Changing total yearly seems to really freak people out, but it really is the last piece of the puzzle to making RFM work correctly. After an initial scary huge change, it should really only be a few women off each year.

[Titchou]

Keep in mind, it doesn't have to be average chapter size. While that's the preferred number, NPC allows other options. Alabama is going to average chapter size minus 5%.

[Phigirl04]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Changing total yearly seems to really freak people out, but it really is the last piece of the puzzle to making RFM work correctly. After an initial scary huge change, it should really only be a few women off each year.

This times 100! I think that change is scary (remember when RFM first started) but is necessary to keep sorority life healthy. I'm interested to see long term what impact this has on the number of chapters that close yearly from low numbers.

[als463]

Originally Posted by TarheelMom

I've never posted before, but I have a question that hopefully won't show my ignorance about Rush! (I wasn't in a sorority, but my oldest daughter is rushing at UNC now). One of the houses she visited last night must have had a smaller number of members, because several girls from a different college (same sorority) were there helping out. My daughter had a great conversation with the girl she was paired with, but her tee-shirt was a different than a lot of the other sisters. My daughter asked why, and she said she goes to a different university. Is this often done? I understand when a sorority is just starting out at a campus they pull in members from neighboring colleges to help with Rush. But this house has evidently been at UNC for over 20 years. My daughter said she loved the girl she talked to, but she felt like she would have rather met someone that was actually a UNC student. She doesn't really know what to think about this house since she didn't really have a conversation with a member. (She talked to two girls and both were from the other college) Is this a red flag? Hopefully I haven't offended anyone!

Regardless of what the chapter did during recruitment, I wish your daughter the best of luck and hope that she keeps an open mind. Attending UNC Chapel Hill is a great honor and to be Greek at such a great school is even more impressive.

[LAblondeGPhi]

I don't know if it was my post that sparked the RFM is good discussion - I in no way meant to imply that RFM was bad, and I'm a huge fan of RFM, like most folks here. I only meant to explain the some of the disparity in party sizes and ability for smaller chapters to handle all the PNMs that they host throughout recruitment.

Originally Posted by clemsongirl

At Clemson we are only allowed to have as many sisters as the smallest chapter can provide on the floor for the first round, in order to even the playing field somewhat. I actually didn't even attend recruitment one of the nights because my bump group wasn't on the floor for that night. I don't think this extends past first round, but it's better than nothing.

I also know that we normally only hold three Preference parties when there are four time slots, which I believe gives smaller chapters the chance to hold four parties if they want to or need to.

That's amazingly Panhellenic of your Greek system! Unfortunately, I've seen systems that basically ignore the needs of the small chapter(s) on campus out of laziness and/or indifference.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

I don't know if it was my post that sparked the RFM is good discussion - I in no way meant to imply that RFM was bad, and I'm a huge fan of RFM, like most folks here.

I think your statement "one of the cruelest twists of RFM" would indicate that you have several serious issues with RFM. But then again, I only know what you wrote.

[DubaiSis]

Originally Posted by Titchou

Keep in mind, it doesn't have to be average chapter size. While that's the preferred number, NPC allows other options. Alabama is going to average chapter size minus 5%.

This seems like an excellent choice for such large chapters.

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by Titchou

I think your statement "one of the cruelest twists of RFM" would indicate that you have several serious issues with RFM. But then again, I only know what you wrote.

Ah - in my head, I was thinking more "ironic twist". I fixed it.

[luv n tpa]

Originally Posted by Titchou

And to the TPA on here, one of your most revered alums is a good friend of mine and I'm not so sure she would agree with your point of view. She's on a different campus at least once a week or more and i know she must have been at no less than 4 Conventions this summer. She's coming to a place near you. GO see her. She's awesome!

I didn't provide a personal point of view. I elaborated on how it was dealt with on my campus at the time. If she doesn't agree, not my problem.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by Titchou

But that is ancient history. And it isn't doing anyone any good to come here and spew your venom, complain about things that are decades past and talk as if it's common place now. It isn't. RFM has truly helped the WRCs increase their numbers. I can site many instances but I don't want to call out any specific groups or campuses.

I agree that RFM has helped a significant number of chapters over the years, but there are still WRCs that, despite RFM, are light years away from being equal (in terms of numbers) to other chapters on that campus.

I noticed on Irishpipes' recruitment thread just last week a campus that has several sororities, all but one of which got 20+ new members while the historically WRC on that campus got less than ten. While it may not be commonplace, this situation is still very real and current. It isn't ancient history, and the complaints about the "value" of a bid offered during COB versus bids offered during formal recruitment are legitimate and not simply spewed venom.

If NPC truly wants to provide a level playing field - which I assume was part of the decision to adopt RFM - providing an "out" for women who were offered bids during COB seems to blatantly diminish the value of those bids. Now, I don't want to speak for 33, but I imagine that chapter/situation mentioned above is precisely the type of chapter/situation 33 was talking about. It may not happen on every campus, but it definitely still happens.

[Titchou]

So your answer is to penalize women who accept a COB bid because a few campuses still have not reached parity? There are always going to be places where a chapter struggles. That's just a fact of life. And it isn't always the fault of RFM or recruitment issues per se. Some chapters need to go. Some schools need to decide if they really want Greeks or not. But RFM has done more to level the playing field than anything in the past.