Yet to be Themed Re-recruitment Story

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Hartofsec

An aside – in the younger days of the internet, logging into one’s member account of the national org site was usually required to view/obtain rec forms. Now, just about chapter’s form is available and viewable to anyone on the internet. I’m not sure why some alum groups and chapters upload these to the internet – or why the various national orgs don’t contact them and ask that these be removed from public view.

Pre-internet, ours were printed in our national magazine (which obviously isn't secret). What did other groups do? Did you have to request the forms from HQ or an alumnae chapter?

As far as trust your sisters, that DEFINITELY depends on the sister sometimes. Just because I dig you to the moon and back, doesn't mean you don't have ATROCIOUS judgment.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Pre-internet, ours were printed in our national magazine (which obviously isn't secret). What did other groups do?

Yes, so were ours. Not secret, but only members received the magazine.

Originally Posted by 33girl

Did you have to request the forms from HQ or an alumnae chapter?

Only if you couldn't find your magazine. Or couldn't remember your log-in info once these were available on the internet (if your org's site required a member account to access forms).

Originally Posted by AZTheta

No advantage or need to keep them "removed from public view". No harm in transparency - why shouldn't the PNM know what questions the form contains?

Perhaps a good point -- I guess it depends on the org -- some must consider (or did consider) limiting access to members only through verified member accounts.

I suppose there exists some potential for fraud with printable paper copies on the internet, unless someone verifies with nationals that the signature and contact info on the rec is actually a member, as well as a member in good standing. If a national org doesn't notice that the same alum or two write most of the recs for an entire pledge class just before bids are distributed (referencing the back room alums writing recs en masse mentioned earlier in the thread), then I would be surprised if they check the cred of every alum on every rec that winds up at HQ.

In the vein of transparency -- is there a list of NPC orgs that require a rec to pledge a new member? Which orgs require this and which do not?

[Sister Havana]

Originally Posted by Hartofsec

I suppose there exists some potential for fraud with printable paper copies on the internet, unless someone verifies with nationals that the signature and contact info on the rec is actually a member, as well as a member in good standing. If a national org doesn't notice that the same alum or two write most of the recs for an entire pledge class just before bids are distributed (referencing the back room alums writing recs en masse mentioned earlier in the thread), then I would be surprised if they check the cred of every alum on every rec that winds up at HQ.

Didn't somebody (Carnation?) post about a perp offering to write recs for PNMs a while ago?

[carnation]

Yeah, a relative by marriage.

I think it started out with her telling her kids she pledged AB back in the day. Then the story went around town (not sure if this was due to her, her kids, or both) and suddenly she had rewritten history and she was an AB. Since she left her college that had Greeks to transfer to a non-Greek college after 1 semester, there was no way she had been initiated into AB, as you had to make grades back then. Also, she told me when I first moved here that she wasn't Greek.

People still think she's Greek. When they mention her being an AB, I just tell them she was never Greek. I won't cover for her any more. The last thing a girl at a competitive school needs is somebody offering to write a rec who can't --and she goes in without one.

[AOIILisa]

Originally Posted by Hartofsec

In the vein of transparency -- is there a list of NPC orgs that require a rec to pledge a new member? Which orgs require this and which do not?

I know AOII does not require a rec to pledge a new member because I was recruitment adviser last year at St. Joe's in Philly - we submitted the bid list and not one single rec did I see or write. If something is happening above me at IHQ or regionally, I don't know about it, although as recruitment adviser I would assume someone would have let me know.

Our new recruitment adviser is from Vandy and was just asking the recruitment chair and me how many recs they got last year - the recruitment chair said she had never seen one. They are not a thing in the Northeast unless your org requires everyone to have a rec to get a bid and then it's not well known that this is a requirement except by the people in charge of recruitment or HQ. That's what I'm taking away from this thread, anyway.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by AOIILisa

I know AOII does not require a rec to pledge a new member because I was recruitment adviser last year at St. Joe's in Philly - we submitted the bid list and not one single rec did I see or write. If something is happening above me at IHQ or regionally, I don't know about it, although as recruitment adviser I would assume someone would have let me know.

Our new recruitment adviser is from Vandy and was just asking the recruitment chair and me how many recs they got last year - the recruitment chair said she had never seen one. They are not a thing in the Northeast unless your org requires everyone to have a rec to get a bid and then it's not well known that this is a requirement except by the people in charge of recruitment or HQ. That's what I'm taking away from this thread, anyway.

You are correct. Recs are not required on an international level by AOII. Our Southern chapters may have local chapter bylaws requiring a rec, though this may just be convention rather than an actual bylaw. My chapter in the South frequently had recs but never for everyone. The chapters I advised in MD and CA never got any recs and in AZ got very few.