Sororities to allow all female-identifying students to rush

[lake]

Have any NPC groups established guidelines regarding this? If not, it will be interesting to see what happens (this particular case is at Brown University).

http://www.browndailyherald.com/2016...dents-to-rush/

[ASTalumna06]

But the national organization with which each sorority is affiliated may impose its own requirements for new member eligibility, Blistein said. This could complicate the Panhellenic Council’s decision, because though the council “strongly believe(s) that any member who goes through recruitment would be accepted, … it’s almost impossible to know how national organizations would react,” Blistein said. If national chapters decide to side against the Panhellenic Council’s definition of member eligibility, Brown sororities can choose either to disaffiliate with the national organizations or to comply, she added.

Heckman doubts that national organizations will resist the terms of eligibility Brown chapters have recently set. “I don’t anticipate any sort of protest. … The national chapters really do defer to college chapters,” she said.

Hm, I don't agree with this. I guess we'll see what their reactions and responses will be, because yes, I think each national organization will have one.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Hm, I don't agree with this. I guess we'll see what their reactions and responses will be, because yes, I think each national organization will have one.

Do you mean you don't agree with her statement that national NPC groups defer to their individual chapters?

[33girl]

How on earth are the national hqs going to know anyway?

[FSUZeta]

One more reason I am thankful Zeta is not at Brown.

[Cheerio]

Some might look at the situation from another perspective: would you or your NPC group shun or remove from membership any fully initiated member if she began identifying as a man, yet continued maintaining the high standards of your group.

And if each individual NPC group creates their own decision/policy statements on this issue, a fully-unified statement from NPC is not anticipated.

[clemsongirl]

So I actually have some second-hand experience with this-a friend had two transgender women register for recruitment when she was Panhellenic president at a school very different from my own. The first girl dropped out before recruitment started, but the second was set on continuing and so the following things happened:

-Panhel prez had to call each of the national orgs on her campus (none of the ones at Brown) and ask what their specific membership policy was with regards to transgender women. Some said they would allow anyone who identified as female to receive a bid, while others said they would only allow biological women to join.
-Panhel prez had to inform the PNM that she would be cut by chapters she could not receive a bid from after the first round, same as if she didn't make a minimum GPA for some chapters but not others. She was never told which chapters could not take her.
-She did receive some invites but was eventually cut by all chapters-according to my friend she wasn't the most stellar PNM in terms of grades, involvement, etc anyways so it's not as though sororities were passing on an otherwise superstar PNM because of her biological gender.

Originally Posted by 33girl

How on earth are the national hqs going to know anyway?

If a woman is still legally male and has not changed her name legally the HQ might see an obviously-gendered name on their roster and ask questions.

I disagree wholeheartedly that the national orgs will just let Brown chapters do whatever they want. I applaud their move to inclusivity but it's wishful thinking on their part if there's any pushback whatsoever from their nationals to think they can keep a girl nationals won't allow and not run into trouble. Also incredibly silly that their Panhellenic president just assumed there's no way to know what nationals thinks. If she called them she would definitely have gotten answers, even if she didn't like them.

[amillionlights]

Originally Posted by clemsongirl

-She did receive some invites but was eventually cut by all chapters-according to my friend she wasn't the most stellar PNM in terms of grades, involvement, etc anyways so it's not as though sororities were passing on an otherwise superstar PNM because of her biological gender.

This is where I foresee there being more problems than anything else. I agree that trans women are women and I would support my organization welcoming them with open arms into membership! But my concern would be that, especially with all NPC membership selection processes being private, it could get into a very sticky situation. It would take one less-than-stellar PNM being dropped from recruitment to go on Twitter and say they were dropped for being trans before the entire Greek system was raked over the coals.

That's NOT to say that all trans PNMs would do that, but if someone did, I feel like it would be blown out of proportion and all Greeks would be made by the media to look like transphobic idiots when, in reality, we have membership standards we uphold for every PNM, cisgendered or transgendered. What's the solution? I'm not sure. And do I think this is reason enough to not allow trans students to participate in recruitment? No. I think we'd really have to work on making sure all PNMs feel welcomed to kind of avoid them feeling like they were singled out for being trans.

[FSUZeta]

Each national org DOES set their own membership requirements. One would think that Brown Panhellenic would know this.

Crossing the female membership requirement line might open up our orgs to males identifying as males seeking sorority membership. I like the NPC sororities as they are now, founded by women for women.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

I like the NPC sororities as they are now, founded by women for women.

Transgender women are women. Full stop.

[carnation]

Do they have XX chromosomes?

[clemsongirl]

For scientific clarification:

The three ways of determining biological sex are chromosomes, gonads (penis, vagina, testes, ovaries, etc) and hormone levels. Some women have levels of testosterone that fall into the acceptable range for men but still consider themselves women, such as the case of South African track athlete Caster Semenya. Others, such as women with androgen insensitivity syndrome, have male gonads, but those gonads are undescended and their bodies cannot process testosterone. These women look, for all intents and purposes, like "biological" women but are chromosomally male and to some extent gonadally as well. There are even people with extra or fewer sex chromosomes than most, but the vast majority of these people fall into one social designation of gender or the other.

We don't peek down the pants of a PNM, demand their bloodwork before offering a bid for membership or require genetic testing because a woman is a woman if she believes herself to be one and presents herself as one, not if she passes some sort of biological checklist. Sex and gender are different concepts.

[KerriMarie]

Originally Posted by clemsongirl

For scientific clarification:

The three ways of determining biological sex are chromosomes, gonads (penis, vagina, testes, ovaries, etc) and hormone levels. Some women have levels of testosterone that fall into the acceptable range for men but still consider themselves women, such as the case of South African track athlete Caster Semenya. Others, such as women with androgen insensitivity syndrome, have male gonads, but those gonads are undescended and their bodies cannot process testosterone. These women look, for all intents and purposes, like "biological" women but are chromosomally male and to some extent gonadally as well. There are even people with extra or fewer sex chromosomes than most, but the vast majority of these people fall into one social designation of gender or the other.

We don't peek down the pants of a PNM, demand their bloodwork before offering a bid for membership or require genetic testing because a woman is a woman if she believes herself to be one and presents herself as one, not if she passes some sort of biological checklist. Sex and gender are different concepts.

Well said!

[KerriMarie]

Originally Posted by carnation

Do they have XX chromosomes?

Are you recommending genetics testing before giving out bids? Or just before initiation?

[carnation]

Originally Posted by KerriMarie

Are you recommending genetics testing before giving out bids? Or just before initiation?

The EXACT SECOND that they sign up for recruitment!