Phi Sigma Sigma discontinues legacy policy.

[GreekOne]

If NPC is truly interested in making meaningful change (and not just seeming relevant due to the optics of the moment) there should be some research done. How many minority women register for formal recruitment? How many first gen students register? How many from these groups receive bids? Maybe they have that data and it is just not universally accessible. I have never been privy.

Campuses that have upperclass quotas have established those to give these otherwise overlooked pnms an equal opportunity of receiving a bid.

If the data shows an interest by POC and first gen students (who have presumably been overlooked in favor of legacies) then the elimination of these policies may be warranted. Perhaps then we need to establish a separate quota for these overlooked pnms?

I suspect the data may show that lack of diversity has much less to do with legacy policies and rec letters. It likely has much more to do with the financial burden. And, if the numbers point there, as many others have said, what are our organizations willing to give up to make membership more affordable?

Do we restructure recruitment to 4 rounds in the Panhel provided tshirt? Do we let our housing decor become dated? Do we eliminate in person training for our members to cut travel costs? Eliminate national office staff and traveling consultants? Do we redirect money raised for our philanthropies to more needs based scholarships for pnms?

I have no doubt the groups dropping their legacy policies are well- intentioned. I just don't think it is going to bring about the change that most hope it will.

If NPC has captured the statistics on diversity now, I would love to see a comparative study in 10 years. Without far more than a change to legacy policy, I suspect this data will remain unchanged.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

Campuses that have upperclass quotas have established those to give these otherwise overlooked pnms an equal opportunity of receiving a bid.

If the data shows an interest by POC and first gen students (who have presumably been overlooked in favor of legacies) then the elimination of these policies may be warranted. Perhaps then we need to establish a separate quota for these overlooked pnms?

I'm sorry, no. A separate quota for every chapter on a campus to follow during rush, for "a particular type of POC/first gen overlooked PMN", isn't necessary.

But I'd like to know whether Bama ever truly used or still uses a separate POC quota [in relation to past 15-20 years of Bama sorority recruitment issues].

What comes next, a separate quota for PNMs with cranberryblue hair?

And finally, not every campus considers upperclassmen as 'overlooked' in their purpose for calling it UC quota.

[navane]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

If NPC is truly interested in making meaningful change (and not just seeming relevant due to the optics of the moment) there should be some research done. How many minority women register for formal recruitment? How many first gen students register? How many from these groups receive bids? Maybe they have that data and it is just not universally accessible. I have never been privy.

Campuses that have upperclass quotas have established those to give these otherwise overlooked pnms an equal opportunity of receiving a bid.

If the data shows an interest by POC and first gen students (who have presumably been overlooked in favor of legacies) then the elimination of these policies may be warranted. Perhaps then we need to establish a separate quota for these overlooked pnms?

I suspect the data may show that lack of diversity has much less to do with legacy policies and rec letters. It likely has much more to do with the financial burden. And, if the numbers point there, as many others have said, what are our organizations willing to give up to make membership more affordable?

Do we restructure recruitment to 4 rounds in the Panhel provided tshirt? Do we let our housing decor become dated? Do we eliminate in person training for our members to cut travel costs? Eliminate national office staff and traveling consultants? Do we redirect money raised for our philanthropies to more needs based scholarships for pnms?

I have no doubt the groups dropping their legacy policies are well- intentioned. I just don't think it is going to bring about the change that most hope it will.

If NPC has captured the statistics on diversity now, I would love to see a comparative study in 10 years. Without far more than a change to legacy policy, I suspect this data will remain unchanged.

I like where you're going in terms of looking at the data to truly see if we can suss out the trends, identify potential obstacles to membership, and identify possible solutions.

I agree with the others that separate quotas are not the answer; but, that one suggestion doesn't dismiss your whole post. You brought up a lot of valid ideas and considerations.

One issue I do see is.....human factors. If we were to all "agree" that financial means was a problem and we all "agree" to cut down on costs, I firmly believe that there will still be chapters which won't truly hold themselves to that. They will still post photos of members on trips to Greece, members on yachts, and members with expensive handbags to the chapter Insta and whatnot. They will still find some way to spend $$$ during recruitment. It's human nature to want to be better than everyone else. No one wants to be the financially sensible chapter that gets left behind because we all know they will be left in the dust by the big spending chapters doing big, flashy things. It seems that some chapters these days are selling an image more than sisterhood Those professional-grade recruitment videos cost money and the money has to come from somewhere. Once one chapter ups their game and raises the bar on their videos, house, formal dances, etc, then there goes the neighborhood!

So, as you were suggesting, how do we make sorority membership more financially accessible? Food for thought.....

[DGTess]

I see elitism in the idea that diversity stems from not being able to afford a sorority That implies women of color, first-generation college students, and immigrants who don't know sororities are all economically disadvantaged.

Consider the small-town (probably northern) freshman. It's entirely possible she doesn't consider greek life at all. Or all she sees is the movie stereotypes where all the fashion plates laugh at the real women How do we get these women interested in joining?

How do we get the first-generation American interested in joining?

How do we get women of color interested? I know in my school in the dark ages, black women who rushed/pledged were treated horribly by the black groups, some of whom were D9 but most of whom were not; I don't know if that dynamic still plays.

I believe the legacy policies, the rec requirements, and our utter failure to reach out to those who are not like us - before they come to school - are serious failings. Sure, MS, AL, TX alumnae groups reach out - to those who already know about sororities - by "we'll hold a seminar and if you're interested you'll come", not by approaching those who don't. What happens in other areas? How do we reach out to others? And if we don't, how can we say we're really interested in them?

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by DGTess

I see elitism in the idea that diversity stems from not being able to afford a sorority That implies women of color, first-generation college students, and immigrants who don't know sororities are all economically disadvantaged.

I don't think anyone is saying that diversity stems from the lack of affordability, or that they are ALL economically disadvantaged; it is a piece of the puzzle, and one of many considerations we need to include as we figure out how to be more diverse.

[carnation]

Several high schools where I've taught have had Panhellenic meetings in which sororities were explained to college-bound seniors and all kinds of great advice was given to them. We talked to women of every race but the black students almost all wanted NPHC. It was understandable but it's frustrating when people are going on about how we MUST be diverse and you know you've tried for years to attract a more diverse crowd of PNMs.