Quote:
Originally Posted by clemsongirl
My chapter invited any ADPi family member of our new members for initiation, whether they were officially legacies by ADPi's definition or not. One woman one year had her grandma, mom, and three aunts come to initiation and it was amazingly special, even though by ADPi nationals' definition only her grandma and mom were her legacy relatives. I'd rather have a new member's close family friend or aunt come to initiation and share that special bond with her than her older sister who joined ADPi to party and doesn't give a shit about it now.
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And I think this sums up one of the other issues with legacies.
It's not just a matter of there being "too many of them" going through recruitment to consider other women, but there are too many of them who are looking for a) an easy way in, b) a guarantee, and/or c) letters to wear, parties to attend, and a social life for four years and nothing else.
And I think in general, nowadays, women attending four-year colleges in and of itself isn't seen as special or rare as it was not too long ago. I think of my mother, stepmother, all my aunts, and my two grandmothers - none of them have a four-year degree. But all of their daughters and granddaughters have one. More and more women attending college = more and more legacies = more and more of the women described above who look at sorority membership as simply letters on a sweatshirt for four years.
And when thinking about traditions and passing things down - even physical items - it's just not something that's done as often as maybe it once was. And young women today are very independent, and are encouraged be. Women are attending colleges that aren't in their hometown, but are half a world away. There are study abroad programs and internships. A young woman today might not be looking to follow in her mother's footsteps in the same way a young woman of the 1970s looked to follow her mother's path.
One could even argue that the way NPC sororities recruit new members - and the fact that there is a push to join only when in college, usually within a two-year timeframe - doesn't truly mesh with the "specialness" of legacy status. Neither do our "keep an open mind" and "try to join the chapter that you best connect with" mottos and mantras.
Even if a young woman is a legacy and has known her whole life she wants to be part of ABC sorority, she goes through recruitment and still has to attend parties for DEF, GHI, and JKL. And then, if she gets a bid to none of them, we tell her that her dream of being a sorority woman is essentially over.
How does any of this make sense?
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