University of Alabama sorority rush to be both in-person, virtual this fall

[33girl]

Women are already upset when they get dropped after the first round when they’ve actually met people in person. Can you imagine how much it will piss people off to get dropped virtually when there’s no medical reason for it? Not to mention how much both sides can hide in a virtual rush?

As far as inequities among the sororities, unless NPC changes the current quota/total system to one where sororities are only allowed to bid to total, some will be bigger and some will be smaller. If it’s a house issue, the only thing that will work is getting rid of unique houses and putting everyone in identical dorm suites or townhouses. Again, some will be prettier and some will be “homier.”

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by 33girl

As far as inequities among the sororities, unless NPC changes the current quota/total system to one where sororities are only allowed to bid to total, some will be bigger and some will be smaller. If it’s a house issue, the only thing that will work is getting rid of unique houses and putting everyone in identical dorm suites or townhouses. Again, some will be prettier and some will be “homier.”

That would eliminate some chapters from rushing.

[navane]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

On the other hand, "tier chatter" and a look at a carefuly constructed and sanitized video is all you have to use when ranking.

Originally Posted by Cheerio

She does mention that moving the first round into a virtual round decreases chapter and panhellenic costs in the areas of meeting/recruitment space rental, transportation and matching recruitment attire fees, as well as recruitment decor costs.

Well, yes, I suppose that decoration, clothing and food costs will go down if virtual rounds are instituted. Also, I do see the benefit of not having thousands of women traipsing in heels and sundresses in high heat and humidity (or snow conditions for spring recruitment).

But, look, human nature tells me that the chapters will need to pull out all of the stops to make sure their chapter video stands out (see AnchorAlumna's post above). I wouldn't be surprised if chapters went towards the trend of expensive, flashy, high-productions videos like we saw with Alpha Phi at the Arizona State University (pink jeep, hot air balloons) and Delta Gamma at the University of Miami (speedboat, sailboat). Or try to one-up each other by including prominent people or celebrities in their videos like Alpha Phi at the University of Alabama (Bama football player). Those videos cost a lot. Probably more than cake and punch and matching shirts.

Also, the move to virtual may force chapters to cut based largely on resume and/or social media reviews (Insta stalking) of the PNMs ahead of recruitment.

I'm concerned that both the PNMs and the chapters will place additional focus on cultivating an online image as a means of getting past the first rounds. We're already dealing with social media influencers who make it look like they're living their best jet set, high fashion lives. Moreover, I can envision PNMs setting up their social media "filming studio" (ring lights, better cameras, etc) to make sure they look top flight during their virtual rounds.

All of this seemingly flies in the face of no-frills, values-based recruitment. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[dukedg]

Originally Posted by navane

But, look, human nature tells me that the chapters will need to pull out all of the stops to make sure their chapter video stands out (see AnchorAlumna's post above). I wouldn't be surprised if chapters went towards the trend of expensive, flashy, high-productions videos like we saw with Alpha Phi at the Arizona State University (pink jeep, hot air balloons) and Delta Gamma at the University of Miami (speedboat, sailboat). Or try to one-up each other by including prominent people or celebrities in their videos like Alpha Phi at the University of Alabama (Bama football player). Those videos cost a lot. Probably more than cake and punch and matching shirts.

Many campuses now have specific Panhellenic rules about videos (both during recruitment and those released before for PR purposes). I'm not one for very complex rules, but I do think the general gist of trying to keep videos simple and substantive is a plus!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

That would eliminate some chapters from rushing.

Obviously. They would have a year or two where they wouldn’t take new members and eventually it would even out.

Please note I am not actually advocating this concept.