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

[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!