U of Minnesota Sorority Recruitment Feb 2004

[irishpipes]

Funny story...

My pledge class did our "walk-out" to our chapter at UM. We wanted to go to another large, Big 10 school. When the pledge trainer called them to make arrangements, they asked how many would be coming, and she said about 50. I guess the other girl thought she said about 15.

We show up in a huge rented Greyhound bus with about 60 girls. The chapter house is empty because everyone is at formal. They have left instructions to make ourselves at home, and we will be sleeping in the big room on the top floor. Well, the room had like 8 beds. It was pretty funny. We slept in every nook and cranny of that house.

When we did finally visit with our sisters from UM, they told us that while Greek Life is very historic at UM, the campus is largely commuter so the chapters are only medium-sized. Our house there is sure pretty, though.

AOIIGAL may remember that trip - my pledge class kidnapped her and took her along!

P.S. Welcome to GC, Jessi!

[kchaptergphib]

yeaaaaaaaaa GOPHERS!
I just felt I needed to post since it's my school's thread!

Coming from a hometown with a larger greek system (Madison, WI) and going to the U of M, I was surprised by how much smaller (greek wise) Minnesota was, too. After 5 years there, I'm still not sure why that is.
Everyone's first excuse is that it's such a "commuter campus," but I feel that, at least for the 18-22 year-old commuters, that greek life would be a great way to get to know people on campus, especially when you are not around as much.
It's especially concerning when total's going down and we've lost both an NPC sorority and a re-colonized IFC fraternity in the past 4 years! They decreased sorority total by 5 members, to help the smaller chapters. I wonder if the overall sorority numbers are higher since then. I really liked AngieWashU's comment that one of her schools had separate fall and spring semester totals, along with a deferred formal recruitment. I always wondered if it wouldn't help for us to have recruitment in the winter/spring, instead of right away in the fall.
That said, we do have a really long tradition of greeks at Minnesota. I know my chapter's been around for over 100 years. And our university administration is more supportive than it was under the previous U president, I think.

[lake]

I realize this is a wayyy old thread, but I was wondering if anyone else who's familiar with U of M - Twin Cities shared my impression that the campus as a whole seems ultra-unfriendly to Greeks? I know this is definitely the case on other (most other?) campuses, but here it seems especially true.

I originally rushed there (this was late 80s/early 90s) and found that some people thought that was a generally uncool thing (the Greek system). Also, one of my friends who DID end up joining the Greek system there later told me that Greeks generally didn't wear their letters around campus because of an almost hostile, in-your-face attitude from non-Greeks when/if they did. I'm not sure how true this is because I never did get to wear letters there (I dropped out of rush after preference)!

Anyway, I guess I attributed it to the fact that Minnesota, and especially the Twin Cities, is so "liberal" and since the Greeks are kind of the most high-profile opposite of this, maybe that's why Greek life is not as popular, but then I guess the fact that it's a commuter school, etc. DOES have an influence too.

Thoughts?

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by lake

I realize this is a wayyy old thread, but I was wondering if anyone else who's familiar with U of M - Twin Cities shared my impression that the campus as a whole seems ultra-unfriendly to Greeks? I know this is definitely the case on other (most other?) campuses, but here it seems especially true.

I originally rushed there (this was late 80s/early 90s) and found that some people thought that was a generally uncool thing (the Greek system). Also, one of my friends who DID end up joining the Greek system there later told me that Greeks generally didn't wear their letters around campus because of an almost hostile, in-your-face attitude from non-Greeks when/if they did. I'm not sure how true this is because I never did get to wear letters there (I dropped out of rush after preference)!

Anyway, I guess I attributed it to the fact that Minnesota, and especially the Twin Cities, is so "liberal" and since the Greeks are kind of the most high-profile opposite of this, maybe that's why Greek life is not as popular, but then I guess the fact that it's a commuter school, etc. DOES have an influence too.

Thoughts?

A lot of my friends from law school did their undergrad there (and were Greek) and definitely found that to be true. I have a lot of friends from high school that go there as well (yay for reciprocity!) and a lot of them are just aghast that I joined a sorority.

It's actually pretty sad, because most of the sororities at the U are really down to earth and not overly stereotypical - I think that a lot of people would like them, if given the chance.

[jubilance1922]

Originally Posted by lake

I realize this is a wayyy old thread, but I was wondering if anyone else who's familiar with U of M - Twin Cities shared my impression that the campus as a whole seems ultra-unfriendly to Greeks? I know this is definitely the case on other (most other?) campuses, but here it seems especially true.

I originally rushed there (this was late 80s/early 90s) and found that some people thought that was a generally uncool thing (the Greek system). Also, one of my friends who DID end up joining the Greek system there later told me that Greeks generally didn't wear their letters around campus because of an almost hostile, in-your-face attitude from non-Greeks when/if they did. I'm not sure how true this is because I never did get to wear letters there (I dropped out of rush after preference)!

Anyway, I guess I attributed it to the fact that Minnesota, and especially the Twin Cities, is so "liberal" and since the Greeks are kind of the most high-profile opposite of this, maybe that's why Greek life is not as popular, but then I guess the fact that it's a commuter school, etc. DOES have an influence too.

Thoughts?

I graduated in 2004, and I didn't find that to be the case. I had friends in NPC, IFC, NPHC, and NALFO orgs, and we all wore letters and had many successful campus events. I never had a problem with non-Greeks or heard of any stories about incidents between Greeks and non-Greeks.