My School is Doing Away With Formal & Quota - Page 2

seraphimsprite · #16 09-02-2004, 11:28 AM

This sounds almost exactly like we did spring informal on our campus. We still had formal rush in the fall though. The only difference is that the sororities still had to invite PNMs to the later rounds, but the PNMs could choose on their own which parties to attend. It actually worked pretty well but you do have to worry more about girls refusing to visit all the chapters. My campus addressed this by giving each PNM a "passport" that you got stamped at each house you visited. They didn't require you to visit all the houses after the first round, but it was basically an incentive system - if you completely filled your "passport" with stamps you were entered into a drawing for a prize of some sort. (usually gift certificates.) Bribery works wonders.
And the way we did it, a chapter could not extend more bids than they had slots and the PNM got to see every chapter that offered her a bid.

aephi alum · #17 09-02-2004, 05:54 PM

It's an interesting idea.

I agree that PNMs should have to be invited to pref. Otherwise, a sorority can be overwhelmed with PNMs they're not interested in, and the PNMs get no "feedback" from the sororities as they go through recruitment. But in this situation, they should be allowed to accept or decline the invitations without penalty.

I imagine you'd also have to allow COB to continue outside these "formal" periods. A sorority can COB to total at any time. So in our hypothetical situation where DG is 2 under total, offers two bids, but those two women go elsewhere, DG isn't SOL - they have the option of holding another COB rush later in the semester or just waiting for the next "formal" period.

Total is still in place, so the big wouldn't get bigger - the big would hit total and stay there. (As long as total is realistic, as 33girl mentioned.)

PhiPsiRuss · #18 09-02-2004, 06:42 PM

When all is said and done, the sorority system at Adelphi will be much stronger than they are now.

James · #19 09-02-2004, 08:18 PM

Why not just have a scholarship then to pay the dues for people that opt to join less popular groups? Or some other kind of financial consideration?

Why be so focused on crippling a system to save one group? For example, lets say you keep total and quota the same in the spirirt of saving a chapter with 25 percent of the members of the rest of the groups, when you could probably bring in two more groups and Rush them to total?

Quote:

[i]
Now how is that fair? Why couldn't the campus put the energy and passion into helping the fourth group succeed? Closing a group and bringing on a new one just b/c they have a "more attractive product" will do nothing to help the Greek system. That new package will only be attractive for so long, and then a new group will be on the bottom and struggling. Fix the problems, not the symptoms.

And how can you say "invite good nationals to come in" - aren't they all good? [/B]

goldendelta · #20 09-02-2004, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PhiPsiRuss
When all is said and done, the sorority system at Adelphi will be much stronger than they are now.

I hope you're right!

Thanks for all the input, it really raised some interesting thoughts.

I like the idea of the passport. That's really cute. And the PNM would have a nice souviner from Rush.

Someone raised a question of how many bids we can give out. I'm pretty sure it's as many till we reach total. IE - total is 45, we're at 21 so we can extend 24 bids if we want. But since freshmen can't accept a bid until the spring, we will want to keep some spots open for the spring. I think that 45 is a reasonable, attainable total for Adelphi.

Someone also said something about extension. I know that our Panhel will do everything it can to make sure that no chapter closes due to low numbers. Especially since 3 of the 4 are so close to Centennials. I don't want to see anyone close either, even if we are so competitve. I'd rater see the Greek system flourish than dimish. Our hope is to raise total and maybe bring on another sorority.

Last comment I wanted to touch on was the PNMs decision. They will have to make a decision when they pick up their bid. They won't have time to think of it. We did this to prevent the PNMs letting their friends make the decision for them. They will be told before hand that they have to make a decision on the spot.

WCUgirl · #21 09-03-2004, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by James
Why not just have a scholarship then to pay the dues for people that opt to join less popular groups? Or some other kind of financial consideration?

Why be so focused on crippling a system to save one group? For example, lets say you keep total and quota the same in the spirirt of saving a chapter with 25 percent of the members of the rest of the groups, when you could probably bring in two more groups and Rush them to total?

I don't see how bringing on a new group will help. If numbers are low - why are they low? Closing a chapter and bringing on a new one will just make a new chapter be the one that suffers...and eventually closes. Which means bringing on a new chapter....

So I say put forth the energy into saving that group before bringing in a new one just to bring up the numbers. Numbers might be up for that new group, but if you can't increase numbers overall, then there's no sense in doing that.

Buttonz · #22 09-03-2004, 12:31 PM

I like this idea a lot. AEPhiSierra told me about this and the passport idea last night.

Brooklyn Collegefinally set a total and got rid of silence week in hope of making our Greek system stronger. I can see, maybeby next fall or fall 2006, a ystem similar to this in the works for us. I think it will mke the greek system strongeri nt he long run.

For thoseof you that don't know, at Brooklyn, we have three nationals (AXiD, SDT and AEPhi), and we are also a commuter school. We were thinkingabout doing something totally diffrent to help us with rush, because FSR, the way we have been doing it, hasn't been working.

Good luck and please keep us updated. I'll be keeping an eye on it.

James · #23 09-03-2004, 08:11 PM

Because it doesn't seem to work that way. It doesn't seem like smaller chapters are able to recover through the formal rush format, a minority seem to achieve revitalization through COB.

Generally a new group will Rush to total.

Quote:

Originally posted by AXiD670
I don't see how bringing on a new group will help. If numbers are low - why are they low? Closing a chapter and bringing on a new one will just make a new chapter be the one that suffers...and eventually closes. Which means bringing on a new chapter....

aephi alum · #24 09-04-2004, 10:54 AM

Question: What are the sororities going to do about their rules regarding legacies?

AEPhi's legacy policy is that a legacy must be invited to the first invitational round. After that, she can be cut. If she is invited to preference, she must be on the chapter's first bid list.

Suppose Susie Legacy comes through recruitment and loves AEPhi, but she's just not a good fit there. She goes to AEPhi's pref... whoops, she was at pref, we have to give her a bid! That doesn't seem right...

Or would legacy policies just be ignored because this is technically COR?

goldendelta · #25 09-04-2004, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Diamond Delta
Question though-the groups are not going to do any cutting at all until after pref. I like the idea myself.

I'm not 100% sure. Since there is no quota, we can had out as many or as little bids as we like. Someone raised the question of then having PNMs at pref that we really don't want to extend a bid to. I actully hadn't thought of that until it came up here. I don't know how we are going to handle that. I'll to check with our VP/M or Panhel Reps.

goldendelta · #26 09-04-2004, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by aephi alum
Question: What are the sororities going to do about their rules regarding legacies?

AEPhi's legacy policy is that a legacy must be invited to the first invitational round. After that, she can be cut. If she is invited to preference, she must be on the chapter's first bid list.

Suppose Susie Legacy comes through recruitment and loves AEPhi, but she's just not a good fit there. She goes to AEPhi's pref... whoops, she was at pref, we have to give her a bid! That doesn't seem right...

Or would legacy policies just be ignored because this is technically COR?

Tri Delta is required to have a legacy on their first list or at the top of their second list. But, unfortunately, legacies at Adelphi are few and far between. Most of us are the first Greeks in our family. With this system though, it looks like it's the PNMs decision on what COBs they want to go to, the only required event is the Round Robin. If a legacy comes to our Pref we'll gladly extend her a bid, but if she decides she doesn't fit in with us we can't force her to come to us.

aephi alum · #27 09-04-2004, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Diamond Delta
Question though-the groups are not going to do any cutting at all until after pref. I like the idea myself.

I still think PNMs should have to be invited to pref. It gives the PNMs and the sororities some level of feedback as to what might or might not be a good fit.

Hypothetical example: Sally PNM comes through recruitment, attends the round robin and some of the open COB events, and totally falls in love with chapters A and B. She's not sure about C, and dislikes D. A and B have decided that they will not be offering Sally a bid, but C is interested.

On pref night, Sally (having no idea) decides to focus her efforts on A and B, because they are her favorites and she thinks there's no way she won't get a bid from at least one of them. She does not attend pref at C or D.

C decides not to offer Sally a bid because she didn't pref them. Now Sally is bidless. And some sororities have a "cut once, cut always" policy, so because of a silly decision she may never get the chance to go greek.

Now, if she had had to be invited to pref, she would have shown up for pref night and been given her one invitation, C. She would undoubtedly be disappointed to get cut from her two favorites, and she might withdraw, or she might give C a shot and become a happy member of C. GC is full of recruitment stories where people got cut from their favorites but found a home in a GLO that wasn't one of their top two or three going in.

Plus... at pref, a PNM can look around the room at the other PNMs present with the understanding that these are the women whom the sorority would like to have as sisters, and that if she joins this sorority, some of these women will be her pledge sisters. If you don't have to be invited, all you know about the other PNMs in the room is that those PNMs like this sorority.

But whatever... you have to do what's right for your campus environment. Good luck with the new recruitment style - let us know how it works out.

33girl · #28 09-04-2004, 06:09 PM

I agree with everything aephi alum said - I think not cutting before pref is a HORRIBLE idea. There were some girls at my pref party that made me go "what are they thinking" just because there were a lot of people in the sorority at the time who didn't want to cut anyone. If I had any doubts, it was partly because of that. I mean, if you want to invite everyone, that's your prerogative, but as we've seen on here and probably IRL, it can backfire.

SoCalGirl · #29 09-04-2004, 09:36 PM

"Each sorority will have 50 mins, PNMs can go to as many as they like, all 4 if they want to."

When I read that sentance, and based on my experience, I understand it to mean that a member is not restricted to only two parties. If she's invited to three or four she can attend them. When I went through I had three Pref invites but only felt a connection to two. So I declined the third. No big deal. I don't believe girls will be able to show up for Pref at will. Even if that is what happens, the chapter's will likely already know who they want and will focus their attention accordingly.

goldendelta · #30 09-13-2004, 11:33 PM

Tonight was the Round Robin and it went well. It was very relaxed and care-free. It was held in the Quad and each sorority took a different corner. Since there are a lot of afternoon and night classes at Adelphi, we decided to let PNMs and chapter members come and go as they please. The PNMs weren't forced to go to every chapter and we actually had 2 stay with us the whole night. PNMs were given a Lei to show what groups they visited. Panhel provided ice cream for everyone which was nice. There were a lot of freshmen there but they can't accept bids until next semester. We heard a lot of "I want to join you next semester!"

I also just found out that silence is still in effect. It was hard enough when it was one week, now its two!

Tomorrow is our first COB round. I hope that a lot of PNMs come. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Thanks!