Is this legal? Deactivated one NPC, now part of a new NPC.

[gphiangel624]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

Would you be permitted to answer a question like "was so and so ever a member of an NPC group?" Simply a yes or no, not even which one?

Can students sign a waiver for certain items? (I believe this must happen at some colleges because they generate GPAs and comparative lists for NPC groups which are availabe on the Greek Life page.)

We went around and around with this issue a long time ago. Our recruitment registration forms have a statement, evaluated by our campus Registrar (who is also our FERPA Compliance officer), that basically states the PNM verifies the information is true and correct, and that she authorizes release of the information included on her registration form to the Student Life office, Panhellenic, and the chapters that belong to it. My office (Student Life) then reviews GPAs, past pledging/initiation data we have on file, and verifies if it's true or not. The PNMs are made aware of this entire process from the start, so we rarely get misinformation from them.

Regarding puddintane's concern about the grade report, I'm willing to share how we work our grade report process if you want to PM me. Again, it's approved by our campus Registrar and FERPA compliance officer as well.

[puddintane]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

Would you be permitted to answer a question like "was so and so ever a member of an NPC group?" Simply a yes or no, not even which one?

Can students sign a waiver for certain items? (I believe this must happen at some colleges because they generate GPAs and comparative lists for NPC groups which are availabe on the Greek Life page.)

It's done differently on many campuses. Each University has to decide for itself, how much information it is willing to disclose to any student organization, regarding a student's file, and has to weigh that with any potential liability issues that may pop up.

Our school has adopted disclosing information on a "need-to-know" basis, but that doesn't necessarily include everything that a student is willing to sign away.

Grades, there is a reason why a minimum GPA must be achieved. This benefits the college as well as the Greek Organization. Joining a Greek Organization involves a significant amount of a student's time, and we want to make sure that only those that can manage their time well, can take on additional responsibilities. School comes first, if you can't manage school, you can't join certain groups.

Our college, has a minimum GPA for all organizations. The organization is able to set it for themselves and set the bar higher (and we will help them in that verification process), but with us, if you are on academic probabation, you must terminate your membership, Greek or not.

The only exceptions are honor societies and scholarships, where a full transcript is needed in order to make award determinations.

Now, back to your question regarding someone being initiated into a sorority twice, and if it was in their file, could I say anything if asked.

If the situation at our school 8 years ago, repeated itself today, the answer would be no. The reason is, it doesn't fall into a "need-to-know" basis. It only benefits the Greek Organization...the school doesn't care one way or the other. Not disclosing it, doesn't raise any liability issues....disclosing it, if the student does not wish to disclose ALL of their previous organizations on their personal file, can raise a huge liability issue for the college.

I'm in no way saying that "this is the law"...it's not. This is just the way our University has chosen to handle student information.

[ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl]

Originally Posted by susan314

If a woman has never attended any university but yours, then you're probably safe. (If she had pledged and initiated in another NPC group on your campus, Panhel and the other groups would be able to detect that.)

If its a case of someone who transferred from another university, the only way you could tell is by doing some investigating yourself. (Following whatever procedures your national endorses.) If you have a PNM who transferred from XYZ University and you have suspicions about whether or not she was in an NPC group there, you could always call that university's Greek Life/Panhellenic office - they may be able to assist you.

You know, these days with facebook, I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find out. Seems like if they were in another organization, there'd be a picture or two here or there of them in letters or with sisters in letters...enough to give you reason to confront them.

Of course, it would be nice if people were just honest. And if they respected their own organization...I can't understand abandoning one and joining another...it defeats the purpose of sisterhood and reduces it to just a "club" status. But then, I guess some people do regard their organization as a social club.

[Kevin]

Wow.. y'all are scary.

First off, if someone's going to lie about being in a different organization, why would they tell the truth about their SSN?

Secondly, why can you not take your new members' word that they haven't been in another organization? Is that not good enough?

[33girl]

Because when they give their SSN, they probably aren't planning to quit, unless they're really bonkers.

It's sad that you can't trust someone's word, but a lot of us have been shown (in real life and on here) that you can't. Also, sometimes I think that it is innocent - the women who joined a second group weren't properly educated during their pledgeship on sorority and NPC rules and regs because they were too busy opening their million gifts. But that is another thread .

[JonInKC]

Yeah, honestly, I imagined there would be some kind of database to check out these kinds of things. I can't believe in this day and age there's not.

[SWTXBelle]

Ummm . . . Kevin, didn't you tell me that IFC rush is often shady and entire organizations will lie in their rush materials? If so , you shouldn't be surprised that (very rarely) a NPC member would lie about her membership. Alas, it is a human trait.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Ummm . . . Kevin, didn't you tell me that IFC rush is often shady and entire organizations will lie in their rush materials? If so , you shouldn't be surprised that (very rarely) a NPC member would lie about her membership. Alas, it is a human trait.

Which is my point. Joining group #2, if she knows she's in the wrong applying to group #2, why would she provide her real SSN?

The problem cannot be widespread enough and serious that enough to merit the time and expense being proposed here. A few might slip through the cracks.. Is it really such a big deal that we must now talk about keeping a data base full of social security numbers in order to prevent this?

Sounds like a lot of unnecessary time, expense, and invasion of privacy to me. Not to mention that from a liability standpoint, keeping all of those social security numbers can't be a good thing.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by Kevin

The problem cannot be widespread enough and serious that enough to merit the time and expense being proposed here. A few might slip through the cracks.. Is it really such a big deal that we must now talk about keeping a data base full of social security numbers in order to prevent this?

Sounds like a lot of unnecessary time, expense, and invasion of privacy to me. Not to mention that from a liability standpoint, keeping all of those social security numbers can't be a good thing.

I agree...every time I am asked for my SSN, I want a very specific reason why. This does not seem like a good one.

[Dionysus]

Jeau??? Is this how kids spell "Jew" these days??? First, it was "azn"...and now this.

[honeychile]

I'd still put my money on an Alumnae Panhellenic checking all transfer students than ANY information such as a SSN any day of the week. Anyone who has sat through a bid matching or a planning session of any sort that involves Advisors or Alumnae Panhellenic ladies know that they are a force to reckon with!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by honeychile

I'd still put my money on an Alumnae Panhellenic checking all transfer students than ANY information such as a SSN any day of the week. Anyone who has sat through a bid matching or a planning session of any sort that involves Advisors or Alumnae Panhellenic ladies know that they are a force to reckon with!

This sounds good to me. Does every school have an Alumnae Panhellenic group?

[GeekyPenguin]

Originally Posted by Alphagamuga

This sounds good to me. Does every school have an Alumnae Panhellenic group?

No, which is why it is a terrible idea. At a school with only one NPC there isn't even a Panhellenic at all.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by GeekyPenguin

No, which is why it is a terrible idea. At a school with only one NPC there isn't even a Panhellenic at all.

Well, on the upside, a school with only one NPC probably doesn't have that many transfer students rush each year, so it would be easier for the group to track the girl's history down.

I was trying to imagine what could work at UGA with 1000-1200 PNMs, and I think each chapter checking the background of each transfer that they actually give a bid to is the only way. As long as you could look into it before initiation, it would work.

I wouldn't want a SSN database; I tend to think that transfers who come from schools with NPC orgs are probably limited enough that each chapter could do the research if the chapter cared enough.

[Leslie Anne]

One thing about the social security numbers... When I started college I didn't have one. (I have no idea why) The university gave me a temporary number similar to the ones they give students from abroad. So, unless I'm mistaken, my sorority doesn't have my real SSN.

I'm glad of that too. I'm completely opposed to some huge database with my personal information in it. Especially if its only purpose is to weed out a tiny number of girls who might try to join two different NPCs.

And once again for the record (I think I've told this story on GC at least 4 times) my chapter had a sister who had transfered from another school. By the time I pledged it was pretty much common knowledge within the chapter that she had been a member of another NPC at her old school. Strangely, I don't remember anyone really caring about it. I know I didn't. She was a great KD sister.

I'm not advocating it, just stating a fact.


*edited to add*

Funny, I just checked my mail and the current issue of The Angelos came in. The headline across the front reads, "The Great Imposters: Identity Thieves Want to Steal Your Good Name" One of the tips the article gives on how to protect yourself - "Don't carry your Social Security card in your wallet.... Give it out only if absolutely necessary and first ask to use another identifier." Later in the article it states that, "toward the end of last year, more than 800,000 Social Security numbers were hijacked from a restricted UCLA database." Yep! I'm keeping my SSN private! Thanks for agreeing with me, KD.