My recruitment story

[LegallyBrunette]

Originally Posted by Blueink

I go talk to my boss to make sure that it's okay if I rush. This is when he tells me that I can't do it. I was mad/angry/sad/disappointed. I had been waiting for what felt like forever. There was no way to convince him otherwise so I was unable to go through formal recruitment. He said that since I was a first year RA I was going to be very busy and stressed out, especially around homecoming and basically that was his reasoning for why I couldn't do it.

I've heard other stories about Resident Life forbidding RAs from going through recruitment and I've always wondered if they can actually do that. In theory, aren't RAs picked based on their maturity and such--basically, why would it matter if you're going through Recruitment so long as your work as an RA isn't suffering?

Sorry, I'm having a hard time expressing myself here. That Res Life could do this always seemed ridiculous to me.

PS, great story! hurry back & update!

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by LegallyBrunette

I've heard other stories about Resident Life forbidding RAs from going through recruitment and I've always wondered if they can actually do that. In theory, aren't RAs picked based on their maturity and such--basically, why would it matter if you're going through Recruitment so long as your work as an RA isn't suffering?

Sorry, I'm having a hard time expressing myself here. That Res Life could do this always seemed ridiculous to me.

PS, great story! hurry back & update!

i've heard too many times of girl r.a.'s wanting to rush and being told they could not by their supervisor. i think part of it has to do with some of the supervisors having chips on their shoulders when it comes to anything greek. it would be worth investigating whether they actually can forbid the girls from rushing or not.

can't wait to hear what happens next!

[33girl]

I think more than being anti-Greek, it's the same concept as sports team coaches not allowing their athletes to rush - that they won't have time for the job at hand (the sport or being an RA) if they go Greek and particularly if they're pledging. It sounds kind of stupid, but if they apply it to everyone, there's really nothing you can do about it.

However, if someone told me I couldn't, I would double and triple check the contract I had signed as an RA to make sure it was actually written down.

[Benzgirl]

My brother was an RA and we had an RA in our chapter. No one discouraged it. At our school it was not anti-Greek. They did stress that you had to balance your commitments.

[SthrnZeta]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

i've heard too many times of girl r.a.'s wanting to rush and being told they could not by their supervisor. i think part of it has to do with some of the supervisors having chips on their shoulders when it comes to anything greek. it would be worth investigating whether they actually can forbid the girls from rushing or not.

can't wait to hear what happens next!

At my school, they discouraged Greeks from being RAs but many were anyway since there was no rule against it. I think it was the campus Panhel not wanting it because RAs may influence their new freshman during FR and that was seen as unfair. Imagine an RA with lots of XYZ stuff on her door along with all her RA stuff and the Freshman are moving in and that's all they see before FR so that's the only name that sticks out in their mind...? Or if they see her in the rush room and then talk to her outside of that room - it may be hard for the RA to separate rush from RA duties... I mean, I can see their point but at the same time, it's a great advantage to that chapter, especially if the RA is quite personable...

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

My brother was an RA and we had an RA in our chapter. No one discouraged it. At our school it was not anti-Greek. They did stress that you had to balance your commitments.

I wouldn't necessarily say that my school's anti-Greek because really, there aren't too many of us around to give campus admin a negative image.

We had a whole bunch of chapter sisters serve as RAs while I was in school and we helped out at many dorm move-in days. It was a great way to meet the freshmen/sophomores (fresh meat!) and actively promote Alpha Gam.

My sisters' Resident Directors still didn't like us for some reason. The RDs always gave the girls a hard time whenever they requested time off/switching schedules so that they could attend mandatory sorority events. And this is all despite giving fair advanced notice.

I still don't understand why anyone would even want to be an RA to begin with.

[Scully]

We also had an RA in our chapter. And I don't believe there was ever an issue with it. I think they would be happy that you would want to be even more involved in campus life and take that experience and apply it to helping other students in your building.

[PhiLove83]

We currently have 6 RA's in our chapter, including our President. We also have two more girls in the spring RA class trying to be hired. It has never been a problem for us and our school allows it.

[AlethiaSi]

There wasn't a specific rule against it at my school either, but it wasn't exactly celebrated either. My sorority accepted RA's or potential RA's with the understanding that both sides would work together to accommodate one another. From what I gathered of the other chapters, they "frowned" upon RA's... take what you will from that statement...
The RA's that were lucky enough to have an RHD that was cool with being greek, there weren't problems, but like other's reported, if the RHD wasn't ok with being greek, there were considerable problems, and I had a few girls, one being my one of my littles, resign from their position due to this major conflict.

[Emilyzd]

In my chapter we have 2 or 3 maybe even more that are RA's!!!!!!!! So I say if she can handle both do both!!!!

[khlkcca]

When I rushed there were two RAs that were in sororities. They were in different houses. We all knew which house they were in, but they did not discuss rush with us or wear letters during rush. However, in my hallway only two of us did not pledge the chapter that our RA belonged to, and in the other hallway the results were similar. I think it is difficult when you get to know your RA so much better than any of the women in the houses. If you like your RA, you have a good opinion of her sorority.

[KSUViolet06]

There wasn't a Office of Residence Life rule against RA's participating in recruitment at my school, but they couldn't because the recruitment days would fall on weekends that they were "on duty" and not allowed to leave the building for any length of time. If RA's wanted to join a sorority, they had to wait until spring and go through informal/COB (since those events were held on various days during the week).

As far as RA sorority members, I know we excused RA sisters from recruitment, because those were in the evening and conflicted with their weekend duty schedules. We usually had them perform extra set up duties to make up for the fact that they were missing the parties. RA's were also exempt from having to live in the sorority house.

[LucyKKG]

My chapter's president is an RA. She's super busy, but there's no rule against it.

[melsigkap]

I was an RA. There was no rule against it, but I could tell my supervisor was obviously not a fan. She tried to stay neutral though, which I appreciated. It was a very hard balance, I ended up not continuing this year.

[Zeta13Girl]

There is no rule on this at my school either, although the common stereotype is that sorority girls party too much and drink lots of alcohol. This being said the person in charge may feel that you would be a bad influence on any other residents that are living on the floor.

Our school does have a rule that forbids freshmen from living with any other upperclassmen even if they are friends. This is to try and minimize the bad influences of partying and drinking on the freshmen.