Rho Chi/Gamma Duties - venting

[Opie25]

The Rho Chi's/Rho Gammas do actually do help a lot administratively as well during fromal recruitment...that probably actually is where most of their time will be spent the weeks leading up to and during recruitment.

Another important reason for Rho Gamma's is to give that emotional support and encouragement that some of the PNM's may need. It helps on retention....and I think anyone who has helped out during the formal recruitment process knows that retention for the week is an important thing....if PNM's are not retained, and a lot of women drop, or get droped last minute, it could really through off the whole quota system....not that we want to get into the whole quota debate...but just another factor to think about when considering the usefulness of rho gammas.

As far as women (and men) being grown adults, I absolutely agree, however, I do work on a college campus and maybe it's just my campus, but believe me they do need that extra bit of guidance to help them out.

We are also dealing with a generation of college students that have been programed, signed-up, and active in numerous organizations by the time they reach college (by their parents). Students (generally speaking) of this generation also might have the MOST involved parents of any previous generation since the 1950's!

So some (not all) may need that extra guidance (because they are used to it, and have had it throughout their lives)....and if the women are trained properly, and people hold each other accountable the rho gamma system should be able to function better, and with less back fighting and name calling...but that would be in a perfect world....wouldn't it?

Thanks for listening.

[alphaiota]

fuzziealum - you're right, they do have a lot of duties that are vital to the entire rush process and yes they are suppose to be there for moral support and so on, but the issue lies in the area of influencing the PNM's decision concerning one sorority or another. it's not the PX's place to tell a PNM anything at all about any of the sororities, yet they still do. that is where the problem comes in. my PX finally warmed up to me towards the end of rush, but she did screw my chances at her sorority as well as another. once she had a good idea of where most of the girls would end up and found out that we knew where she was affiliated, she became very nice to everyone.

shelley j
sigma k

[G8Ralphaxi]

Originally posted by dzrose93
Someone mentioned that Rho Chis at UF discouraged rushees from being interested in the new DZ colony that is starting this year. I was pretty upset about that, because Rho Chis are put into their positions for one reason -- to be UNBIASED. It certainly didn't sound like some of them were living up to that role.

Fortunately, the colony seems to have accumulated a large number of interested women despite the negative comments, so I'm looking forward to hearing about a successful rush very soon!

What, the UF PX's not being unbiased?!?!?! You're kidding me!!!!

Oh, I wouldn't doubt it. In my four years in undergrad, I learned VERY quickly to not trust the PX's at UF at all. We were a struggling chapter and it was so frustrating to work so hard at rush, and then find out from our new member classes that their PX's told them things like we were the smallest chapter on campus (which wasn't true until the last year).

Or even worse, total lies - I had one rushee ask me what kind of trouble did we get in that they had to kick out so many people (no trouble! we never had a single risk management, etc. problem).

Every year we had rushees say that the PX's told them we were getting kicked off campus. My senior year, our two PX's came back to the house in tears after hearing some of their fellow PX's say so many nasty things about us all week.

Delta Zeta, I wish you the best of luck. UF's greek system is not for the faint of heart. There's some good people, true, but unfortunately there's also a lot of people that I would never trust.

[ToBeSororityGrl]

Reading all the PX stories was so unbelievable! My PX this year was sooo awesome. I had known her affiliation and just to see how pumped she would get for every party was amazing. She would run around screaming "30 SECONDS LADIES!!!!" and just make everyone soooo nervous because she made it seem to easy. She knew I knew which sorority was in and even offered to have me talk with someone else in case I felt I couldn't confide in her and I told her I felt completely confident in her and that if I could I'd have her as a big sis, because she made greek life awesome as did all the other PXs. Hopefully there are more happy PX stories out there compared to bad ones. They really help to put the rush stress at bay and to make it a nice time

[Peaches-n-Cream]

When we would select our Rho Chi's, they would disaffiliate completely from the sorority until bids were distributed. It was very hard on them. One day I was wearing letters and saw a sister of another sorority who was a rho chi. She said that she couldn't hang out with anyone in letters even if they weren't hers because it might influence the rushees. The rho chis didn't attend their chapter meetings or dinners or anything. They all hung out with each other. I never heard of any of the problems that you are experiencing. I guess that I was lucky.

The rho chis shouldn't report back to their chapters what the PNMs said about them because it could definitely affect the outcome of the recruitment process. I figure a rho chi is like a priest, and anything that a PNM says during rush is confidential.

[Tom Earp]

Ah newsun, sometimes bliss is a breautiful thing!

The Pan HELL does more to deter the growth of of new Soroitys on a school campus! Let us protect our little group on Campus!

Why do not they grow up and find out that that dam not all womeen on campi find that the Soroitys are all the right ones for them?

It is an economic and ergonmic situation! Live or die by getting off of the Duff!

Rush get new members or be gone!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the Chapers choice, not some nebulas person sitting on a dam throne some where deciding you life!

I want to rush, but, I am a legacy and my Soroity is not there!
I want to rush, but they are all Blondes!
I want to rush but I do not like any of the people there!

Just Whom makes up the P Hell? members of the Soroity Greeks!

Get with the Program and change it!

Hell, I wanted to be a rocket man! Well, I am not that dam smart so I am not!

I took a battery of test one time and the only thing I was not qualifies for was being a Brain Sturgeon!

Yepo, That is wat I wanted to be! Also mechanically Challenged

Well so much for the life af an intern of life!

[justamom]

TOM! ROFLMAO!!!

Funny Stuff! LOL! Much truth!

[KappaKittyCat]

Mr. Earp,

While I usually agree with you (and always respect your opinion regardless), I'm going to have to voice my disagreement with you on this one. I refer you to the conclusion reached on your "Sorority Quotas?" thread. Men should not attempt to understand NPC Recruitment because they will not be able to comprehend it. Sure, to men, it looks stupid on the outside. But from the inside we can see that it works when the system is not abused.

I'm going to say that again.

It works when the system is not abused.

I would even go so far as to say that it works very well when the system is not abused. It gets the job done. Recruitment Counselors, whatever we call them from campus-to-campus, are an integral part of the system.

There was a thread last year about the large number of unmached PNMs at one school with a very large Greek system. I do not remember the school; perhaps it could have been that there were several such threads. Regardless, the number of bidless PNMs is not the problem. It is merely the most visible symptom of the problem. The problem could be that the school needs to expand, or that the campus Panhellenic needs to raise chapter total, or that chapters need to utilize snap bidding, quota additions, or release figures more prudently. Whatever the case, the number of bidless PNMs (to continue with this example), can be reduced without saying, "To hell with the system, let's free-for-all!"

And honestly, that's what NIC rush seems like to me and many of my fellow Greek women: a free-for-all. The dirty rushing that goes on with fraternities is of a completely different nature than that which goes on in sororities. If we had a system like yours, it would be an even bigger mess than it is now. We'd kill each other.

I invite you to read through some of the rush threads on here where the PNMs talk about how fabulous and supportive their Recruitment Counselors have been. My personal theory is that for every bad Recruitment Counselor, there are at least two good ones. This thread is for venting, primarily. Look at the thread title.

And I can say that in the past year, our campus panhellenic has done more to encourage the growth of the Greek system on my campus than they've done to harm it. They certainly helped our chapter quite a bit. So I'd suggest that you hesitate to criticize something that you don't understand.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
KKC

[Tom Earp]

First off, while I admit that I did not read through the total Post, before I go any further, Mr. Is my Father.

While I am Mature, I try my best Not To Be Old! Of course that may be a matter of oppinion!

Yes, I totally disagree with what the PAN Hell says!

Our NEW Greek Life Event Cooredinater and I got into a discussion at Our Local Mentoring Session of which she attended on her own time on a weekend spent the time with us!

She is a DZ from our most hatted rival in sports and one of my ex colleges was a very enlightening people in the Greek Life Part of My College in a long time and I salute her!

Yes it is abused when No other Soroity can come on a Campus because the Chapters cannot fill the QUOTAS!

Do We as Greeks Want to Protect our little feifdom or let the Greek Societys Grow!

I have 2 questions:

Are You afraid of competition?

Do You fear for your Chapters long termness?

We of the NIC stand on what we do, not what someone tries to protect us with!


Do Or Die, LX! If we do not make it,we are gone!

Do it or get the heck off and dont impede the Greek World. We have enuff enimies in the world of non beleivers!

Get with it, do not You see that we as Greeks are becoming less and less!

Yes, not all are up to snuff. They all have their adgenda as they ar human and BIAS!

Do you see the point!

Not All are bisas!

Why in the heck do they put a member of Sorority through that anyway!?

You as A Soroity annailinate a member of your Org so that everything can be on the and up!

Sorry, but BS! Why do that to one of your Sisters?

Cruel and inhuman punishment animal or a Sister!

Get off your toad stool and see real life!

I live in Kansas, what part of never land do you live in?

Well, I think, I will go have fish and chips for dinner and hope I do not screw up the Chips!


No Offense given, and hope no offense taken!

[KDbutterfly]

Originally posted by Tom Earp

Get with it, do not You see that we as Greeks are becoming less and less!

Are there statistics to back up your statement that the greek system as a whole is declining? If so, where are they located? Just curious.

[CarolinaDG]

One of our rho chis told the girls who the smallest chapter was and who the biggest chapter was, and explained that it was supposedly "better" to be the biggest chapter (she was actually from the biggest chapter).

Another problem that I ran into this year was the whole "going out" subject. Rushees are not supposed to go out, especially to fraternity halls, so that they don't run into sorority women. Rho Chis are supposed to make sure that not only do they know this, but they plan events so that they don't go to the fraternity halls. The first or second night of rush, I wanted to go visit one of my guy friends that I hadn't seen all summer, so I went to his room, thinking that it was too early for any girls to be over there, anyway, and there wasn't a party going on, so that shouldn't have been an issue. There was a group of about 3 rushees, one of which came into his room (which I was hiding in when I found out that they were up there) and proceeded to introduce herself to me, not knowing that I was in a sorority. I was also invited to SEVERAL rush parties for one fraternity, and I felt completely mean by the end of the week, because I had turned the guy down every day. Why should I have to be the one hiding? Why should I have to be the one who can't go to parties so that these girls can go out? I went through rush, I did the whole staying in deal... why can't rho chis just make sure that their girls understand that this is not a cool thing to do?

Anyway, enough Rho Chi venting, I have one more rush vent to do... this year, a sister of one sorority told one of the rushees that another sorority was a "lesbian sorority" and that's why they didn't mix with anyone. Those were both lies. I could have told plenty of lies about other sororities, but why would I want to? If a girl chooses a particular sorority even though I didn't like them, I won't say, "Yeah, they were my last choice because they are the most unclassy girls I have ever met." Please. Where's the greek unity?

[KappaKittyCat]

CarolinaDG

Yeah, because of one member, we were known as the "lesbian sorority" too. It sucks. Way to scare off the PNMs. Except it wasn't only the other sororities; it was the fraternities, too.

Thanks, kids.

Tom,

I believe you're mixing up two very important terms for sororities. Total is set by Panhellenic and is the goal for every chapter on campus. Quota is the number of women attending the last invitational round divided by the number of chapters (at least that's how my campus does it. Talk to Barbara for more detail there).

Allow me to enlighten you as to my campus's situation.

Our total is 50. We have three orgs. None of the chapters are at total. Chapters are at 42, 39, and 15 (rebuilding from a reorganization effort last year). There is no need to lower total. PNMs are not going bidless. Therefore, there is no need for another org to come onto my campus. Nobody has tried to bring another one on. There is simply not enough interest. Twenty years ago, total was at 70 and the chapters hovered in the 60s. Total has lowered in accordance with the declining number of women going through Recruitment.

This fall we essentially did bring a new org onto campus. Mine.

Zeta Epsilon Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma began the year with four women. Our pitch was, "Rush Kappa and build a new chapter." That's essentially what we have now: a new chapter. Why would we need to bring an entirely different organization onto campus when we can offer the same building opportunities? If we had died, there would not have been another chapter to come on campus. It would have gone from three to two.

Your questions.

1. Do I fear competition?

No, I do not fear competition. Now ZE Kappa is competitive again. I'm saying that there is not enough interest on my campus to make further competition necessary. It would be disasterous for NPC to expand onto my campus. Instead of splitting 30 PNMs three ways every winter, we'd have to split them four ways. All the orgs would shrink and it would hurt everyone in the long run. It's simple supply and demand. We need to increase the demand for orgs before we supply more.

2. Do I fear for the longevity of my chapter?

Not anymore. But I did.

I rushed a dying organization. I knew this when I rushed it, but I didn't care because I loved the women who were to be my sisters with a passion and I loved the Ideals that Kappa Kappa Gamma stands for. I became our membership chair. I ran my office from Italy for four months because there was nobody on campus to do it. I held it together with four other sisters while other orgs on campus had 40 members each and were talking trash about us both behind our backs and to our faces. We rushed our little butts off and we came up with 10 beautiful, strong new members. Fabulous women. I had people I didn't even know coming up to me and complimenting the job we'd done. Now we are competitive.

The only reason we're still here is that certain members of our Grand Council were present at Zeta Epsilon's installation twenty years ago. They got together and said, "ZE's not going down on our watch." They agreed to stand behind us with one more push. They enlisted the help of alumnae and other active members from other chapters. Sisters we did not even know rallied behind us. Last year was do or die. If we didn't make it, they'd pull the plug. Well, we did. And each of us is stronger to show for it.

And the GDIs on my campus? They would have laughed, rejoiced, and paraded in the streets to see another chapter fold. Or they wouldn't have even noticed. Now, I can't reach the ones who would parade in the streets. But I can reach the ones who wouldn't have noticed. I can make them notice. I can make them want to become Greek, or at least be an Independent supporter. And then, when the number of PNMs has reached a point where we have room, where we have a demand for another chapter, then bring it on. I'd like nothing better to expand the Greek sisterhood on my campus. I'd love to bring Pi Phi, Alpha Chi, or Kappa Delta back to Lawrence. I'd love for Panhel to be strong again. But in order for those sororities not to wither on the vine within ten years of arriving at Lawrence, Kappa needs to be strong first so that we can help them.

I'm the first VP now, the VP Standards. I went to National Convention in Orlando in June with our President and our second VP, the VP Organization. I got to walk up the aisle with my active sisters and two ZE alumnae sisters who are now chapter advisors, to receive our national Recruitment award. I got to hear our Grand President tell me how proud she is of me, of all of us. Numerous women came up to me after reading my chapter name on my nametag and compliment me. I had our past Grand President, last year's NPC president, tell me that ZE Chapter's efforts over the past year are the embodiment of the spirit of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Nobody thought we could do it. We did it.

I'm getting very emotional, Tom. As I write this, I'm actually fighting back tears. I think how close I came to losing what has become the most important thing in my life. I think how much I've put into Kappa, and how much she's given back. And it hurts me more than anything else to hear someone who doesn't even know what I've been through suggest that my chapter should have sacrificed itself to bring someone else on campus for the health of Greek life.

Well, Greek life isn't healthy on my campus, but it's getting back there. Our rebirth is making it healthier. If we hadn't been reborn, there would have just been a hole where we were. No new chapter.

I can't even respond to the rest of your post. I can't understand what you're referring to, and I'm way to emotional to make a logical, rational argument.

I'm here to tell you that it was worth it.

[GPhiBLtColonel]

...kappakittykat -- wow! sounds like you need to start a thread on reviving chapters that many would write off -- I am proud of what you did and I even had a lump in my throat reading your post -- all I can say is Way to Go Kappa!

[texas*princess]

KappaKittyKat,
Your post made me tear up! I think it is strong members like you that help greek systems stay alive. Many schools have dying Greek systems and other GLO's, and while many people may dismiss the idea of becoming part of it, exceptional people go through the recruitment and stick with their organization through good times and bad to help them out as much as they can.

Best wishes to you and your chapter!

[dzrose93]

KappaKittyCat,

Honey, all I have to say is: Well Done. Your post was wonderful, and, even though I'm not a Kappa, I'm overwhelmingly proud of you and your chapter at this moment.

Greek Love,
dzrose93