Should Legacies omit That Fact on Recruitment Applications?

[AGDee]

For us, a Legacy Introduction Form is different from a rec.

Someone brought up a good point about who is going to verify whether they are really a legacy if there is no formal way to notify the chapter. The Panhellenic forms I've seen always just asked for basic info, not names, contact info, etc. We aren't just going to take someone's word for it.

Last year, at my chapter of initiation, they obtained a new member who didn't know she was a legacy until she called her mom to tell her she had gone through recruitment and received a bid from Alpha Gamma Delta. Her mom attended Initiation and it was fun to talk to her because she had graduated right before I was initiated and we knew a lot of the same people. It was very fun. However, she had clearly never talked about sorority life to her daughter as her daughter didn't even know that her mom had been in a sorority.

I know that was a hijack, but it was a fun and cute story.

Dee

[pinkyphimu]

Originally posted by 33girl
And even if they do, not all of the moms are aware of it. They might know enough to tell the daughter they were a XYZ at State U, but that's all they know - they have no clue about rec forms or anything like that. (And those are the ones who usually scream the loudest when their daughter doesn't receive a bid.) If we are going to use legacy status as a preferential type of treatment, we can't say it's only for the daughters whose moms/grandmas/sisters have a clue.

Not to mention, there are people out there who are legacies but whose mom/grandma/sister may have passed away and it's hard to get rec forms in the Great Beyond.

i think this is very important to remember. the alums on this site are all very involved and we know about these kinds of things, but this is not the case for everyone. i hate to bring up the north/south differences, but i think it is differnent in each area. here, where being in a sorority is not a big deal, then it is also not as big of a deal to stay involved after graduation. honestly, most of my chapter sisters are not involved as alumnae. when their daughters are going thru recruitment down the line, they won't have a clue about legacy forms, etc., etc.

i also know someone who found out after she was a sorority member for 3 years that her mom was a member of another npc. this npc wasn't on her campus, so it never mattered. her mom was supportive when she went through rush and everything, but never even thought to mention that she was in a sorority, too.

when i was a collegiate, we had 2 phi mu legacies come thru. we knew about both prior to rush, but it was not because we received legacy forms. both women had sisters who were current members at other chapters. one had met some of our chapter members at leadership conference and said my sister is a student there. we found out about the other when we were visiting a nearby chapter on a road trip.

[33girl]

Originally posted by ASUADPi
I think it is important for the chapters to know if they have a legacy going through recruitment or not. You definately wouldn't want to cut one by accident then reap the horrors of it later.

I remember a chapter getting reamed out because they cut a double legacy. This was at a school which explicitly stated they did not use or accept rec forms. There was a box on the rush app to check if you were a legacy, but the rushee apparently had not. All of which leads me to believe the rushee really didn't want anything to do with rush but went through it to please mom and grandma and it was easier to blame not getting a bid on the chapter.

As we've said so many times on here before, GC posters are not necessarily representative of the general sorority population. Just because we all know about rec forms and legacy introductions does not mean the average alum does - unless she's in a multigenerational Greek family. This way if there's a "nudge" on the application asking this, the girls can ask their mothers or sisters.

It IS a really dumb reason to cut someone, but among the many dumb reasons to cut someone at huge schools, it honestly is one that makes a tad bit of sense. It certainly isn't any dumber than cutting sophomores.

[acuisla]

Originally posted by 33girl
I remember a chapter getting reamed out because they cut a double legacy. This was at a school which explicitly stated they did not use or accept rec forms. There was a box on the rush app to check if you were a legacy, but the rushee apparently had not. All of which leads me to believe the rushee really didn't want anything to do with rush but went through it to please mom and grandma and it was easier to blame not getting a bid on the chapter.

Originally posted by SmartBlondeGPhB
To me it says a lot if a member doesn't turn in a legacy intro form for a PNM. I would wonder if the member doesn't want to claim the woman as a legacy.

Yup. We had a situation last year where the girl did not let us know that she was a legacy on her PHC form, and her sister (who had just graduated from the house and was not in good standing) did not fill out a rec of any kind, or any introduction, or any email or phone call, and then raised all kinds of cain when the chapter cut her sister.



I wish that there was not a campus culture of "let's cut this girl because she's a legacy and is OBVIOUSLY going to go to house XYZ - why waste the space in our invite list on her?" It's hard for me, because I went to a school where there was not that culture. It was more towards the "rush her harder - we'll steal her away" attitude. But both of those attitudes are somewhat detrimental to the PNM.

[Lindz928]

Originally posted by acuisla

I wish that there was not a campus culture of "let's cut this girl because she's a legacy and is OBVIOUSLY going to go to house XYZ - why waste the space in our invite list on her?" It's hard for me, because I went to a school where there was not that culture. It was more towards the "rush her harder - we'll steal her away" attitude. But both of those attitudes are somewhat detrimental to the PNM.

As unlikely as it may sound, my campus had both of these mentalities. There is a difference between, "Patty PNM's grandmother was an XYZ and her sister is an ABC- let's rush her harder and get her!" and "Patty PNM is a tripple legacy to XYZ and has a sitting sister there". We did try to "steal" legacies to other houses.... but there comes a point where we would just assume that Patty is gonna be an XYZ. I hope that makes some kind of sense.

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Originally posted by AGDee
For us, a Legacy Introduction Form is different from a rec.

Us too

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally posted by ASUADPi
Plus I'm pretty sure with ADPi we have to get permission to drop a legacy (but don't quote me on this). Other chapters might be the same.

You have to get permission? From whom?

[KSUViolet06]

We don't need permission, but we DO have to NOTIFY nationals AND the legacy tie (mom, sister, grandmother).

[honeychile]

Originally posted by KappaKittyCat
You have to get permission? From whom?

I realize that you all don't have to get permission, but we do, depending upon the "intensity" of the legacy. For the most part, the Province Director will call the relative of a to-be-dropped legacy, but with a "major" legacy (2 generations+ or the descendant of an Adelphean), EO has to be told.



ETA: I've told the story of our 5-generation legacy a few thousand times on GC. We were NOT permitted to drop her (even though she didn't even want to go greek!).

[dgdramadawg]

(1)I wrote a rec for a girl this year whose mother specifically asked me not to write her house's name on the section of the form that asks for family Greek affiliations. The girl's mother also asked her not to put this on the NPC registration form. Her mother believed that she might be cut by non-Jewish houses if they found out her mother was in a Jewish sorority, because her friends had said that this was protocol for many of the traditionally Christian houses at the school. Her mother told her to leave it off the form so that all options would be open to her. The girl ended up very happy in the house she pledged, but still preffed and considered joining her mom's sorority (without anyone knowing she was a legacy there).

While I can't imagine denying my letters, I can understand choosing to omit the legacy info so that all of the options remain open.

(2)I also wrote a rec for a girl this year who purposely did not list her sister's Greek affiliation on the information for her registration and sponsorship forms. Her sister's chapter is a smaller chapter at that school, so this girl decided to hide her sister's affiliation so people would not think of her in terms of that house. Her mother supported this choice.

I think this is dishonest. Whereas in the first situation, the mother had reason to believe that her daughter would only have a chance at other houses if the information was omitted, the girl in the second situation had no reason to believe that larger houses would cut her just because her older sister was in a smaller chapter. Plus, wouldn't friends of the older sister in the larger chapters recognize this dishonesty and possibly cut her for doing something so nasty as to pretend she didn't have a sister on campus?

[Lindz928]

Originally posted by dgdramadawg


I think this is dishonest. Whereas in the first situation, the mother had reason to believe that her daughter would only have a chance at other houses if the information was omitted, the girl in the second situation had no reason to believe that larger houses would cut her just because her older sister was in a smaller chapter. Plus, wouldn't friends of the older sister in the larger chapters recognize this dishonesty and possibly cut her for doing something so nasty as to pretend she didn't have a sister on campus?

I agree with you. And to answer your question with a personal opinion... YES!

[gwen1982]

I'm not sure how it's all done now with formal recruitment. The chapter I'm an advisor at only has open and informal. When I went through Rush, there were separate forms - one to fill out if you wanted to go through rush, and then something like a postcard size thing if you were a legacy. If you were a legacy to more than one GLO - like mom was ABC and grandma was XYZ - you had to fill out a card for each. Those cards went to the respective organizations only, if they were on campus. I know for us (Theta Phi Alpha), our Recruitment Chair has to report on whether or not any legacies went through recruitment, if they went to Prefs, and why they were or were not given a bid. In our organization, it is considered extremely bad form to invite a legacy to Prefs and not extend a bid. And I can understand that. If you felt strongly enough to invite her to Prefs, there was obviously something you thought she had. If bids don't match, that's another story, but if a legacy doesn't click with the rest of the group, she should be cut before Prefs. Imho, of course

[honeychile]

If this belongs in its own thread, Mods, please feel free to move it or tell me.

I've always wondered about one thing: what if you have a relative (in my case, a great-grandmother & a great-aunt) who was in a local sorority which became a national GLO? Is that considered a legacy situation? Or is that one of those case by case situations?

[texas*princess]

When I was on the "other side" of FR, and when we knew a woman coming through was a legacy to another chapter, if we really wanted her, we would try to rush her even more! I don't remember it being a "negative" if a person was a legacy to another house... but maybe that's just my school

[gwen1982]

Originally posted by honeychile
I've always wondered about one thing: what if you have a relative (in my case, a great-grandmother & a great-aunt) who was in a local sorority which became a national GLO? Is that considered a legacy situation? Or is that one of those case by case situations? [/B]

I think it depends on the GLO. I know we were always willing to initiate alumnae members from locals that were later chartered to us. They were still technically sisters of the local, but the local doesn't exist as its own entity once it's chartered to a national. I think it just depends on what national they charter through.