Rush - What to NOT do or say

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by winnie_tuck

I never said it was a question I asked, I said I don't consider it off limits. You ask girls what their major is, what high school they attended, etc. If the girls ask about BCM it's not taboo. Who doesn't enjoy a free meal. The former student gov president was a Delta Chi and president of the catholic association on campus. I know the Thetas house mom is a retired church choir director. I do not agree that religion is not a part of almost all members' lives.

Just because it's a part of their lives doesn't mean it needs to be discussed at that time.

I'm sure sex is a part of many college students' lives, but you don't go into a recruitment event asking "When was the last time you had sex?" Time and place.

[winnie_tuck]

The talk of religion on here is stated as something obscure and weird to bring up. I would make sure any chapter I was considering had some kind of Christian based beliefs.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by winnie_tuck

I never said it was a question I asked, I said I don't consider it off limits. You ask girls what their major is, what high school they attended, etc. If the girls ask about BCM it's not taboo. Who doesn't enjoy a free meal. The former student gov president was a Delta Chi and president of the catholic association on campus. I know the Thetas house mom is a retired church choir director. I do not agree that religion is not a part of almost all members' lives.

The stench is unmistakeable now.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by winnie_tuck

The talk of religion on here is stated as something obscure and weird to bring up. I would make sure any chapter I was considering had some kind of Christian based beliefs.

Uh huh.

[jazing]

Originally Posted by winnie_tuck

The talk of religion on here is stated as something obscure and weird to bring up. I would make sure any chapter I was considering had some kind of Christian based beliefs.

I would figure for a group like AEPhi it would be imperative to bring it up, right? I don't know about sorority recruitment so this is my question. Same thing goes for Sigma Delta Tau, another Jewish based organization.

[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by jazing

I would figure for a group like AEPhi it would be imperative to bring it up, right? I don't know about sorority recruitment so this is my question. Same thing goes for Sigma Delta Tau, another Jewish based organization.

NO. Not necessarily. Historically Jewish sororities now have members from many religious traditions; historically Christian sororities have the same. Much depends on the individual campus.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by winnie_tuck

I do not agree that religion is not a part of almost all members' lives.

Couldn't you fit one more negative in there somewhere?

Originally Posted by winnie_tuck

The talk of religion on here is stated as something obscure and weird to bring up.

Not appropriate to the time or place =/= obscure and weird to bring up.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by winnie_tuck

The talk of religion on here is stated as something obscure and weird to bring up. I would make sure any chapter I was considering had some kind of Christian based beliefs.

If a PNM brought this up during recruitment in front of me, I would assume that a person who is looking for "some kind of Christian based beliefs" would be uncomfortable in our chapter because we had sisters of other faiths. It would make me assume that the person was not a good match for our chapter.

PNMs should NOT bring up religion. It's too loaded a topic and they just don't know enough about the people to whom they are talking to raise such a sensitive subject.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

I do wonder about NPC recruitment at schools like Houston Baptist, which require Christian worship and other spiritual participation for graduation. I haven't been there, but it's hard to imagine that you could have a conversation about school without touching on religious topics at a college with that sort of mission.

I don't know. That kind of college is WAY outside of my experience.

If I were a PNM, I'd let the person recruiting me take the lead on that. I wouldn't bring it up, unless she did. In any event, I wouldn't focus on personal faith, but use it as opportunity to talk about my extra-curricular involvement (choir, youth leader, stuff like that).

Better safe than sorry.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

I do wonder about NPC recruitment at schools like Houston Baptist, which require Christian worship and other spiritual participation for graduation. I haven't been there, but it's hard to imagine that you could have a conversation about school without touching on religious topics at a college with that sort of mission.

laneswerving

Right, but at a school that like, it's safe to assume that these are values/attitudes shared by all students or they wouldn't have chosen to enroll there. That's not the case at the vast majority of schools. Isn't the idea of not talking about religion generally because one can't make that kind of assumption and therefore one never knows when when a foot might inadvertently end up in a mouth?

/back to my lane

[jazing]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

NO. Not necessarily. Historically Jewish sororities now have members from many religious traditions; historically Christian sororities have the same. Much depends on the individual campus.

While I get what you are saying, I find it very hard to believe a group like AEPhi won't question a girl about it. I say this because when we rush we ask about it, being in a similar situation. I just want to know how a sorority deals with it.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by jazing

While I get what you are saying, I find it very hard to believe a group like AEPhi won't question a girl about it. I say this because when we rush we ask about it, being in a similar situation. I just want to know how a sorority deals with it.

Sorority recruitment =\= fraternity recruitment.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by jazing

While I get what you are saying, I find it very hard to believe a group like AEPhi won't question a girl about it. I say this because when we rush we ask about it, being in a similar situation. I just want to know how a sorority deals with it.

I think that it is pretty obvious, on the sorority side, which PNM's are Jewish. Remember that we have their full names, hometowns, high schools, and often parents' names and affiliations as well. We also have lists of activities, like BBYO, USY, NFTY, etc., and "I was a camp counselor this summer" usually means Jewish up here (GC was the first time I'd ever heard of people going to camp that wasn't Jewish summer camp).

In fact, I'm pretty surprised that you say you ask guys if they are Jewish, because I would assume most of the guys you rush are people you already know, and through similar networks.

I think the larger concern, at my school, was the information going in the other direction. AEPhi and SDT were diverse, but still predominantly Jewish, and I think they would typically bring this up with non-Jewish women at 2nd invitational. By then, I think there was enough chatter among PNM's for everyone to know they were the "Jewish houses", but I definitely understand why they would want to be certain the PNM's had that information before deciding with preference parties to attend. At schools where those chapters are not predominantly Jewish, I doubt it would even be a conversation.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by jazing

While I get what you are saying, I find it very hard to believe a group like AEPhi won't question a girl about it. I say this because when we rush we ask about it, being in a similar situation. I just want to know how a sorority deals with it.

1. There are 26 NPC sororities.

2. There are 75 NIC fraternities.

3. One of NPC's functions is to create a "level playing field" for all of its groups, as far as rush and expansion are concerned. This is not true in the NIC.

4. Many NIC fraternities have a narrow focus, such as Beta Sigma Psi (you have to be Lutheran) or Triangle (you can only join if you are pursuing one of several majors).

5. 3 and 4 would by necessity be mutually exclusive.

In other words, there may be chapters of AEPhi and SDT with nary a Jewish woman in them.

[BraveMaroon]

Back about 20 years ago, as rushers during house tour (3rd round), we were told we had to say "We were founded by five Christian women at Colby College in 1874" at some point - just to let people know...

The same "full disclosure" happened at both the two Jewish houses and the two Christian houses I visited as a rushee.

I was raised in a mixed religion household, so either way, I was good to go, but I can see where with some girls it would have been a BIG FREAKING DEAL.

But that was a long time ago - wonder if they still do that?