Five Towson Sororities on Probation (Alcohol)

[ladygreek]

Will someone either PM me and give me a synopsis on what is a recruitment counselor or refer me to a link.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

Will someone either PM me and give me a synopsis on what is a recruitment counselor or refer me to a link.

They are sorority women who "disaffiliate" (as to be impartial) for a few weeks to help the girls through rush.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by 33girl

In the olden days, most of the sororities on my campus had a mixer on pledge pickup/bid day - we preferred to have a party as then if the girls had boyfriends or other people they wanted to share the event with them, they could invite them over with no problem. I've always thought it was kind of silly to go straight to a mixer with a bunch of dudes you don't know - I think this was the main reason NPC got rid of it. It took the focus off sisterhood and put it on OMG THAT SIGMA CHI WITH TEH BLUE SHIRT ON IS REALLY CUTE.

But of course, as far as parties or mixers are concerned - all they have to do is wait until the day after Bid Day to hold it.

That was you?

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Each chapter should be held responsible, but so should the university and panhellenic advisor who have the authority in this situation.

Each chapter is being held responsible, hence the probations. And unless you're privy to private discussions amongst the university and its employees, you're probably unaware of what repercussions the panhellenic adviser is facing. It seems, from what little info I have to go on, the university is making a smart move by placing certain chapters on probation. And if the chapters in question were identified (at least in part) because of pictures on facebook, then perhaps these chapters will learn to represent themselves a little more smartly.

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I just find it unreasonable to ruin the first year for the NMs who were punished twice by ruining their bid day with drunk recruitment counselors then ruining their year with probations.

It's unfair for you to hold the university responsible for "ruining" the NMs' experiences. The university didn't force the recruitment counselors to drink. NMs have only their drunk counselors to thank for that (if, in fact, NMs would say that their Bid Day was ruined because their counselors were drunk). Regarding the NMs year being ruined because of probations... well, the probation is in effect until, what?, Spring Break? So, that's roughly five calendar months. One of those months is winter break, so there's really no loss there. So, they're really looking at four months of no mixers/formals. For this kind of infraction, I'm inclined to think that four months is quite lenient.

I understand that it's a bad situation. But until I find out more about what actually happened, and based on what I've read so far, I'm supportive of the university's decision. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, NPC has to say about this.

[Tom Earp]

"If" and I say if this happened then the blame is there for the Advisers and the members, they knew the rules.

If they were in violation then whose fault is it?

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Tom Earp

"If" and I say if this happened then the blame is there for the Advisers and the members, they knew the rules.

If they were in violation then whose fault is it?

I'm Ron Burgundy?

[fantASTic]

You know, the more I read about this, the more I think it's just. They knew it was wrong - whether it was tradition or not. Hazing is a tradition in many chapters and schools, yet we all know it's wrong. If we choose to do it, we must be prepared to accept the consequences. These women represent their sorority, and all the sororities deserve to be punished.

Greek Life cannot afford to keep around schools which flaunt the rules like this. It becomes a liability as opposed to a benefit.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Each chapter is being held responsible, hence the probations. And unless you're privy to private discussions amongst the university and its employees, you're probably unaware of what repercussions the panhellenic adviser is facing. It seems, from what little info I have to go on, the university is making a smart move by placing certain chapters on probation. And if the chapters in question were identified (at least in part) because of pictures on facebook, then perhaps these chapters will learn to represent themselves a little more smartly.



It's unfair for you to hold the university responsible for "ruining" the NMs' experiences. The university didn't force the recruitment counselors to drink. NMs have only their drunk counselors to thank for that (if, in fact, NMs would say that their Bid Day was ruined because their counselors were drunk). Regarding the NMs year being ruined because of probations... well, the probation is in effect until, what?, Spring Break? So, that's roughly five calendar months. One of those months is winter break, so there's really no loss there. So, they're really looking at four months of no mixers/formals. For this kind of infraction, I'm inclined to think that four months is quite lenient.

I understand that it's a bad situation. But until I find out more about what actually happened, and based on what I've read so far, I'm supportive of the university's decision. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, NPC has to say about this.

I don't know how the university is dealing with their own employees...that is the problem. For the university to pretend that the chapters on this campus are the only problems in this situation is ridiculous! They have done everything they can to paint these chapters as rogue groups breaking rules that have been strictly enforced which is far from the truth. If they want to publicize this incident, they should publicize the whole truth. This event did not occur in a vacuum. My opinion is that everything that led up to this event occurring should be aired so that it doesn't happen again. The university apparently doesn't care about the bad press to the sororities and their (inter)national groups, but they won't accept the bad press that they deserve as well. As for the NMs, the recruitment counselors were definitely the cause of any ruined bid day experiences, but again, this didn't occur without the knowledge and implied consent of the panhellenic advisor. I think they were all wrong in this event. I certainly don't condone underage drinking or drinking on campus. These women made very poor decisions, but I don't feel their sisters are the cause of this or are guilty of the offense. We don't punish family members for the offenses of their children/siblings, etc. Why is an entire organization guilty for the offenses of a single member? Where does this stop? Are the sisters from another campus to blame as well? The (inter)national organization?

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I don't know how the university is dealing with their own employees...that is the problem.

That really isn't any of your business. If the Panhellenic Adviser is fired, you'll be made aware of it, even if only by seeing the advertisement for his/her replacement. But aside from that, employee discipline generally isn't public, and for good reason.

[AlphaXi4983]

Originally Posted by fantASTic

You know, the more I read about this, the more I think it's just. They knew it was wrong - whether it was tradition or not. Hazing is a tradition in many chapters and schools, yet we all know it's wrong. If we choose to do it, we must be prepared to accept the consequences. These women represent their sorority, and all the sororities deserve to be punished.

Greek Life cannot afford to keep around schools which flaunt the rules like this. It becomes a liability as opposed to a benefit.

This is not a new problem at Towson. It was a problem when I pledged, it was a problem before I was there, it was a widely known (within the greek system) problem when I was active, it's just that no one did anything about it. One of my sisters was rushed to the hospital on Bid Day for almost the exact same reasons as we saw this Bid Day. It was common knowledge that Rho Chis showed up to the field drunk, many of the sisters drank before and I'm sure there were even pledges that did the same. I know of at least once incident where sisters of one of the sororities would drink in the garage before bid day and not even get caught. The girls knew it was wrong - they're not stupid, they just don't expect to get caught becuase Towson has been, in my opinion, notoriously flawed in dealing with issues in the Greek system unless the national gets involved.

The reason they got caught this time? They were stupid enough to post pictures of themselves drinking on Bid Night on Facebook. Really now - how dumb can you be? We were always told that any Bid Day activities were to be dry. The rush process is going to be dry. Did people drink? Yes. But we didn't have Facebook to post it on. They were wrong. They know it. They're just pissed they got caught and called out on it. And I'm not just talking about the 5 on probation - I'm talking about all 8, my chapter included. Kudos to Towson for finally having the balls to act. I whole-heartedly support their decisions.

[Just interested]

Amen

[JaimeNicole]

[QUOTE=blackngoldengrl;1536852]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

This is

This is Maryland. We don't do rush that way, as in before school starts and all. Even at the University of Maryland, it isn't done this way. And not all the sisters live in the house either.

Maryland does not provide housing because recruitment (formal and informal) occurs while school is in session. No need for special accommodations..... We also allow recruitment counselors to live in the chapter house - most just use back doors. Our greek housing is so far from freshmen housing, a PNM would have to be extremely stalkerish to figure out where the recruitment counselors lived.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlphaXi4983

This is not a new problem at Towson. It was a problem when I pledged, it was a problem before I was there, it was a widely known (within the greek system) problem when I was active, it's just that no one did anything about it. One of my sisters was rushed to the hospital on Bid Day for almost the exact same reasons as we saw this Bid Day. It was common knowledge that Rho Chis showed up to the field drunk, many of the sisters drank before and I'm sure there were even pledges that did the same. I know of at least once incident where sisters of one of the sororities would drink in the garage before bid day and not even get caught. The girls knew it was wrong - they're not stupid, they just don't expect to get caught becuase Towson has been, in my opinion, notoriously flawed in dealing with issues in the Greek system unless the national gets involved.

The reason they got caught this time? They were stupid enough to post pictures of themselves drinking on Bid Night on Facebook. Really now - how dumb can you be? We were always told that any Bid Day activities were to be dry. The rush process is going to be dry. Did people drink? Yes. But we didn't have Facebook to post it on. They were wrong. They know it. They're just pissed they got caught and called out on it. And I'm not just talking about the 5 on probation - I'm talking about all 8, my chapter included. Kudos to Towson for finally having the balls to act. I whole-heartedly support their decisions.

I'm sorry, but I have a giant problem giving "kudos" to a school that knew this was going on for years, to the point of people getting rushed to the hospital, and the only reason they used any discipline is because pictures showed up on Facebook. That sounds an awful lot like "do things that might be injurious to yourselves or others, things that are against your national rules, as long as you don't embarrass the school."

AOII Angel, I agree w/ everything you said.

[AlphaXi4983]

The problem is, even if the school knows its going on, it can be hard to take action until they have tangible proof that it's going on - and what better way than sisters self-incriminating by handing out photos for the world to see? There have been cases where the university has taken action against individuals or even certain chapters, but this if the first time (that I know of) where it has been addressed as a wide-spread problem.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlphaXi4983

The problem is, even if the school knows its going on, it can be hard to take action until they have tangible proof that it's going on - and what better way than sisters self-incriminating by handing out photos for the world to see? There have been cases where the university has taken action against individuals or even certain chapters, but this if the first time (that I know of) where it has been addressed as a wide-spread problem.

A member having to go to the HOSPITAL isn't tangible proof??

And for what it's worth, photos can be altered or doctored. I would find them the least credible thing to hang something on, and one of these days that's going to happen - photoshopped photos online expressly to get a group in trouble and the group fights it.