Little Chapter, Big Recruitment: Spring 2009 - Page 6

silverpearls · #1 02-03-2009, 06:19 PM

Just a quick update - we just got our numbers in and we'll be having a little over 80 PNMs at Pref. I haven't seen the list of who's coming... but I have high hopes!!

groovypq · #2 02-03-2009, 06:40 PM

good luck!!! I hope it goes super well!

PenguinTrax · #3 02-03-2009, 07:45 PM

Great returns for Pref. Talk with your Advisors, but I think you should be cutting a bit more during the week so that by the time you get to the round before pref, you are only extending 125-150 invites, max. It shows that you are as selective as the other, larger, chapters on campus. I've seen this tactic used with a couple small chapters on a campus of BIG chapters, and it really has a positive effect. Again, speak with your Advisors and National Officers, first.

Good luck!

silverpearls · #4 02-03-2009, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PenguinTrax

Great returns for Pref. Talk with your Advisors, but I think you should be cutting a bit more during the week so that by the time you get to the round before pref, you are only extending 125-150 invites, max. It shows that you are as selective as the other, larger, chapters on campus. I've seen this tactic used with a couple small chapters on a campus of BIG chapters, and it really has a positive effect. Again, speak with your Advisors and National Officers, first.

I wish we could! Our release figures are such that we aren't allowed to release very many at all.

PenguinTrax · #5 02-03-2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverpearls

I wish we could! Our release figures are such that we aren't allowed to release very many at all.

check with your national Panhellenic Advisor. You can't invite more than you release figures allow, but I don't think there is a restriction on inviting less. That is YOUR choice as a chapter.

silverpearls · #6 02-03-2009, 11:39 PM

I'm not privy to what happened exactly, but I found out that we were actually not allowed to cut any PNMs after 3rd round. With the way our school's Panhellenic and release figures work, I was told it is not our chapter's decision. Trust me, all the other sisters (including our Recruitment chair) are as frustrated as I am and if there was any way to change it, we would. We fought really hard with our Greek Life director and were actually able to release 4 PNMs (instead of the 0 were were supposed to release) that the chapter consistently didn't like and who we felt would take bids if they were given them. Other than that, we invited back everybody who came to 3rd round... including girls we don't like who are only Preffing us and will take bids if they're offered. This means that it's pretty much guaranteed that they're in the chapter.

It's very frustrating and disappointing to see things turn out this way. I really can't express how PO'd my sisters and I are that we cannot cut girls who are a truly bad fit for our chapter. Instead of helping us like they're supposed to, these release figures are hurting us by forcing us to invite back PNMs who will hurt our chapter. I could just scream.

Basically we're thinking that our Formal Recruitment pledge class is going to be very mixed. We do COB starting Monday and bids are given out Friday the 13th (eek!), so that will bring in a lot of girls to add to the class... plus we can cut whomever we want with no restrictions if a PNM is a bad fit. I just found out we do have some amazing girls coming back to Pref, so we'll focus on them... including Lily, Danielle, Tasha, Zoe, Elizabeth, Ashley, Jenny and a lot of others I've really grown to love (assuming they don't drop when they get their schedules tomorrow). Sadly Sasha and two others I loved will not be back.

Does anyone have any insight on this release figures situation? PenguinTrax, is it really true that it should be our decision who to cut? We've been told repeatedly that we can only cut a certain number and no more, so I don't know if it's just our school or what...

TriDeltaSallie · #7 02-03-2009, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverpearls

we were actually not allowed to cut any PNMs after 3rd round. With the way our school's Panhellenic and release figures work, I was told it is not our chapter's decision. Trust me, all the other sisters (including our Recruitment chair) are as frustrated as I am and if there was any way to change it, we would. We fought really hard with our Greek Life director and were actually able to release 4 PNMs (instead of the 0 were were supposed to release) that the chapter consistently didn't like and who we felt would take bids if they were given them. Other than that, we invited back everybody who came to 3rd round... including girls we don't like who are only Preffing us and will take bids if they're offered. This means that it's pretty much guaranteed that they're in the chapter.

I am no expert on this, but this simply cannot be right. There must be some way for you to appeal to a higher authority. This is just flat out wrong in so many ways it is not even funny.

I sincerely hope some of the women here on GC who are currently plugged into their national volunteer system or Panhel (which I am currently not) can get you some better advice who to contact and pronto yet tonight.

Something is seriously wrong with this situation.

AlphaXi_Husky · #8 02-04-2009, 12:00 AM

I agree - this seems really off to me. A chapter shouldn't be forced to take women who they don't think are a good fit. I don't know if you've spoken with any of your National Officers, but you should because that just seems wrong to me.

I also agree that it's best to focus on the wonderful PNMs you're excited to have back for Pref. It sounds like you still have women the chapter loves. All the best to you and your chapter for an amazing Pref and a very exciting Bid Day!

KSUViolet06 · #9 02-04-2009, 12:02 AM

I've heard of this situation happening at schools before. The release figures are set that way because Panhellenic thinks they're HELPING by allowing the smaller group to essentially invite everyone back. However, it doesn't always help because like you said, some of them are just there to be there.

silverpearls · #10 02-04-2009, 12:08 PM

Ok, so delving a little deeper into the situation, here's what happened. Basically, I have been told all along that we were forced to invite back all these girls and that the few cuts we did make were not entirely kosher, so to speak. After talking with a chapter advisor who was there, that's not the case.

It turns out that we could have "gone against" our release figures and released more, but our Recruitment chair decided not to under pressure from advisors to keep our Pref numbers as high as possible. Basically when our Recruitment chair told us she wasn't allowed to release more, that was not really the case. She's a good friend of mine and I know it was a difficult decision which girls to release, especially with advisors breathing down your neck telling you not to cut anyone, but I feel like she made a mistake not releasing some girls that the chapter really didn't want. She did cut a few that the vast majority didn't like, but she needed to cut about 5 more than she did. I hate to criticize my sister, especially in such a sensitive situation, but I really worry our chapter will be the worse for it.

Anyway, because it actually turns out to be our Recruitment chair's decision, there's nothing that can be done now. It wasn't forced on us by Panhellenic as we were originally led to believe. I'm just frustrated that it feels like our votes didn't count for anything because in the end, the call about who to release was made by a chapter officers and some advisors. While they did take our votes into account, I just feel powerless to make any real difference. I feel like this is flawed... but I didn't see how the chapter voted and I could be way off in my estimation of how many sisters didn't like these few girls. All the sisters I've talked to didn't, but I'm just talking to my close friends within the chapter, not the quieter girls who may have identified with them more and voted them up. The bottom line is that the decision was made, the invitations were submitted to Greek Life and we'll be seing these girls at Pref tonight. As frustrating as that is, I accept tht we voted our officers in and that ultimately, our Recruitment chair is trying to do what's best for the chapter with the advice given to her by our advisors.

In any case, now that it's "case closed" I'd like to get back to the telling of the story! Tonight is Pref and despite all the drama of the last few days I'm very excited. I'm thrilled that so many of my favorites are invited back, and the fact that Bid Day is tomorrow seems almost unreal! I'll update you tonight after Pref to let you know how everything went.

silverpearls · #11 02-04-2009, 12:14 AM

You all are so sweet and helpful!! Let me stress than I am not 100% positive we are not allowed to cut more - it may just be that we do because our advisors or the Greek Life office make us. It does seem really off, but the whole Recruitment/release figures stuff is kept really secret so I honestly don't know what's going on - just that we're "not allowed" to cut more and PNMs we don't want squeak through because of it. Seniors have told me this has happened every year they've been here and is not a new thing. It's horribly frustrating. Let me try to get more info on it and if there's anything that can be done.

silverpearls · #12 02-04-2009, 12:32 AM

So, I just called and talked to our Panhellenic person and she explained the situation to me. Basically, our return rate is so low that we are not allowed to cut many (or in some cases any) PNMs because if we cut too many girls we would have literally no one returning to our party. This figure is based on 1) how PNMs are ranking us this year (which apparently isn't great... the majority rank us last) and 2) how our return rates have been in the past (which also aren't great). It's supposed to help us, but in some cases it does backfire. It's not a school rule, it's Panhellenic and there's really nothing we can do about it. I think it's the situation KSUviolet was describing.

Overall, I think it'll be ok... I'm calming down. I'm not thrilled, but looking over the list there are only about 4 or 5 PNMs that we really don't want who will Pref us and probably accept bids. It won't be good for the chapter, but the fact that we have a lot of great PNMs returning will hopefully outweight the bad.

AOII Angel · #13 02-04-2009, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverpearls

So, I just called and talked to our Panhellenic person and she explained the situation to me. Basically, our return rate is so low that we are not allowed to cut many (or in some cases any) PNMs because if we cut too many girls we would have literally no one returning to our party. This figure is based on 1) how PNMs are ranking us this year (which apparently isn't great... the majority rank us last) and 2) how our return rates have been in the past (which also aren't great). It's supposed to help us, but in some cases it does backfire. It's not a school rule, it's Panhellenic and there's really nothing we can do about it. I think it's the situation KSUviolet was describing.

Overall, I think it'll be ok... I'm calming down. I'm not thrilled, but looking over the list there are only about 4 or 5 PNMs that we really don't want who will Pref us and probably accept bids. It won't be good for the chapter, but the fact that we have a lot of great PNMs returning will hopefully outweight the bad.

I suggest that your chapter have a long discussion with your (Inter)National organization after this recruitment. It's probably too late now to fix this mistake, but PHA CANNOT make you extend bids to girls that your chapter does not want. All they can say is that you will not be eligible for quota additions and snap bids if you don't maximize your options. Just like with PNMs, you are encouraged to invite back the maximum number, but if you absolutely don't want a girl, you don't have to! PHA is essentially trying to substitute your organizations membership selection criteria with their own, and that is not allowed! Your chapter may have taken their advice and agreed with PHA, but they shouldn't be bullied into it.

GammaPhi88 · #14 02-04-2009, 10:33 AM

Silverpearls, I know you said that it is just 4 or 5 girls that you don't want, but in a smaller chapter, 4 or 5 girls who will be a detriment to your chapter can really hurt. I would rather come in a few under quota than take a few girls that no one wants. It's not fair to the chapter...or the girls.

On another note, good luck with pref, and good luck with bid day tomorrow!

angels&angles · #15 02-04-2009, 11:59 AM

I know what Silverpearls is going through, actually. The same thing happens to my chapter. It's frustrating when you rank/score/list/whatever a girl low, and you're hoping she's going to be released, and she continually comes back to your parties. Our nationals was actually enforcing our low release numbers (nationals like it when we make quota). However, I will say that many of the girls that I wasn't originally thrilled with being in our pledge class turned out to be great members -- they were often enthusiastic about the sorority, and they grew up quite a bit. It's not ideal (a sorority is not a charity -- you shouldn't have to take anyone, and you shouldn't take them just because it'll "be good for them") but mostly it works out in the long run.