Ole Miss... Let's discuss!

[OleMissGlitter]

Originally posted by hottytoddy
Truthfully, I don't know how much we spend on Rush, but I know it's a lot. Probably about that much. I know just the fabric to cover the walls one year for skit was something like $25,000. But I don't know how much we spend as a whole. I'm sure all of the Ole Miss sororities spend a lot. Rush down here is pretty extravagant. OleMissGlitter may have a better idea on what is spent.

Well, the budget you are suppose to spend is a mere $10,000. However, if you have items donated, that does not count. Therefore, I am pretty sure that is what all 9 Panhellenic sororities do. I know parents and alumnae will donate just about anything. Most houses send out a "wish list" before recruitment to their alumnae and parents to get items in. This past year we had alumnae and parents donate white-stringed lights for skit round of recruitment.
I know Ole Miss has gone to a "no frills" recruitment, but you can't take the frills out of the Ole Miss sorority girl! I will say our philanthropy rounds have gotten better because all the houses focus on their crafts and their philanthropies. Don't get me wrong, there are still decoratoins, food, drink, and tons of smiles!

Also, I will say this that all 9 houses probably spend over $10,000 just on Bid Day. We all give our new members great goodies, this year KD gave our monogramed Vera Bradley and Phi Mu I think did monogramed laundry holders and we did monogramed LL Bean type totes, anyway, there are great goodies, awesome food, games, and maybe a band or a DJ at the house (NO ALCOHOL AT ALL!!!). I know the Tri Delta's rent out the Double Decker bus to take their new members around on Bid Day, that bus is not cheap!

What we do might seem frivilous to some, but it is the way it is at Ole Miss. You can change the dates of recruitment but you cannot change the way recruitment is done!

[PsychTau]

Originally posted by hottytoddy
I know just the fabric to cover the walls one year for skit was something like $25,000.

Um, that is the price of my car. MY CAR. That is also the balance on my student loans. I'm trying to picture it now...my degree all over the walls of a sorority house.....

WOW is all I can say.

Everyone's right when they say it's the culture there. I've never been there, but wherever something is that ingrained for that long, it will take twice as long to change it, if it can be changed at all. Although I would have been cut first round from Ole Miss had I attended (they're just not my speed at that school....) I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go through and experience their recruitment. Can I just come to the DG house (at least I could wear an anchor!) and observe all week?

PsychTau

[sageofages]

Originally posted by OleMissGlitter
Well, the budget you are suppose to spend is a mere $10,000. However, if you have items donated, that does not count.

Also, I will say this that all 9 houses probably spend over $10,000 just on Bid Day. We all give our new members great goodies, this year KD gave our monogramed Vera Bradley and Phi Mu I think did monogramed laundry holders and we did monogramed LL Bean type totes, anyway, there are great goodies, awesome food, games, and maybe a band or a DJ at the house (NO ALCOHOL AT ALL!!!). I know the Tri Delta's rent out the Double Decker bus to take their new members around on Bid Day, that bus is not cheap!

What we do might seem frivilous to some, but it is the way it is at Ole Miss. You can change the dates of recruitment but you cannot change the way recruitment is done!

A mere $10,000.............? for rush...and then another $10,000 for bid day.....

*clunk* sound of my jaw hitting the floor!!!! That just blows my mind......

[kddani]

I can think of about a million more worthwhile things that money could be spent on..... Philanthropy, for one.

That is abso-friggin-loutely ridiciulous. I don't care if it's the culture, if it's rich mommy and daddy, but that is an insane waste of money. $25,000- how many hungry people could that feed? How many scholarships could that fund?

[Rudey]

That's amazing. I really want to see stuff like this. How about the fraternities? I can't imagine ridiculous costs even when you factor in the ahem ladies who work by the hour or the food. We rent out restaurants and I've heard of chapters going on cruises, etc. but I still don't understand how it adds up.

The thing I've noticed with sororities that spend this much is that it seems a lot of it is for nothing. I spoke to a girl who rented air conditioners for several thousands every year and also paid about 5K to create some special video. Why not buy the air conditioners and shop around for cheaper videos?

-Rudey
--Your greek system sounds so impressive.

Originally posted by OleMissGlitter
Well, the budget you are suppose to spend is a mere $10,000. However, if you have items donated, that does not count. Therefore, I am pretty sure that is what all 9 Panhellenic sororities do. I know parents and alumnae will donate just about anything. Most houses send out a "wish list" before recruitment to their alumnae and parents to get items in. This past year we had alumnae and parents donate white-stringed lights for skit round of recruitment.
I know Ole Miss has gone to a "no frills" recruitment, but you can't take the frills out of the Ole Miss sorority girl! I will say our philanthropy rounds have gotten better because all the houses focus on their crafts and their philanthropies. Don't get me wrong, there are still decoratoins, food, drink, and tons of smiles!

Also, I will say this that all 9 houses probably spend over $10,000 just on Bid Day. We all give our new members great goodies, this year KD gave our monogramed Vera Bradley and Phi Mu I think did monogramed laundry holders and we did monogramed LL Bean type totes, anyway, there are great goodies, awesome food, games, and maybe a band or a DJ at the house (NO ALCOHOL AT ALL!!!). I know the Tri Delta's rent out the Double Decker bus to take their new members around on Bid Day, that bus is not cheap!

What we do might seem frivilous to some, but it is the way it is at Ole Miss. You can change the dates of recruitment but you cannot change the way recruitment is done!

[Rudey]

Originally posted by kddani
I can think of about a million more worthwhile things that money could be spent on..... Philanthropy, for one.

That is abso-friggin-loutely ridiciulous. I don't care if it's the culture, if it's rich mommy and daddy, but that is an insane waste of money. $25,000- how many hungry people could that feed? How many scholarships could that fund?

$25,000 divided by all the hungry people in the world is nothing. People make their own choices and don't need the morality and decisions of others thrown on them.

-Rudey
--Let's all live in lower income housing and drive kias because anything else is a waste.

[33girl]

Originally posted by OleMissGlitter
We all give our new members great goodies, this year KD gave our monogramed Vera Bradley and Phi Mu I think did monogramed laundry holders and we did monogramed LL Bean type totes

I have a dumb question. Are they monogrammed with the sorority's letters or with each individual pledge's initials?

I'm too blown away by the $25,000 fabric (was it diamond encrusted?) to say anything more.

[DolphinChicaDDD]

Holy Crap

$25,000

I don't think my chapter even has that much money. I think we spent $250 on pref night. And that was a lot.

I can't imagine the world of a southern sorority.

I just might have to visit one of these chapters one day, and count my lucky stars I didn't go to Southern Methodist, like I thought about.

Or I probably would not be in a sorority right now.

[angelic1]

While my chapter doesnt spend nearly that much nor the other chapters bc we have caps on the amount we can spend that are much lower.. i can understand spending this amount.

When XYZ and ABC are doing it, you have to spend that much money as well. Unless everyone decides to change its not going to change. I know at least at my school.. everyone is competing to have the best decorations, the best drinks, bc to the PNMs this is what they see for that short amount of time. They see this and think oh they really went the extra mile for me or they really seemed like they cared. As silly as this sounds just from past experiences I know its true.

I know personally one year we spent a lot on a new white fabric/pole system thing for the whole downstairs of the house when we found out rush would have to be done entirely in our houses. Its just one of those things you have to do to compete so that you are around to have philanthropies and other events.

[rainbowbrightCS]

taken from West GA panhellic. http://www.westga.edu/~stuacts/greek...npcrules.shtml

8. A limit of $750 may be spent on Formal Recruitment. A budget must be turned in to the Panhellenic Recruitment Chair 48 hours prior to the Recruitment Orientation session. This budget includes all items used, whether bought or donated.



$750 which included DONATED!

I am glad I will be rushing a school that is not insane. But then again it is a no frills rush (not even drinks)

[OleMissGlitter]

You have to realize we do give more than $10,000 to our national and local philanthropies. I know some sororities raise over $30,000 for their philanthropies. What goes around comes around, and yes it might seem like tons of money, but our chapters tend to have at least 190 members on average. So, with dues maybe being a little bit higher than most campus dues, we always use our money in a good way. To think all of the money we do spend on decorations, food, Bid Day, etc for recruitment...and we don't even offer Interior Design as a degree anymore!

Also, the bags and laundry bags at KD and Phi Mu were monogrammed with the sororities letters on them. However, I could see some houses monogramming their new members names on them and having them ready in time for Bid Day.

Also, the fraternities set their houses up very nicely during recruitment. Some houses like Phi Delta Theta, Sigma Nu, and Sigma Chi have food, drinks, and tons of flowers and tablecloths. I know of one fraternity on campus who rents furniture during recruitment to make their house look nicer. They obviously don't have skits and costumes, but they do spend some money, maybe like a total of $20,000 or less for recruitment.

Oh and all of the sororities on campus, at least to my knowledge, have local chapter scholarships they provide within their own chapter. Also, we all aren't from "rich" families, there are members who work to pay for their dues and their tuition. I think it is something that cannot be fully understood until you've seen it and visited Ole Miss.

Oh and I think someone asked about houses. All of the sorority houses are alcohol free and smoke free and house between 45-75 members, maybe more for the Tri Delta & Chi Omega house. They all have a full time kitchen staff who prepared meals 5 times a week, except no dinner on Friday's. They also have maids, yes I said maids, who help keep the houses clean and the bathrooms looking spotless. It is the members' responsibility to keep their rooms clean but I know at the AOII the maids vacuum and wipe the sinks down three times a week. We all have house guards at night to protect our members and to ensure that no men are sneaking into the house. The fraternity houses are pretty much the same way, only there are few on campus that still have parties at their houses. Other than that I know the newest house, Phi Delta Theta (new meaning structure not newest chapter), built their new house after their old house burnt down in the late spring of 1996. Their new house was finished a couple of years after that and it was reported at being built at a cost of around 4 million. Their house is amazing. It really is gorgeous. I know the Sigma Nu house and Sigma Chi house are awesome too as well as the KA Order house which just underwent some renovations two years ago.
I know the AOII house is always having renovations and improvements and alll the sororities update their decor as much as possible.

I think we just have our Greek system down to a business that is runs the way it does. However, our main purpose is our sisterhoods, our ideals, our philanthropies...

[Tippiechick]

Katherine,

This is a bit of a hijack, but... when did they discontinue the Interior Design degree?

[OleMissGlitter]

My friend graduated in 1998 with it and I believe that was the last year. They offer a degree in Fashion Merchandising with an emphasis in Interior Design now. My sister transferred because of that reason, she goes to USM in Hattiesburg now.


PS TippieChik and HottyToddy can you tell you all more about recruitment and Ole Miss sororities, they were both in one here.

[PsychTau]

Originally posted by OleMissGlitter
I think it is something that cannot be fully understood until you've seen it and visited Ole Miss.

I think we just have our Greek system down to a business that is runs the way it does. However, our main purpose is our sisterhoods, our ideals, our philanthropies...

From hearing the stories, I think you're exactly right. It sounds like a well run business, and that's probably one reason why you have so many PNMs wanting to join. It's almost like you don't have to think about it...your group knows what they're doing each year and have the resources to make it happen. Well organized systems attract people....chaotic, disorganized ones turn people away.

When I pledged, my school had about 5,000 students and a greek system that wasn't run so well. It had it's positives, but it seemed like each year we were finding "new, exciting" ideas from big schools and trying to start them at ours. Great idea, but you've got to have these new ideas around for a while in order to work out the kinks. If you don't get a large turnout for the new lip sync contest one year, figure out what to do differently and try it again. Practice makes perfect, and that's something we really didn't do enough of.

Seems like every year at my school we would redo the recruitment rules, change the budget amount, switch the rooms around, and basically recreate the wheel. Of course, we'd start working on this in the middle of the spring semester and hope everyone knew what we were doing by the start of fall semester. God forbid you have all the sorority members move in a week early for recruitment workshops and the like!!!

That's why I'd love to go see a recruitment like Ole Miss, Alabama, Tennessee....heck, even U of Ark. would be worlds different to me! I would like to have that experience.

PsychTau

[Angels&Arrows]

Originally posted by kddani
I can think of about a million more worthwhile things that money could be spent on..... Philanthropy, for one.

That is abso-friggin-loutely ridiciulous. I don't care if it's the culture, if it's rich mommy and daddy, but that is an insane waste of money. $25,000- how many hungry people could that feed? How many scholarships could that fund?

Isn't it interesting... Movie and sports stars make multi-millions... however, teachers, police officers, fire fighters and military men/women make $20,000-$30,000 a year... (which is more waste of money?)

At least, these chapters use this money for recruitment.. which, in turn gains them 75-100 new members a year... roughly an additional $100,000+ in dues alone, not including house fees, etc. AND, they still give back to the community, the campus, their nationals and thier philanthropy ten fold!!! Someone will have to correct my numbers on this... but I think Sigma Nu raised over $100,000 for their philanthropy last year!!!!!!!!! If it takes $10,000 to wooo(sp) new members... then great if they can return it x10! It truly is all relative...