Releasing all Pledges

[SuzyInMD]

Two weeks after formal rush a sorority on my daughter's campus released all of their PNMs. (Let's call them Alpha Alpha, I am not naming the sorority or the campus because I don't think there has been a formal announcement that the chapter is closing.) Alpha Alpha's membership is lower than the other sororities, and it took approximately 25 new members, the other sororities each took about 45. I find it hard to believe that all of a sudden two weeks after formal rush concluded, after snap bids had been given out and when COB was wrapping up, Alpha Alpha realized membership at this chapter is low and the chapter would close. My daughter has a friend who is one of the released new members and the friend showed my daughter the email Alpha Alpha sent the PNMs. I'm writing this because I am so sad for my daughter's friend and angry with Alpha Alpha. The released PNMs saw the rush process through, accepted bids from Alpha Alpha (yes, the friend had been dropped by every other sorority before preference) and are now left out of the sorority experience. If Alpha Alpha had dropped out of formal recruitment their PNMs would have received bids from other sororities because these women were seeing the rush process to conclusion, correct? I also told my daughter her sorority and others could extend bids to the Alpha Alpha PNMs (allegedly Panhel suspended total) but they don't want to. My opinion is Alpha Alpha acted irresponsibly and callously, and the remaining sororities on campus aren't doing anything to assist these women. I'm giving you an example where seeing the process through and trusting the process did not serve this group of women at all. According to my daughter, about half the released PNMs are sophomore transfer students and will not rush again next year as juniors.

[carnation]

The women who had options left and saw the process through would have gotten other bids. The women who had no options left, like the friend, wouldn't have gotten bids.

Alpha Alpha's national office may have swooped in on the chapter and announced that they were closed, once they saw the recruitment results. The local chapter may not have known that was the plan during recruitment.

It's a good thing that they're releasing them now and not after initiation. Had they done that (and some groups have), the released NMs could not have ever joined another NPC sorority.

Also, and I speak from experience--there may be some very good reasons that existing sororities don't want to pick up some of the girls, especially if the floundering group was their only option. It could be that they were QRs, grade risks, drama queens--who knows besides the groups that cut them?

[Cheerio]

Thank you for succinctly venting.

IMO Sorority Recruitment Results mean very little to a vast majority of wonderful people, worldwide, who will never care who "belongs" and who "doesn't belong".

[honeychile]

Hating to nitpick, Suzy, but Alpha Alpha did not release PNMs (POTENTIAL New Members), they released their New Members. In archaic times, New Members were called Pledges, and it would have been said that Alpha Alpha released them of their pledge to AA, allowing them to be able to accept a bid to another sorority.

[thetalady]

If it hasn't been made clear, those woman that pledged AA likely had pref invitation ONLY to AA. If AA had not been actively recruiting, then those women would very likely have been dropped from recruitment PRIOR to Pref. They would not have received bids. Maybe not all of them, but a high percentage.

AA may have been told by their National that they were required to pledge XX number of women this recruitment to retain their charter. If they didn't make that number, closure was going to be the result. This was their last chance. Sometimes it is better to close and hope to come back in a few years, than continue to struggle. I am sure this decision was not made by the local chapter, but their national council.

Having said that, there are a very, very few campuses that require that every woman who participates in recruitment receives a bid. The result would have been different on those "unicorn" campuses.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by carnation

Also, and I speak from experience--there may be some very good reasons that existing sororities don't want to pick up some of the girls, especially if the floundering group was their only option. It could be that they were QRs, grade risks, drama queens--who knows besides the groups that cut them?

And considering Alpha Alpha dropped their new members weeks after recruitment was over, this would require the other chapters to have two new member classes if they are to stick to the 6-week max new member period for everyone. Therefore, two separate sets of ceremonies and initiation, perhaps another elected New Member Educator, twice the number of meetings, etc.

It's not completely unheard of to have two new member classes in one semester, but logistically, it can be a lot of work and requires planning, so chapters tend to avoid it if they can. Plus, it's typically only done by chapters that are struggling numbers-wise.

It's not a matter of these chapters being "mean girls" who don't want to include anyone else, but perhaps they don't know a lot of these young women well enough (e.g. they were dropped from Delta Delta in round 1 of formal recruitment), and for those they might want to give a bid to, they just don't have it worked out logistically to make it happen for what probably amounts to only a few additional new members on top of the 45 they already have.

[navane]

Originally Posted by SuzyInMD

If Alpha Alpha had dropped out of formal recruitment their PNMs would have received bids from other sororities because these women were seeing the rush process to conclusion, correct?

Unfortunately, no. There is still the possibility of a PNM getting dropped by all of the chapters prior to preference. For the women who only had Alpha Alpha left, they would have been left with no parties to attend for preference. Thus, no bid.

My opinion is Alpha Alpha acted irresponsibly and callously, and the remaining sororities on campus aren't doing anything to assist these women.

I would urge you to consider more compassion for Alpha Alpha. The chapter members are probably devastated to lose their new member class and lose their chapter. They likely gave all they had in a last ditch effort to save their sisterhood. They may have felt desperate in the sense of hoping beyond hope that they could pull out enough new members to keep the chapter open. Perhaps, too, Alpha Alpha headquarters wanted very much for the chapter to pull up a win at this year's recruitment and was pained to make the decision to close when the numbers didn't come up.

What an awful position to be and my heart goes out to those young ladies.

[33girl]

Can we change the title of this thread to all pledges/new members released? I was really confused.

I also would be really careful in assuming the released girls were there because it was “all they could get.” That kind of thinking is a big contributor to why chapters end up closing in the first place.

Plus the 25 women may be thinking of themselves as a package deal - take all of us or none.

[chi-o_cat]

Originally Posted by SuzyInMD

at all. According to my daughter, about half the released PNMs are sophomore transfer students and will not rush again next year as juniors.

Originally Posted by thetalady

If it hasn't been made clear, those woman that pledged AA likely had pref invitation ONLY to AA. If AA had not been actively recruiting, then those women would very likely have been dropped from recruitment PRIOR to Pref. They would not have received bids. Maybe not all of them, but a high percentage.

In this case, I wonder why the NMs could not have been given the option to A: stay, be initiated, finish out the semester and be given alumna status or B: leave and be able to join another sorority, From what I am getting from these comments, it sounds like for a lot of these students, AA was their last or only chance to experience sorority life. Even one semester is better than nothing.

People always talk about how sorority membership is for a lifetime, so here are 25 members that may have made great alumnae someday. I was in a chapter that closed shortly after I initiated (although I had a full school year- pledged in the fall of sophomore year, initiated at the beginning of spring and we closed at the end of that year), and for awhile, when I lived in a larger city with an active alumnae chapter, I was very involved with Chi Omega. I am still in touch with sisters from my college chapter today, which never re-opened.

[33girl]

Some reasons why they might not want that:

• Because if they initiate that will be 25 more “old” Alpha Alphas on campus for 3-4 years holding back the National from recolonization. (Yes you can recolonize with collegiate alumnae on campus, it’s just way easier not to.)

• Because HQ wants to close the chapter as soon as possible because there are risk mgmt issues at play and the last thing they need is 25 more people in the mix.

• Because HQ wants to close the chapter as soon as possible due to housing factors involved (ie they want to either sell the house or stop paying rent).

There are lots of possibilities, but getting more specific would probably cause OP to out the campus and I respect her wishes not to do that.

I will say the “if this rush is a banger you can stay open” concept is a recipe for disaster at schools with pre-freshman, fall formal rush. It’s prolonging the inevitable. It just places huge mental and emotional pressure on the chapter and color me cuckoo if I don’t think that is a good mindset to have while trying to convince women that sorority life in your group is awesome.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by SuzyInMD

......My opinion is Alpha Alpha acted irresponsibly and callously, and the remaining sororities on campus aren't doing anything to assist these women. I'm giving you an example where seeing the process through and trusting the process did not serve this group of women at all. According to my daughter, about half the released PNMs are sophomore transfer students and will not rush again next year as juniors.

One irresponsible thing a released pledge could do in this situation is badmouth their now-former sorority. Choices about whether to continue the sorority experience process can and do change.

One callous thing any remaining sorority on campus could do in this situation is immediately pledge released women, whom they likely do not know very well, then honestly drop them for legitimate reasons before initiation.

Time is a healer, and allows for further information exploration by any party with a continuing interest in sorority membership.

[Titchou]

A few random thoughts - chapter closings after an inadequate recruitment is far more common than you might think. I can think of 3 times that I know about withouot having to tax my brain. With the chapter closing, PH should have reset total giving all chapters on campus room to pledge any of these women they may have had interest in before. And it isn't necessarily the case that the 25 were "left overs." There may have been the one or two who wanted something different from what they were expected to do. May have wanted a place where early leadership positions were possible.

[Mab]

I actually know this campus/sorority. It was very unfortunate, especially because sadly another house shut down just a few years prior. The rankings site likely was a big factor in the recruiting struggles these chapters faced. While you have gotten a lot of feedback already, I just wanted to respond to this:

>>I also told my daughter her sorority and others could extend bids to the Alpha Alpha PNMs (allegedly Panhel suspended total) but they don't want to.


This is a campus that does not have enormous sorority mansions, but requires sophomores to live on campus and Greek housing fulfills this requirement. For those houses at house total that made or exceeded quota, they CANNOT take any additional members because there is no room to house them and they can't support a bigger MC in a number of ways. At least 3 houses were ineligible for COB because of numbers, so it was not even an option.


My understanding is that another house who was doing COB and has also been struggling with numbers did in fact take many of these girls during COB. Not sure of the details or if it was all of them though. I hope that your daughter's friend was able to explore that opportunity or any other available COB opportunities.

[SuzyInMD]

Originally Posted by thetalady

If it hasn't been made clear, those woman that pledged AA likely had pref invitation ONLY to AA. If AA had not been actively recruiting, then those women would very likely have been dropped from recruitment PRIOR to Pref. They would not have received bids. Maybe not all of them, but a high percentage.

AA may have been told by their National that they were required to pledge XX number of women this recruitment to retain their charter. If they didn't make that number, closure was going to be the result. This was their last chance. Sometimes it is better to close and hope to come back in a few years, than continue to struggle. I am sure this decision was not made by the local chapter, but their national council.

Having said that, there are a very, very few campuses that require that every woman who participates in recruitment receives a bid. The result would have been different on those "unicorn" campuses.

Posters on this board refer to women maximizing their options during recruitment, I interpreted this to mean if a PNM accepts all invitations she will not be dropped from recruitment. I did not understand that a women could still be dropped by all chapters prior to pref. My error.

[SuzyInMD]

Originally Posted by navane

Unfortunately, no. There is still the possibility of a PNM getting dropped by all of the chapters prior to preference. For the women who only had Alpha Alpha left, they would have been left with no parties to attend for preference. Thus, no bid.




I would urge you to consider more compassion for Alpha Alpha. The chapter members are probably devastated to lose their new member class and lose their chapter. They likely gave all they had in a last ditch effort to save their sisterhood. They may have felt desperate in the sense of hoping beyond hope that they could pull out enough new members to keep the chapter open. Perhaps, too, Alpha Alpha headquarters wanted very much for the chapter to pull up a win at this year's recruitment and was pained to make the decision to close when the numbers didn't come up.

What an awful position to be and my heart goes out to those young ladies.

I have compassion for the undergraduate chapter members, my opinion was about the National organization, not the undergraduate chapter. My understanding from my daughter and messages parents have posted on social media, is the undergraduate chapter members were not aware of its status with the National organization. Yes, my heart also breaks for the current undergraduates.