Accepting Bid as a contract

[Circee]

Is there anyway to escape the rule about joining no sorority for a year after accepting a bid? I was told to go ahead and sign my bid card and just "go to the bid party," even though I wasn't sure. Now I'm unhappy and feel stuck. I wish all this had been explained to me a little better by the recruitment conselors.

[kddani]

The only way is if you transfer schools.

[AXOhottie]

Assuming this is an NPC chapter, you cannot "get out" of having to wait one calendar year to join another sorority on your campus unless you transfer to a different university. Since you put XYZ on your pref card and signed it, you essentially said you would accept a bid from XYZ. Your pref card, not your bid card, is what has bound you to XYZ for one entire calendar year. The bid is just the invitation to join XYZ (which you already said you would accept by placing them on your pref card). Your Rho Gamma encouraged you to go to XYZ's bid day because you might have a good time and decide you really like XYZ and want to be a sister. If you have any questions about specific rules on your campus, or if the chapter is not NPC, you should contact your Greek Life advisor.

[AChiOhSnap]

How did you end up preffing a house you didn't want to be at?

[AChiOhSnap]

Thanks exlurker We were talking about the above situations on another thread earlier, I just wanted to know which specific situation happened in this PNM's case.


ETA: The more and more I hear about these situations, the more and more I find myself wishing there were fewer sanctions on SIPing. I think it actually can make the sorority look bad to have women cancel their new memberships and be very obviously unhappy in that house.

[tunatartare]

Originally Posted by Alpha Chi Emily

Thanks exlurker We were talking about the above situations on another thread earlier, I just wanted to know which specific situation happened in this PNM's case.


ETA: The more and more I hear about these situations, the more and more I find myself wishing there were fewer sanctions on SIPing. I think it actually can make the sorority look bad to have women cancel their new memberships and be very obviously unhappy in that house.

I agree. My school says that PNMs have to rank all four sororities. So even if you can't stand XYZ, hate everything about them, thing they have the personality of a pile of bricks, etc., you could potentially get a bid from them. Nice.

[UGAalum94]

I'm interested to know what happens if you don't.

Where I went, you were really encouraged to rank everyone where you preffed, but you could still get matched to your group if you "suicided."

[tunatartare]

Marist College

Sorority Council passed a rule saying that pnm's have to rank all four sororities. However, by us, girls who reject bids are still eligible for open bidding, we've always done it that way.

[kathykd2005]

Originally Posted by KLPDaisy

Marist College

Sorority Council passed a rule saying that pnm's have to rank all four sororities. However, by us, girls who reject bids are still eligible for open bidding, we've always done it that way.

It is the same at my school--Queens University of Charlotte. However, a lot of girls still "suicided," if their recruitment counselor told them about doing this. Mine, however, didn't tell our group about it, so I ranked all four sororities.

[tunatartare]

Originally Posted by kathykd2005

It is the same at my school--Queens University of Charlotte. However, a lot of girls still "suicided," if their recruitment counselor told them about doing this. Mine, however, didn't tell our group about it, so I ranked all four sororities.

Oh. I believe that now you have to rank all four sororities in order to be eligible for a bid. Then again, we seem to change the structure for recruitment every year, so after a while, it really just becomes hard to keep track.

[UGAalum94]

So, you have to rank all, but you can decline the bid and do COB? That seems fair too.
As long as you don't have to rank all and accept a bid to whomever you get. That reduces the rushee choice too much.

[Zillini]

As a general statement, too often I hear young women say "I didn't know _____ before I signed my name. It's not fair, they should have explained it to me." This applies to recruitment as well as things like new credit cards, car loans, you name it.

So my question is how much info is provided to the PNMs? Are they given a copy of the NPC policies governing pref card signing and/or bid acceptance or is it strictly how well informed/trained their Rho Chi is? Does it vary by campus? How much responsibility falls on the PNM to understand what it is she is signing and what obligations she is committing to? How much responsibility falls on NPC and the campus Panhellenics to make sure these young women comprehend the committment and process?

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by Zillini

As a general statement, too often I hear young women say "I didn't know _____ before I signed my name. It's not fair, they should have explained it to me." This applies to recruitment as well as things like new credit cards, car loans, you name it.

So my question is how much info is provided to the PNMs? Are they given a copy of the NPC policies governing pref card signing and/or bid acceptance or is it strictly how well informed/trained their Rho Chi is? Does it vary by campus? How much responsibility falls on the PNM to understand what it is she is signing and what obligations she is committing to? How much responsibility falls on NPC and the campus Panhellenics to make sure these young women comprehend the committment and process?

Zillini, those are excellent questions, I think. Furthermore, after having read a lot of GC recruitment threads over a couple of years, I think they're questions that a lot of college panhellenics should be addressing. It's at the point -- for me -- that when I see the almost ubiquitous "Bill of Rights" posted on a school's NPC recruitment page, I want to laugh.

(I'm talking about the document so many panhellenics use -- example:

http://www.illiniphcrecruitment.com/...p?page_id=1904

and on many, many other sites.)

There may be some disconnects between what that 'Bill of Rights" says and what actually happens. One that gets discussed a lot on GC has to do with the process, especially all the implications of ranking / not ranking after preference parties. This includes pros and cons of single intentional preferencing (and indeed, whether SIP is even permitted). I've gotten the impression, rightly or wrongly, that there's a lot of hazy information or misinformation out there.

Another issue is giving true and honest answers to questions. I guess it's all well and good to say that, but PNMs may have questions that no one can or will answer, most notably, "why did XYZ cut me"? Since membership selection is private, there's no way to answer that. Maybe grades, maybe recruitment figure numbers, maybe not clicking with rushers, maybe a particular chapter's version of the dreaded and solemn "I Don't Believe She Would Be Happy in XYZ." Maybe other things.

I guess I'd especially encourage college panhellenics to see if they can come up with understandable, plain English explanations of the recruitment process, especially the "end game," if I may call it that. IN tandem with distributing that to PNMs and going over it with them, of course, recruitment counselors need adequate training and probably some backup local esperts who are ultra-familiar with their Green Books and campus recruitment policies. Trouble is, especially for small and medium size panhellenics, that could require investing a lot more time and effort in preparing the RCs. Still, I wince inwardly when I read things on GC like "my RC wouldn't let me SIP, but I know girls in other groups who did it." Yikes. If true, things like that don't do much for the credibility of the recruitment process or of NPC Greeks.

Having vented now, I must say that probably the majority of PNMs at any given school feel somewhere in the range from fairly happy to ecstatic with the whole process and the outcome. Really, it's up to panhellenics and NPC to evaluate whether changes or improvements need to be made.

[carnation]

I started a thread a few years ago about forced prefs. Having PNMs go to the maximum number of parties is okay--until prefs. That is so wrong and so is putting pressure on PNMs not to SIP. I can't believe that NPC would condone this as it no doubt results in lots of truly unhappy new members who drop out or desperately wish they had before initiation.

I'd be surprised, though, if NPC even listened to anyone who tried to approach them about this.

[Zillini]

Carnation has a very valid point. I'm sure from NPC's "big picture" standpoint they view the situation as trying to support the entire system, thus SIPing is a negative outcome. They anticipate that a PMN should be able to find happiness and friendship anywhere she ends up.

I can agree with that for the most part in regards to large, many Chapter campuses. If most of the Chapters' totals are 100+ members, odds are almost everyone should be able to find somebody they can be friends with in almost every house. But it's more problematic with small campuses (meaning # of GLOs to choose from) and/or Chapters' sizes.

If Polly PNM knows in her heart that she would not be happy at ABC and would never accept a bid from them, then she shouldn't be forced to put them on her Pref card. For that matter she shouldn't be required to accept their invite to their Pref round. But the way the policies are written Polly must maximize her options and invites so it puts her in a bad situation. Plus it can also hurt ABC Chapter because perhaps they would have invited another PMN to Pref instead of Polly PNM.

I also agree with Exlurker. NPC and the locals need to devise a better, plain english text to educate the PNMs and the Rho Chis. I hate the idea of holding someone accountable for committing to something they didn't understand. We've all heard horror stories of clueless Rho Chis.

But again as a general statement, one lesson my Father taught me at a young age was never sign anything I didn't understand and to always read the fine print. Sure the majority of times it might be no big deal, but it just takes one time getting burned to really screw you up your life.