4
February 17, 2000
JL/ JL 1
Columnist speaks the truth:
Recruitment is a bad experience
:T:^ O' T
mWk «alki
The true meaning of Sisterhood
To the Editor:
Fraternities and sororities were
founded on four basic priniples: schol
arship, community service, campus
involvement and sisterhood/brother
hood. The Office of Greek Life
assists fraternities and sororities as
they strive to fulfill these basic prin
ciples.
Fraternities and sororities at
Elon College provide that home away
from home that makes our campus so
warm, embracing and safe. Tliirty-
two percent of undergraduates atElon
College are members of fraternities
and sororities and this shows the qual
ity sister/brotherhood experiences our
Greek organizations bring to indi
vidual students and the campus com
munity.
The men and women of the
Elon Greek community are always
looking to build their chapters for the
future. This is done through the
different recruitment processes that
have been developed over time by
the three governing councils here on
campus (IFC, PHC and NPHC), the
Elon College Office of Greek Life,
the inter/national headquarters of each
chapter, and by the international gov
erning councils (National Panhellenic
Conference, National Pan-Hellenic
Council and the North-American In-
terfratemity Conference),
I was therefore saddened to
read Opinions by Chris Rash (Pen
dulum, February 10, 2(XX)) that im
plied that the Office of Greek Life
has mandated one recruitment
policy for the Panhellenic sorori
ties and one for the IFC fraternities.
(Mr Rash, you omitted to refer to
the National Pan-Hellenic
Council’s “Intake” process which
is totally different from the other
two.)
The Elon College
Panhellenic uses a system that is
endorsed by their governing con
ference and that has decades of
proven success. The sorority pro
cess is considered a mutual selec
tion system. Not only are the soror
ity chapters making decisions as to
whom they will invite back to their
next event, but the potential new
members are making selections as
to which chapters they wish to re
turn.
While it is always sad when
a prospective member does not re
ceive an invite from her first choice
sorority, unfortunately a situation
such as this does occur, albeit rarely.
This entire process can be com
pared to that of job selection. Typi
cally, the potential new member
will receive - and be happy with -
an invite from her second choice.
If a potential new member had no
intention of accepting an invite to
join aparticular chapter, she should
not have returned to the next re
cruitment event of that organiza
tion. That way, she would have
been able to visit the event of another
chapter at which she could have felt
more comfortable.
One of the goals of the National
Panellenic Conference (the governing
body of Panhellenic sororities) is to
create a “level playing field,” giving
every sorority -including Alpha Sigma
Alpha - the opportunity to meet new
women, and to share sisterhood,
achievements and the positive attributes
of the group. Only during the first
round of events is a potential new
member required to attend all chapter
functions. After that, it becomes the
mutual selection process to which I
referred.
It is important for your readers
to know that this formal recruitment
process is not the only way a woman
may enter the Elon Greek community.
Alpha Sigma Alpha is currently going
through a process known as Continu
ous Open Bidding whereby they re
cruit informally throughout the semes
ter. Any woman with an open mind
still interested in Greek life is encour
aged to contact either Alpha Sigma
Alpha or the Office of Greek Life for
more information on this process,
I could begin to talk about the
“intake” process of the National Pan-
Hellenic chapters . . , but that is yet
another totally different process alto
gether!
Sincerely,
Grahaeme Hesp
Director of Greek Life
Bitterness speaks through 'sorority' column
To the Editor:
First of all, I would like to say that
eveiyone has an opinion about sorori
ties and I respect that. Also, everyone
has a freedom of speech and if you
would like to use that freedom to bash
something you have never been a part
of, than that is fine also.
I would just like you to know
that since you have never experienced
the rush process or anything dealing
with sorority life, in my opinion you
slick to writing about something you
know.
Thegiristhatdeciderushissome-
thing that they would like to participate
in voluntarily agree. No one is making
them rush. They have made the deci
sion to want to be a part of something
great. No one is asked to “sell them
selves.”
If these giris are going to be fake,
than most likely sororities won’t want
them to be a part of their organization
anyway. Sororities are looking for
people that will be a good asset to their
group.
If that means that some giris do
not get into their first choice... well,
sorry, but rejection is a part of life.
Tilings happen for a reason. I know
many girls that did not get into tlieir
first choice sorority and they are very
happy with what they got.
To me, your article is more
bitter than anything. Isn’t it tme that
you rushed last year and did not get a
bid from any fraternities? Is that why
you are bashing Greek Life?
My personal opinion is that
you shouldn’t knock something until
you have tried it. And since you
haven’t, I don’t understand where
your ideas are coming from.
When you have actually sat
through sorority voting and met 300
perfect strangers and have to decide
whether or not they should be a mem
ber of your sorority, then you can talk.
Until then, stick to things you
know and sorority rush is not one of
them. I am simply disgusted by some
of the things you said in your article.
It’s wonderful that you are advo
cating Alpha Sigma Alpha, however,
every sorority on this campus has quality
members. Why didn’t you write that?
Personally, I am tired of students
labeling sorority giris as shallow bimbos
that arejust looking to get drunk and wake
up in fraternity houses. People that aren’t
in that sorority should simply keep their
mouths shut.
Sororities are about lasting friend
ships and bonds of sisteiiiood. Just be-
causeyou see girls outhavingagood time
or we have to follow regulations dealing
with the rush process doesn’t mean we
are bad people.
My advice to you is to simply sit
back and look at what you wrote. Was
bashing something you know nothing
aobut really worth all the grief you are
going to receive after you printed that
ridiculous article?
Sincerely,
A Distraught Member
of Greek Life
To the Editor:
I’m wrifing in response to
Chris Rash’s article “ ‘Sorority ma
terial’ destroying the true spirit of
‘sisterhood’ Rash commented
on how he would receive complaint
letters from women who got into
their first choice sorority, well I got
into my first choice, but I’m siding
with Rash. Rush “formal recruit
ment” was the most horrendous ex
perience. Though I was fortunate
enough to never get dropped by my
top choices, it was still an emo
tional and devastating process.
I went into rush with eight of
my closest friends and now only
four of us are pledging. In one
week I watched my best friends get
told by people who they met for a
total of35-45 minutes/day that they
were unacceptable (either because
they were a bit over that houses’
accepted weight, they didn’t have
the proper hair/eye color, or they
lacked the acceptable GPA to help
their house look smarter).
These are the same friends
who I feel are exactly like myself
We have different personalities, etc.,
but my friends all share incredible
traits that make them unique and
very special. Rush destroyed that
and did nothing but lower young
women’s self-esteem (a delicate
thing already). It was degrading as
well, I felt like I was being eyed by
everyone and I was always watch
ing how I was standing, smiling.
and holding my hands. Between
the house parties I would primp
myself with a mirror that I carried
around to make sure my make-up
was on properly and that my smile
was still bright.
If anyone knew me, they
would realize that I NEVER primp
myself let alone carry around a mir
ror. I was almost ashamed of my
self for being so ridiculous and not
being true to myself, but I felt like
the compefition was cut throat!
I am very excited to be in my
top choice sorority now and I even
chose this house due to the fact that
they were down-to-earth and could
have cared less if I was primped or
not. Like I said, I am one of the
fortunate women who are happy
after going through that week of
hell, but what about those women
who are currently in a house that
they now hate or the women who
did not even make it to this point? I
think sorority rush definitely needs
to be changed and made more like
men’s recruitment where it is more
like an open house/open invitafion.
So please support Chris
Rash’s and my request to contact
the Director of Greek Life,
Grahaeme Hesp, at C.B, 2970 or go
to his office in Moseley 209 and let
us try to change this self-esteem
desfroying routine and find a new
way to build “sisterhood,”
Sincerely,
Anonymous
It is not the policy of The Penduiiim to publish letters
under the guise of anonymity. However, given the repre-
sentation of both sides of the argument and the sensitivity
of the subject, the Editor's have decided to run both
Anonymous letters,
- Chris Rash
Opinion Editor
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