i don't understand indiana greek life
by: iu
I don't understand why at least 8 sororitys had to do informal right after recruitment. Our process seems completely broken. It's normal to do informal on the off-semester since girls graduate, drop, etc but i'm not sure what we're doing wrong.
My sister goes to UF and all sororitys of all tiers made quota. Some are doing informal but the sororitys that do it usually rotate; you never know who will be doing it.
What is wrong with our system?
#1by: Reason
People are too focused on tiers. On other schools pairs aren't exclusive to tiers, fraternities and sororities branch out, but here top tier fraternities don't pair with low tier sororities and the other way around. Some girls would rather be unaffiliated than to be forced to follow intrusive sorority rules, live in a sleeper, and hang out with girls they don't feel like hanging out with to just party with guys that aren't 'on their level'.
Comment#2by: just do it
The reason informal rotates at other schools is campus total. Ar IU, Panhel refuses to set a campus total. If is set at either median or average chapter size 48 hours after recruitment the if campus total was 185, every chapter above 185 would not have to do informal. Every chapter under 185 would need to do informal to get to 185. The reasons a chapter might do informal might be poor retention or just having a larger than normal senior class. This is the last piece to normalizing recruitment at IU. If Panhel would just go ahead and set total in August then half the chapters would have to do informal and then most likely a different group of chapters would have to do informal in January after formal recruitment.
#3by: Yep
I think both of the reasons mentioned above contribute to the problem. In comparing IU to UF, I would be curious to see if the same % of pnms drop after each round. I feel like at other schools where the social schedule is not so polarized, pnms would be more open to join chapters that they now consider to be "beneath" them. (insert eye roll here!) If these women stuck with the process the entire system would be strengthened and there wouldn't be such disparity between the chapters. If there was a campus total, chapters in all tiers would be doing informal based on graduation or retention issues. Tackling the issue on both fronts is something Panhel could do by initiating randomly assigned pairs/quads throughout the year and pushing for chapter totals.
by: ^100%
by: tf
#4by: Sad
There seems to be a trend where huge amounts of girls drop between formal rush and March so this isn’t due to graduation and it is happening in all tiers. This seems like missed opportunities for all girls to get bids. Why is it that southern schools have few girls drop during rush and still manage to place everyone?
by: ^
Because pnm's at IU think they can get the house they really want through a second 'informal recruitment' week right after formal recruitment if they just drop out and try again the next week. This has got to STOP and there was a comment about it on another thread. Southern schools don't do this; they adopted NPC recruitment guidelines decades ago. This means no bed rush (which IU has thankfully ended), Quota Additions allowing every pnm to get a bid if they rank all their pref houses (again, IU has finally implemented this) and chapter totals are set/adjusted right after recruitment so there is equity among houses' membership numbers and only new chapters that are still building need to offer more than a few bids post-recruitment. All of these measures offer a much higher placement rate during formal recruitment with no real second chance right after rush, so pnm's know that they need to make recruitment week work or they are bidless. They stay in and try to make it work. AND any system that forces groups to PAIR up is DOOMED. Most Southern schools don't do pairs so each house stands on their own for major events and socializes with lots of other fraternities, and sometimes sisterhood events with other sororities. No sorority's standing should be based on a fraternity. This has also got to STOP.
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by: @^
The comment on the other thread said it well. Calling it 'informal rush' is part of the problem. It is COB, Continuous Open Bidding, which is really not supposed to be anything more than the ability of houses to offer a few extra bids to get up to house total, if they are eligible based on chapter totals, and if they want to. The key word is FEW bids. COB is solely to benefit the sororities and doesn't mean a second mini-rush for disgruntled pnm's who didn't like their options during formal. Pnm's should have formal recruitment as their very best chance to find a home. More pnm drops during recruitment would simply mean lower chapter totals, not the need for sororities to scramble for more members after recruitment. The 'informal' mentality undermines a healthy recruitment system.
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by: ^
Yes, this too. Informal recruitment only truly occurs in the fall when school starts. The chapters who decide they want more members participate (if there was campus total, chapters under total would participate). Everything else is either formal (primary) recruitment or COB after formal.
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by: Southern
Also the vast majority of Southern schools don't have deferred recruitment like IU. Recruitment is in August before school starts and new members bond during the fall and Greek life is very involved during football season with block seating for Greek organizations and homecoming activities. There is a lot going on in the fall and new members are less likely to drop because they get involved early and are busy in Greek and campus life. Deferred recruitment is the exception nationally, not the rule.
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by: ^
Keep in mind that IU has been transitioning from the old bed rush system to a quota system for several years now. Hopefully they'll start setting campus total in the near future as well.
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