2008 Woodie Awards
Letter to the Editor
Carlie Meader
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Opinion
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Dear Editor,
I sat back for the past two weeks, silently reading while non-members our Greek Community at Puget Sound bash it, uneducated. I feel I speak for most members when I say it is articles and cartoons like those published in the last two editions of the Trail that contribute to the negative stereotype many have of Greek life. However, the information in print could not be farther from an accurate representation in many respects.
I have been a member of Puget Sound's Greek Community since I was a first year student. I participated in formal recruitment, pledged a sorority and then became involved in Panhellenic, the association that governs all of the Greek organizations on campus. This year as the Director of recruitment, I facilitated the structured interaction between the Potential New Members (PNMs) and active sorority members. After the article was published in the February 9th edition of the Trail, without being consulted or questioned about the actual process, I was unsurprised to read on and find many errors. The terms 'Rush' and 'Rushee' were amended years ago to 'Recruitment' and 'Potential New Member.' This change was initiated by the National Panhellenic Conference in an attempt to mend the negative connotations each carried. The use of both terms by the writer at the Trail and Letter to the Editor was a red flag to any member of our Community not to take either's words seriously.
We had 124 women register for Formal Recruitment this year, a significant jump from the last. The process for matching women with sororities, called Mutual Selection, enables the PNM to have just as much say in choosing which house she feels most comfortable in as the ladies of the sororities do. This process enabled us to match 96% of the PNMs to sororities. This is fantastic, and I do not believe that the numbers published in the February 9 issue of The Trail gave a true representation of distribution. Yes, some sororities ended up with more New Members than others, but that is not the end result. Since recruitment, over 8 women have also become new members.
I sat back for the past two weeks, silently reading while non-members our Greek Community at Puget Sound bash it, uneducated. I feel I speak for most members when I say it is articles and cartoons like those published in the last two editions of the Trail that contribute to the negative stereotype many have of Greek life. However, the information in print could not be farther from an accurate representation in many respects.
I have been a member of Puget Sound's Greek Community since I was a first year student. I participated in formal recruitment, pledged a sorority and then became involved in Panhellenic, the association that governs all of the Greek organizations on campus. This year as the Director of recruitment, I facilitated the structured interaction between the Potential New Members (PNMs) and active sorority members. After the article was published in the February 9th edition of the Trail, without being consulted or questioned about the actual process, I was unsurprised to read on and find many errors. The terms 'Rush' and 'Rushee' were amended years ago to 'Recruitment' and 'Potential New Member.' This change was initiated by the National Panhellenic Conference in an attempt to mend the negative connotations each carried. The use of both terms by the writer at the Trail and Letter to the Editor was a red flag to any member of our Community not to take either's words seriously.
We had 124 women register for Formal Recruitment this year, a significant jump from the last. The process for matching women with sororities, called Mutual Selection, enables the PNM to have just as much say in choosing which house she feels most comfortable in as the ladies of the sororities do. This process enabled us to match 96% of the PNMs to sororities. This is fantastic, and I do not believe that the numbers published in the February 9 issue of The Trail gave a true representation of distribution. Yes, some sororities ended up with more New Members than others, but that is not the end result. Since recruitment, over 8 women have also become new members.
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