Recently, a 20-page anonymous expose was released discussing what rush looks like at a certain sorority on the Michigan campus. Though names have been changed throughout the article to prevent identification of the sorority and its members, there are descriptions of the house that some people speculate to point towards which sorority the article might be about. @thetabumich and Greek Rank have been actively trying to identify and comment on the details in the article.
The article discusses the superficiality of this chapter’s recruitment process. It begins by explaining how the writer was the recruitment chair of their sorority and the battle she’s had with herself after she learned about the truths of their rush process. She explains how her sorority scores girls based on looks, and then matches their pre-scored chapter members with the highest “external scored” potential new members (PNMs). Specific areas of the house are even used so that the “prettiest” PNMs are surrounded by other highly scored PNM’s and are matched with the best-looking current members of the sorority. Part of the article even discusses how this chapter’s national advisor supports this process and helps to decide if girls are “pretty enough” to be in the sorority. This is called “flagging” and is done as the girls walk through the doors. According to the author, new members are mostly unaware of how heavily recruitment is affected by looks.
Though this article does reveal the truth behind some chapter’s rush processes, it should not be applied to all sororities. Yes, the process can go wrong and get majorly twisted (as described). But, some sororities are very against rushing based on external looks, and really focus on finding the most genuine girls for their new pledge class. So, to anyone rushing right now—go where your heart takes you, not where you rank the highest. There is a danger in picking the top house you get invited back to instead of the one that you fell in love with.
As always we must look at this information while remembering how meaningful sororities have proved to be for some (most) people.
Link to full expose: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JQfuIA0lx5PHf3VFDhQ8STnR1QWpMNI0G7Z6xthshRM/edit