Recruitment rule book rewritten

When freshman Michelle Pircon begins formal sorority recruitment this year, she will likely find the process less restrictive than those who rushed only a year ago. The Panhellenic Association, which acts as the governing body for sororities on campus, has rewritten the rush rule book, removing many "nit-picky" rules, said Kelly Jones, executive vice president of recruitment for the Panhellenic Association. \n"The rules as they are haven't been completely evaluated in a long time," Jones said. "We went through each page of the rules and talked about each one to decide whether it was necessary."\nThe Panhellenic Association-appointed committee trimmed the rule book from its original 14 pages to five, Jones said. The committee restructured the rule book so that the Code of Ethics will now be the main guideline for recruitment, she said.\n"A big part of the Code of Ethics is for everyone involved in recruitment -- alumni, members -- to act with integrity," Jones said. "Everyone needs to have an equal opportunity to recruit and be recruited."\nIndividual sororities will be more responsible for setting their own rules, Jones said. Each sorority is part of a national chapter, which has its own standards for recruitment, she said.\n"We hope chapters will take these rules upon themselves and decide how they want to portray their chapter," she said.\nThough the changes have not been officially approved yet, Jones said she did not foresee any opposition to them because everyone was included in the discussion leading up to it.. The vote will be held Sunday night.\nMany of the rules were relics of problems that occurred during rush years ago, Jones said. If there was a problem at one year's event, the Panhellenic Association would create another rule to deal with it, she said.\n"Rules would be made, but nobody would ever go back and re-evaluate whether they were working or not," Jones said. "They just kept piling up."\nRules eliminated included those dealing with the topics of conversation allowed, said Christine Loncaric, rush chair for Alpha Xi Delta and a member of the committee working on restructuring the rules. Previously, sorority members were not allowed to talk about partying or men, she said.\n"Sororities are involved in a lot of philanthropy and do great things for the community," Loncaric said. "But it is no secret that there is a social life there, too."\nNow, sorority members are allowed to talk to potential members about other male students, as long as they do not mention specific fraternities. Other rules eliminated include the rule against touching potential members. Touching a potential member is allowed as long as its not excessive, according to the new guidelines.\nThe rule changes will allow chapter members to be more themselves and worry less about what they are allowed to talk about, Loncaric said. Both current and potential members will be more comfortable with the process.\n"Our biggest goals are for each chapter to have its own personality," Loncaric said. "We want people to be able to identify better with members and see what house they belong in. It's beneficial for both sides."\nPircon, who will go through formal recruitment this winter, said she had previously been unfamiliar with both new rules and old, but she thinks analyzing the rules and giving individual sororities more freedom to decide rules is a good idea.\n"I'd want to know what (a chapter) is really like before I join it," Pircon said. "I don't want to get some false representation of it"