updated spring cob info

Kappa has not been doing COB. Feel free to contact anybody in the house for more details on our recruitment this fall, of the 55 girls who were given bids, 54 were initiated. Don't know why people are spreading these weird stories.

Not sure why Kappa gals are working so hard to shoot down the super secret COB that added 6 people to their ranks. Just be honest about the retention issues and perhaps we would respect you just a bit. Honestly, the ongoing lying simply makes your house and sisterhood look pathetic. Oh no, my bad, your sisterhood is pathetic!

honestly what kappa has personally harmed you because this is such a bitter post based on what??? lies?? because, as said before, the 54 girls that were initiated all received bids on bid day. you can hate on kappa for many reasons but this simply is not one of them.

They may have received bids on bid day, but that doesn't mean they came through the regular FFR channels. Sometimes even the girls in the house don't know that phone calls were made, etc.

Thanks for the honesty Sad. The secret COB process leaves MUCH to be desired but I truly believe we should all figure out another way as the perception and reality of secret COB for PNMs is awful. I also don't think secret COB helps improve the perception of our system to the broader CAL community. I've heard of other schools putting a bit more structure to the COB process via requiring PNM resumes be circulated pre COB or interview forms that can be reviewed by all houses in advance of COB. This process would require review of the forms but it gives the perception that you don't need to know a friend of a friend of a friend to get a secret invite. Secret COB leaves many hard feelings and I really believe we need to figure out another way that doesn't overburden the houses but also doesn't rely solely on knowing someone in the system in advance of COB. I feel that the negatives of secret COB outweigh the positives that I would vote to NOT have it in the spring and only have fall recruitment. Another alternative is secret COB can only add 2 people per house in the spring, otherwise adding 3 or more people requires an open process. These numbers are subjective of course but I think most would understand my logic in agreeing to this awful process to just add a couple vs. adding quite a few in what I believe to be a fundamentally elitist and non democratic method. Our greek community deserves better than this antiquated awful system.

There is still a house total of 135, so when a Cal sorority house has 135 or more members as of January 1, 2017 their house simply cannot perform a Spring 2017 COB. Sorry.

The 135 house total number has nothing to do with COB being secret or illegal or with intentionally keeping women from joining a sorority.

It is partly to do with the number of people who are legally allowed to live in one house at one time. Fifty women living in a house the fire department and/or city code says thirty-five can live in at one time is unacceptable.

Keeping house total manageable enables most if not all women who join one group to live in their house at least one of their four years at school, enhancing their total sorority experience.

Panhel can choose to raise house total when it becomes apparent, over the course of 18-24 months, an ever-increasing number of women continue to want to join a Cal sorority.

Panhel cannot, however, decide the maximum number of women who can live in one house at a time.

Should house total ever be raised by a significant number, there is a chance some members will never have the opportunity to live in their chapter houses due to the aforementioned fire/city codes.

Cal's Fall Formal Recruitment Quota is the number that changes from year-to-year, and is based on a process the National Panhellenic Conference calls Release Figure Methodology or RFM. Please google "NPC and RFM" for more info.

Also nothing personally against PiPhi, but their dues on the FFR handbook don't match the actual dues. I know at least a couple girls had to drop because of financial reasons when they found out the actual dues.

Just an important note since usually Spring COB has to rely on the Fall handbook for information like that.

Pi phi lost like two girls after getting a HUGE pledge class. absolutely no room for COB sorry :/

Brava Stigma, it had to be said and I'm sooooo glad you said it. What is so funny in a sad way of course is that 3-4 houses consistently pull off great spring COB and it works for them. What I find pathetic is the houses that are using super secret and super super secret COB to recruit members. Virtually all the houses do COB in one way or another and I don't get why there is a stigma that is so strong that it causes people to lie about what is going on? I don't know of any house that didn't lose at least one member this past semester. In the end greek life is about $$$ so membership numbers have to be maintained. Why is this reality not translated into honest discussion about COB at most houses? Shoutout to Kappa, Alpha Phi and the lovely ladies of DG on this issue. I think the secret COB is disgraceful and reflects poorly on us all. Just my opinion but I believe its shared by more people than not.

@deena - I don't think the stigma is the only reason houses might do secret COB. Sometimes it just means they don't have that many spots open and it's just not worth the effort and money to do a public COB. I talked to friends of mine in ZTA and Tri-Delt, and that's definitely a big thing. ZTA had fewer openings and they did only one day of a much less publicized recruitment because it wasn't worth a full week of events like Tri-Delt and GPhi did based on how their numbers ended up shaking out. Houses that didn't publicize COB might have gone one step further than ZTA and decided that they didn't want to spend the time and effort on public COB at all when it was easier to have member referrals get them the 3 or 4 girls they needed.