Outsiders may think it is early to be focusing on Panhellenic recruitment, but potential new members and sorority women are already feeling the effects of the new guidelines put in place this year.

In addition to the old guidelines, active members and freshman potential new members (PNMs) have to obey the “no contact” rule established by the Panhellenic Executive Board and voted upon by all eight chapters. 

The new guidelines state, “Actives and PNMs may have no contact via cell-phone, which includes, but is not limited to, calling or texting” and “via online communities, which includes, but is not limited to, Facebook or MySpace messaging.” 

The same rule applies to e-mail, except for academic purposes, on campus organizations, honor societies, Mustang Corral, AARO and other similar activities.

Ali Frymark, the Panhellenic vice president of membership, said the rules were changed because of competition as to who could meet the most PNMs. 

“It is my hope that this campus can slowly progress to a more “natural” communication process, but until affiliated women stop breaking rules and competing against one another, these rules must be in place,” she said.

The “no contact” rule has been in effect before, but for the last two years, sorority women and PNMs were allowed to call, text and Facebook message each other. 

Reverting to the old guideline has been a surprise to many, and opinions are varied about the benefit of the rule.

“It may be harder to coordinate meetings with girls on campus because you can’t check in with them to confirm,” sophomore sorority woman Savanna  Hogan said. “I was supposed to meet a [PNM] today, but she couldn’t remember what time we were meeting, and I had no way to contact her.”

Some women also find that the “no contact” rule affects their ability to study with other women in their classes. Elyse Murphy, a junior active member, also explained some of her difficulties.

“If you have a class with a freshman and need to ask her a question about homework or studying, these new rules make it very hard to do that,” she said. 

Panhellenic has no problem with active members and PNMs studying together on campus, but the “no contact” rule must still apply to phone calls between both parties, no matter the objective.

This same issue has affected other organizations on campus as well. 

April Zinober is the president of Students for a Better Society, which includes members who are PNMs. 

“Having rules that conflict with the interests of other organizations is not really fair,” the junior sorority woman said. 

“Cracking down on communication between the freshmen and the actives is not the way to solve the issue,” she said.

Although it will be tougher to contact and coordinate with each other, some women expect the fall semester to be much less stressful for PNMs.

“Last year, some girls were feeling very overwhelmed by all the lunches that they were getting invited to,” Murphy said. 

She gave an example of a PNM who was rushed very hard by three sororities and had one or two lunches almost every day during the fall semester. 

“Even though she was getting really tired of going to all these lunches, and it was getting in the way of her school work, she felt that if she turned anyone down then it would hurt her chances of getting into a sorority,” Murphy said. 

“It’s kind of helpful,” PNM Margot O’Daniel said, “[You’re] not stuck doing sorority stuff all the time, and you can focus on other things like school.”

Frymark agrees. 

“It’s important for freshman women to establish their place on campus before thinking about joining a sorority. That’s what recruitment week is for.”

The restrictions may be even more of a blessing for the active members who are recruiting. 

With so much pressure to meet as many PNMs as possible, “It might take the stress out of [recruitment] because [now] there are limits to what you can do as a sorority woman,” Hogan said.

Kristal Statler, the director of Sorority and Fraternity Life, thinks the adjustment has been smooth. 

“The recruitment chairs for each chapter are really doing a great job with educating their members on the rules in general,” Satler said. “These rules are not for the PNMs, so it is not their responsibility to worry about them.”

“The responsibility to follow the rules lies with the chapters and their individual members,” she said.

Murphy has a positive outlook on the new guidelines. 

“It will be interesting to see what happens,” she said, “But overall, I think it is a good thing.”