Issue date: 9/25/08 Section: Forum

I am a sorority girl. Anyone who knows me will probably chuckle reading that. I don't consider myself a typical sorority girl. I am a theatre major, I'm brunette and I don't own a single pair of Seven jeans. But alas, I am a member of a sorority and thus a sorority girl. I'm OK with that label, as I don't consider most girls at Northwestern "typical sorority girls."

However, during my time at Northwestern, I have seen the potent emphasis on individuality decline, largely due to changes implemented by the Panhellenic Association.

For those of you unfamiliar with Greek lingo, Panhel is the governing body that oversees the majority of NU sororities. Most significantly, Panhel controls recruitment - the operative word in that sentence being "controls."

My personal skepticism of Panhel began my freshman year at a mandatory rush meeting when the organization gave away tanning packages to winners of a celebrity trivia game. It was then that I realized that although individual sororities were not stereotypical, Panhel was. Recently, my slight frustration with the organization - and at times amusement - has turned into something far more serious.

Whereas Panhel was formerly defined by sorority girls walking around in pink jackets, making jokes about Ugg boots and passing out pancakes on Dillo Day, it has now transformed into an all-powerful creator and enforcer of sorority guidelines. This began last year when Panhel decided to abolish certain phrases from "recruitment" vocabulary.

The words weren't curse words, they were far worse. They were "rush" and "house." They have thankfully since been replaced with "recruitment" and "chapter." Panhel then disallowed the use of skits in "recruitment preview," also formerly known as "philanthropy round." The reasoning was some houses were being given an unfair advantage because their members were "more creative" than those in other houses.

Panhel quite literally punished people for being individuals. Panhel is now requiring all freshman and sorority members to wear uniform t-shirts for various rounds of recruitment. Apparently, it is less stressful for a girl to wear the exact same ill-fitting shirt as everybody else, rather than her own clothing.

None of these ridiculous changes, however flawed, come close to being as egregious as the decision mandating all recruitment counselors stay at Best Western during the entire week of recruitment. The school is spending close to $10,000 ($9,345 according the estimates from Best Western), so that girls can't go to their chapter house and gossip about freshmen and their house preferences.

Dear Panhel: have you ever heard of a cell phone, e-mail, instant messanger or chatting in person before or after classes? More than seeing the short-sightedness or stupidity in this, I find the blatant waste of funds downright offensive. Couldn't this money be better allocated for increased safety measures, like more safe ride drivers or better lighting? Panhel apparently sees the vain hope of preventing inevitable gossip as more of a budget priority.

As I said, I'm a sorority girl, but sorority shouldn't be synonymous with conformity. I encourage Panhel to rethink these policies and to recognize that the strength of sororities is in their uniqueness, not their uniformity. I also encourage the university to rethink its decision to budget thousands of dollars for this purpose. At a time when Americans are facing serious financial strains and our government is meeting to find solutions to our economic problems, the university should set a better example of how it spends its precious resources.

Communication senior Taube Schwartz can be reached at tschwartz@northwestern.edu.

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