Graphic by Dalton Runberg / The Collegian
Fresno State Greek members and potential new recruitments were prohibited from using Facebook and other social media accounts during rush week to prevent subjective acceptance of new members.
Greeks social media accounts managed by Greeks were deactivated from Aug. 17-29 due to Panhellenic Assoiciations implementation of a new policy as part of the “strict silence” period.
“Strict silence is the period of time from the end of the women’s last event until the issuance of bids,” Greek advisor Eddie Dominguez said. “Strict silence is defined as verbal, written, printed, or text message communication between the potential new members and fraternity members.
“There will be no promising of bids directly or indirectly by any member, new member, or alumna of a fraternity,” Dominguez added.
The rule implementation tries to prevent biased judgments of sororities towards new possible members due to possible negative Facebook content.
“The purpose of the new rule was to eliminate the potential of girls being biased toward houses based on what they see on member’s individual Facebook accounts,” vice president of public relations for the Panhellenic Association Megan Hamik said.
“During the actual weekend it prevents members from contacting the girls that are going through recruitment over Facebook,” Hamik added.
“We don’t want to punish the pledges for things they’ve done in the past. We all understand that college hits everyone differently and it’s great to see how much pledges mature over the semester,” Phi Mu member Kim Jones said. “Everyone deserves a second chance.
“Social media tends to get in the way when we are trying to recruit girls for our sorority. It makes it easier to accept each potential member without having a biased opinion,” Jones said. “Not having Facebook to turn to gives everyone a fair chance.”
In previous years, members were allowed to preview each candidate’s social media accounts prior to their social contact, Jones added.
The lack of Facebook keeps the recruiting process more subjective, but the only negative side effects are the withdrawals from not being able to use all of the convenient social networks.
Jones added that for the 2010 recruitment period, members had to set their profiles on private to avoid candidates from being able to “stalk” the sorority sister pages.
“We already have to keep our Facebook profile very private as it is. We aren’t allowed to have pictures posted or anything that would affect our houses reputation,” Jones said.
The deactivations of sororities’ social media became an inconvenience not only for members, but also for the organizations.
“I love social networking as a way of promoting. This year we had a Facebook ad promoting sorority recruitment, and each chapter had their own Facebook pages showing their sisterhood and representing what they stand for,” Hamik said.
Greek organizations dependence on Facebook is not uncommon. Facebook and Twitter have become the fastest and easiest alternatives for individuals of all ages to reach out and talk to friends, family and even celebrities.
CQ Researcher found that in 2010, more than 500 million people use Facebook. The usage of Facebook is three times the amount other social media outlets are used.
“I feel miserable because I can’t check my Facebook. My family and friends thought I had deleted them because my Facebook page disappeared,” Jones added.