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Okay, I've got a story. It is weird in that it's unusual but it is actually a VERY COOL story and I swear on everything I own that it happened. It really happened.
I'm Phi Mu and went to East Tennessee State University; graduated in '81 so it's been a while. There was a girl on campus who I'll call Jane and she was very well known because of heavy-duty leadership in SGA. She was also the GDI Supreme Grand Pubah. She started the entire GDI movement on campus and did not do it second rate; the girl even had GDI T-shirts made up for her followers. She HATED Greeks, period.
The fall of her SENIOR year (my junior year), Jane registered for Formal Rush, as we called it back in the day. Panhellenic was all abuzz -- "What is she up to?" "Where is this going?" You can imagine the questions!!
First round parties and we're doing the rotation. I rotate to Jane and didn't mince any words. "So Jane," I said, "Give me the scoop -- what made you decide to go through Rush?" She looked me straight in the eye and calmly said, "I have spent the past three years trying to run Greeks off this campus, but all you've done is get bigger and stronger. I started thinking maybe there is something to Greek Life I don't know about and that I might get an idea of what it is if I go through Rush."
Well, I was blown back by her honesty and willingness to admit that she might be wrong! It also hit me how hard it had to be to swallow crow in front of her GDI converts...yet she did not let pride stop her from considering the need to maybe right a wrong.
Turns out, Jane was in a 5-year program. Even though she was a senior, she had two years left of school; also, several of my Phi Mu sisters were senators in SGA and knew Jane in a whole different light than GDI Queen. They insisted she would make a great sister with much to contribute if we could just pry the GDI banner out of her hand. Everyone agreed it took a lot of courage to go through Rush...so I don't know if anyone else did, but we extended her a bid.
She declined it. Yet, she called our President every single day for three weeks to talk about it. Our prez finally said, "Jane! Just accept your bid. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO. If it turns out not to be for you, you can de-pledge, no questions asked and no hard feelings, OKAY????"
Well, she accepted the bid and joined our fall pledge class. The next quarter, she went active. That spring, she ended up serving as assistant treasurer. Over the summer, our treasurer decided not to return to school due to some family issues, so Jane stepped into that position and went into fall rush as an executive officer!!!
The moral of this story? You just never know!!! And the hardest of hard GDI hearts can be softened!
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