Greek Week pairings spark debate
Published Nov. 28, 2006
The new Greek Week pairing system has come under fire by several chapter presidents who believe the system failed them this year.
"I feel that the pairing system is ridiculous and has too many flaws," Alpha Phi sorority President Erin McKenna said.
McKenna said that in the system, chapters rank seven chapters by preference and are supposed to be paired with at least one of those seven. She said that in both Homecoming and Greek Week this year, she heard that chapters have been paired with chapters not in their top seven.
Interfraternity Council spokesman Matt Sokoloff said he knew of only one instance where a chapter was paired with a chapter that was not one of its original seven. He did not specify which chapter.
Sokoloff said the system is a mutual pairing system. When chapters rank their top seven, the computer has a point system that pairs them with another chapter that ranked them highly as well. This generates the top three. After courting, the same process is used to create pairings.
In both instances, a chapter might rank other chapters highly, but its ranking is not necessarily reciprocated. In some cases of unreciprocated ranking, a chapter ends up with a chapter it did not rank in its top seven. Sokoloff said the system can be complicated at times but that is the option voted upon by the chapters.
Sokoloff said chapters submit preferences that are typed into a computer spreadsheet and that the computer uses a mathematical system to assign the pairings.
Outgoing Panhellenic Association President Erica Lindner said there are no documents that record how the pairing process works and that preference information submitted by chapters is confidential.
"I think it's a very flawed and ignorant system," Phi Kappa Theta fraternity President Joseph Neely said. "The courting procedures, while improved upon since the previous revision, lack the fundamental importance serving the desires of the fraternities and sororities. This oversight is just another example of abuse of authority and a lack of creativity from our elected IFC and PHA representatives."
Sokoloff supported the system despite the dissent of some.
"We are very pleased with how the pairing system worked," Sokoloff said, also on behalf of PHA. "Of the 38 IFC/PHA chapters that were able to vote on the system, four voted against it. Those same chapters still have some concerns, but overall the system worked as it was supposed to."
Information as to which four chapters voted against the system was unavailable.
Not all chapter leaders had complaints about the system.
"I am very happy with how the pairing system worked this semester," Zeta Tau Alpha sorority President Shannon Ferguson said. "I know our chapter is very excited about our partners, and we are looking forward to a great Greek Week."
Acacia fraternity President Joel Brown said he has mixed feelings about the system. He called the pairing process "an ongoing evaluation."
Brown said the serenading spending limit eliminated a lot of the anxiety and stress surrounding the event.
The Code of Serenade and Courting Ethics prohibits spending more than $150 on one day of courting.
Brown said the system could be improved by allowing fraternities to preference each other in much the same way that fraternities and sororities preference each other now. Brown said that way, medium-sized fraternities would preference other medium-sized fraternities, and large fraternities would preference small ones. This, he said, would make the numbers fair.
Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity President Robb Loran said the courting schedule was flawed but that the overall system was not bad.
"As far as the way they were conducted, doing it online was easy and convenient," he said.