A MANLY rush question!

[33girl]

It seems like most of the discussion in this topic is about sorority rush, probably since it is so much more structured. So I'd like to hear from the guys!! Do y'all have a certain number of pledges you are supposed to get or a number of members you are supposed to maintain?

[SoCalGirl]

I've always wondered about this too. Do your advisors set a quota or something? Since guys don't have total how do you decide whether or not you should even have rush??

[Corbin Dallas]

There are no quotas. There should always be rush! there is no rule against one fraternity being larger than another. If one can "monopolize", good for them. I don't really understand why you would want to limit the size of your fraternity. Whether there are 50 good guys, or just one, a fraternity should bid the number of guys they feel fit with them, and their ideals. We have houses here ranging in size from about 15 up to upwards of 80.

------------------
Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

[kmullini]

33girl, thanks for bringing up the topic. I agree with Corbin Dallas. There are no quotas. Fraternity and Sorority Rush are two totally different worlds. I never really understood sorority rush myself as an active. For guys at my school we had rush both in the fall and in the spring. Some Fraternities had a one night or two night formal invite kind of thing but it varied with each chapter. I thought most of the events were pretty casual and not much of a formality which it made it easier on both the brothers and the rushees. I believe that Rush really is 365 days a year. I'm not sure if the quota thing would work for guys but it some ways I think it would help many fraternities if the rush schedule was more structured like the girls have it. So that you can see and spend adequate time with all the fraternities during Rush. Who knows maybe Panhel and IFC could work together to improve rush for guys. When I rushed it seemed like many of the fraternites made it so you had to choose who you wanted to hang out with and that kind of limited you during the week. My campus had 16 fraternities. Not that I am saying I'm not happy who I am a part of. I am very proud Beta Theta Pi. I suppose you could hang out in the summer or during non rush periods too if you were serious enough about rushing. Theres nothing really stopping you from calling a particular Fraternities house. Another thought I had was that each fraternity has their own image, ideals, and what kind of standards they want to set. How the rushee's chemistry is when they are with the brothers, how they gel and what they plan to contribute to your Fraternity. Will they be there for the long haul or are they just there for the parties. Some chapters like lots of numbers and some chapters dont. It all really depends.

Kevin Mullinix
Beta Theta Pi Alum
Epsilon Mu
George Mason University

[This message has been edited by kmullini (edited January 20, 2001).]

[Tom Earp]

I think the Soroity Rush goes back to when there were less women on campus, only so many to go around and the schools did not want some houses to go under. The men doninated ergo there were more men to pledge. This is not the case anymore. As I am sure Brother Corbin will agree we all want to associate with the most and the best, my house has associatated some members who did not make it, I have always been of the beleif that if they did not make it then we as GLOs did not do a thourgh back ground check into who these people are. If all was equal, all we assoc. with, they would become sisters and brothers. I am sure all of us want to have Brothers/Sisters for life, as that is what it means to me.

------------------
Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

[AlphaChiGirl]

According to NIC rules, are women allowed at formal/informal recruitment events?

[James]

Rush/recruitment

There is always a certain degree of pressure to maintain numbers in a Fraternity chapter.

Its just not as intense as with the sororities.

We don't have total or ceiling which means that we don't have an arbitrary membership number that we can be compared with.

National Org's like you to be average size but there is very little pressure to achieve this.

A lot of organizations have motivational programs to increase new members such as Sig Eps +5 challenge which asks that you get 5 more pledges than your last year's average. This is common because without something like total to compare ourselves, its difficult to measure progress by an objective criteria that requires specific goal setting, ie we need 15 more pledges this semester to achieve ceiling.

Its my understanding that total/ceiling is designed to protect groups that may be temporarily weaker in numbers and/or deemed less popular on campus.

There is an underlying assumption that women are more likely than men to flock to the most popular groups creating discrepancies of 300 person chapters to 30 person chapters.

Total protects the smaller groups and spreads membership out. It also creates the mind boggling possibility that a person will not get to join the organization they want and that wants them because of an arbitrary number system! This is reinforced because if you decide not to pledge after going through the process you cannot enter the process again for a year.

There are reasons why Fraternities don't do this:

1. We tend to be more cut throat and are not about to subscribe to rules that may limit our membership.

2. We don't really care whether other groups fold or not (collectively).

3. Perhaps most importantly, we are generally not as well organized, nor disciplined when it comes to working together and effectively completing complex tasks as the average sorority chapter.

Speaking to a Greek Advisor at one of the largest Greek Systems in the country he/she mentioned that Fraternity chapters tended to be way behind sorority chapters in terms of being organized and competent. The adage there is that where the sororities go the fraternities follow.

This is strange to me given that a patriarchal world view and authority system has dominated all of recorded history.

Oh well sorry the writing is so dry . . . but I took a nap which always leaves me a little weak and brain dead for some reason . . anyone else have this problem?




[This message has been edited by James (edited January 28, 2001).]

[Billy Optimist]

This is strange to me given that a patriarchal world view and authority system has dominated all of recorded history.

James, dude. Think of who is doing the recording... And look to more than out right "history books" for history is also recorded in the myths and legends of the world's cultures. Humanity's first deity was/ is mother Earth.

Just thought I should throw that out.


------------------
Just because and idea is stupid doesn't mean it won't work.

[SkipRock]

Something that my chapter considers is, "How many members do we need to provide the best fraternal experience?" Obviously, a 50 man chapter can provide, over all, a better fraternal experience than a 15 man chapter. Each year we set a goal to recruit 20 guys in the fall and 10 in the spring. These are practical numbers for our chapter.

------------------
David Treat
Lambda Chi Alpha
University of Nebraska at Omaha

[James]

Originally posted by Billy Optimist:
This is strange to me given that a patriarchal world view and authority system has dominated all of recorded history.

I was kind of toungue in cheek about that comment
It was that tired brain thing that made me seem so strange.

[Billy Optimist]

James,

Ok, now I understand. Some things are kind of hard to pick up on when you just read them and don't hear how they are said. My bad.

------------------
Once in every lifetime, you'll know what life is. Oh I need you, you need me, oh my darling, don't you see? The Young Ones. Darling we're The Young Ones. The Young Ones. Shouldn't be afraid! To live. To love. There's a song to be sung. 'Cause we may not be The Young Ones for very long!!!