I think everyone's overlooking the competitive nature of guys. I was rush chairman at my fraternity. If we wanted someone, we actively recruited him regardless of legacies. In fact, we considered it a bonus if we stole a legacy from another house (provided he was someone we wanted). I know it worked that way for other houses too.

When one of our legacies came through, we always gave the kid a good rush, even if we didn't care for him. Unless the legacy acted like a complete jerk during rush or was loathed by a fraternity brother who went to high school with him, we were going to give him a bid.

Once, a guy came through whose father was big in national. I don't think anyone was wild about the kid, but we recruited him hard. Because *we* recruited him hard, a competitive house went after him...and got him. Maybe he sensed that we were rushing out of obligation and the other house really wanted him. Who knows.

The ending was happy for everyone. The legacy got into a better house than he probably would have otherwise. We got a nice letter from his father, thanking us for the effort we put into rushing him. Our competitor thought they stole a legacy from us. And while we would have taken the legacy, we were pretty darn happy to lose him.

Not necessarily. Just 'different' chapters. Like I said, not my favorite practice.

Although I don't really recall ever asking if anyone was a legacy of any house (other than ours).

It really has to do with how the man presents his legacy status - regardless if the chapter is on campus or not. If he comes across as arrogant and cocky, that is bad.

We saw more than a few guys who were legacies to fraternities not represented on campus. There were a few that made a big point that they were legacies to ABC (which was not on campus) and as such, they thought they were the Cat's Meow. One made a point that he would have pledged ABC if they were on campus. ("Really? How nice for you.") Another just rubbed everyone in a wrong way. Going on about being a legacy to ABC. How great they were nationally etc. Trust me, we get it. But you are not rushing ABC. You are rushing us and we want to know why you want to be a member of our chapter and what you can do for us.

On the flip side, most just mentioned their legacy in passing. As such, we knew they understood the commitment to being in a fraternity (time, financial etc.).