sorority involvement in fraternity recruitment
 

Hey all! Here's a question for everyone. On your campus, do the sorority women go to the fraternity recruitment events? What sort of events do the women participate in? Are there any events that a national organization would not allow their women to women to participate in?

We always helped the fraternities with rush events. It was never a formal thing, though. Usually a girl had a boyfriend in a house, or was good friends with some of the guys, and she and some sisters would go over during the rush parties to just hang out and talk to the guys. I guess they figured pretty girls haning around would be a draw! All the events were dry, so I don't see why Nationals would mind though I do not know if we have any formal policy against it.

I've always personally wondered about this...I don't know if I like the idea of my collegiate sisters self-pimping themselves out (I know that's an exaggeration). If you cannot attract members without women, what is your org about? We do it without men all the time...Maybe the men should work on their recruitment skills and start thinking about what membership in their fraternity will offers men besides the possibility of lots of booty!

I don't blame the women for going, but instead wonder why the men ask...I have no problem with the chapter sweetheart being there, though. I also have no problem with women being present after bids are offered.

That is no longer allowed at my school. In 2002 they passed a new rule stating that only fraternity chapter sweethearts were allowed at rush events, and if any other sorority member were to be spotted at any fraternity rush activity, the entire chapter would be fined. So it's no longer done. However, many sorority girls, myself included, have been offered to wear fraternity rush shirts promoting different chapters, and we happily do so.

I dont think that sorority girls not being allowed at fraternity rush events anymore has affected recruitment at all. There is this place outside the student center called "The Corner" where all the Greeks hang out between classes, so prospective fraternity as well as sorority rushees/PNM's see who hangs our where and with whom etc.

At Ole Miss, only Fraternity Sweethearts are allowed to be at the first round of rush.

Back in the day, there were no rules from either IFC or Panhel prohibiting women from being at fraternity rush events. I think that's still the case.

I don't think it's such a good idea though. We really shot ourselves in the foot one year. Sorority and fraternity recruitment used to happen during the same week. A group of us went to dinner at a fraternity house one evening and ran into some PNMs, including a couple of women that we really wanted. :eek: Our silence rules were very strict; we weren't allowed to talk to them, even to explain that we weren't allowed to talk to them! I think they got offended, because they cut us after that. :(

On the campus I support I'm not real sure.

Gamma Phi Beta, however, has a position statement that says sorority women have no place in fraternity recruitment. According to the statement, we support "the position of other National Panhellenic Conference groups".

Whoops. We have a number of sisters who help at fraternity rush events - we aren't there for their equivalent of preference night, but we'll go bowling, watch football, play capture the flag, etc...

Would sorority women participate in parties such as "Twister with a Sister"?

cute sorority girls can hang out with me during rush

Billy, Youse To Silly! Dude!

I think it would be nice if Soroity Ladies would assist Fraternitys! Why may one ask:

Da, is nicer to look at prety ladys than a bunch of ugly guys!:)

Well, I'm not sure how much of an exaggeration that is. I've been debating on whether to post this, because there are SOME sensitive people out there. I see no problem with women going to INFORMAL rush events. I went to several! However, I do have problems when I hear (TRUE) stories about sorority women being used as 'Rush Tools'. I'm not going to elaborate, because I know that lots of GCers have great imaginations. I think that Nationals for each sorority setting standards is great, but I think that some women need to set some standards of their own. I'll just leave it at that.

aj

At my school we were often given Rush T-shirts by the fraternities to wear. We were not allowed at all though at any rush events. It is considered a rush violation on our side because PNMs may be at the events. There have been some sororities on campus who have gotten in trouble for doing this. We do however attend the unofficial after rush events, we just are careful about wearing anything that displays which sorority we are a member of.

A few times this guy I knew in a fraternity who I considered as just an acquaintance asked me if I would attend some of his house's informal rush events. Usually I was busy, so I turned him down. But he has also asked me twice if I would be willing to jello wrestle with other girls. This apparently was a rush event--watching girls try to pin each other in a pool of jello. Three guesses as to what my response to his proposition was. :rolleyes:

There are no formal rules (yet) at UCR as to whether sorority women (or any women for that matter) may participate in fraternity rush, but it happens all the time. IFC rush is usually the weekend after formal NPC recruitment, so most of the sorority chapters will gather all the girls, including new members, and attend Theme Parties together (usually, all sororities participating will go to each fraternity- otherwise it shows too much preference on the sorority's behalf). Some fraternities, particularly one very strong chapter, have started not allowing women at the IFC rush events at all. Which is fine because they know they're getting guys based on brotherhood and their own recruitment skills- not on the ladies they hang out with and what the ladies have said to persuade potential bros.

As for "informal" rush event parties for the guys (right before formal rush), girls will usually talk up the chapter to the rushees, as a courtesy to the guys they support. The guys at these parties are usually gung-ho whatever chapter they're at anyways, but it usually helps to see an outside perspective and they rushees aren't told that if they get a bid, they'll have any support whatsoever from a particular sorority chapter (did that make sense?). So if Joe Blow is rushing ABC fraternity, and I happen to know the entire chapter and give the fraternity a lot of good PR when I'm talking to Joe at one of their parties, the university and IFC won't consider it "dirty rushing" or anything of the sort. The university and IFC tend to not care what the ladies do or say regarding rushing potential fraternity men- so long as the guys rush, that's all that's bothered with.

Jello wrestling?!? :eek: Self-pimping? Please, I was doing neither when I helped with Pike rush (where I did happen to be the sweetheart). The women dressed up in pin attire and just hung out. We played pool, watched TV, got to know the guys as well. Mostly we hung out with each other, ate some free food, and that was it. We weren't around any selection process. And there were no female PNMs at these events so there was no chance of that being a problem. In fact, there were usually women from 2 or 3 different sororities there and we hung out together.

If guys are bringing women in to do degrading things that's one thing. But come on, girls clean up their houses, put out the favors and pictures from their socials, and work their butts off on the skits. Do any of those things show female PNMs what the chapter's true sisterhood is about?! Not every female PNM picks a house because of "the wonderful sisterhood" - often it's because of the fun stuff they do or the beautiful house they live in. In truth, I was always hanging around the Pike house with my sisters. If a guy decided to go Pike, he was probably going to see us a lot. How is that so different that us girls putting out scrapbooks and pictures of what we do a lot in our houses?

I just hear a lot of people thinking this is SUCH a big deal, and on my campus at least, it wasn't. No nudity, no scandals, nothing exciting really.

At Pitt in my days it was fairly common for sororities to help out fraternities with rush. Usually, the sororities helped the fraternities they most hung out with (ie DZ and SAE or PKA, DDD with DTD, XO with FIJI or SX) or where a lot of the women were little sisters.

I helped out a lot with SAE's rush parties; giving out drinks, introducing prospectives to brothers, etc. It really wasn't a big deal and I didn't give it much thought. The guys were my friends and I was happy to help out when asked. I remember that we didn't wear badge attire or letters to the parties because it wouldn't have been appropriate but we didn't dress like we belonged on a street corner either! :)

See, I don't think we have any place in an event like that. However, I don't see anything wrong with us going to a barbecue or watching a football game at the house.

Jello wrestling?!? Self-pimping? Please, I was doing neither when I helped with Pike rush.

Just because YOU didn't do it, doesn't mean that it doesn't happen! There are SOME women who are so obsessed with a fraternity, that they will do anything to belong. I've seen it several times, and it just makes them look stupid! Those are usually the girls that all the guys make fun of. My husband is in a fraternity, but those are HIS brothers...I didn't want to get in their way! I'd go to events, but wouldn't rush new guys...it's not my place.

I really could care less if women are present for fraternity rushing events. We didn't have formal IFC recruitment, and my sisters were pretty evenly spread throughout personal favorites in each fraternity. I agree with what you said gphiangel! But, I think in this case the guys can be as superficial as some of the girls that xo_cathy mentioned.

aj

It's pretty common for girls to wear "Rush Phi Delts" or "Rush ...." shirts or shorts around campus. I guess rush has just gotten pretty competitive here, and the actives are trying really hard to impress the new guys on campus. We go to the informal rush events they have at houses or bars. Sometimes an active will ask you to talk to a potential new member for awhile. They then ask what your honest opinion is of the guy. I think it's a good way for active guys to get another opinion on things. We never would do anything like jello wrestling! Hanging out is pretty much it here! Plus, it's always fun to get a new t-shirt or shorts! :)

We are not allowed to attend Fraternity events at their respective houses during Panhellenic or IFC recruitment since this is considered a rush violation. Also, PNMs are not allowed to attend Fraternity parties during recruitment. It's just easier this way. Plus, with how busy recruitment is, there's not much time to go out or anything. You end up trying to catch up on your sleep whenever you have time :)

Elena