1,400 Women to Begin Rush @ IU
 

1,400 women to begin rush
4-step process will showcase advantages of different chapters
By Maggie Bozich
Indiana Daily Student
Friday, October 22, 2004

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CAMPUS STORY
One thousand four hundred women will wake up early Saturday to begin women's recruitment. They will load buses before 11 a.m. to tour different chapters, only to wake up and do it again Sunday.

Saturday marks the beginning of 19 party, the first of four events leading to the choice to join a sorority house.

The women will visit 10 sororities Saturday and nine sororities Sunday. IU has one of the most competitive recruitment processes of any college, said senior Sarah Sackman, executive vice president for recruitment for the Panhellenic Association.

"IU has one of the most structured recruitments," Sackman said. "It is also one of the biggest and most competitive, so we try to keep the process the same every year."

Each woman who registered to rush paid $60, a portion of which will be donated to Dance Marathon, Sackman said.

The process begins with 19 party, which consists of the women visiting every chapter on campus for half an hour each. Rush then continues when the potential sorority members return early from winter break for 12 party Jan. 5 and 6. Next six party will be on Jan. 7 and three party on Jan. 8, Sackman said.

After each event in the recruitment process the women rushing will rank their preferences until the final ranking on Jan. 8 after three party. Bid day will take place Jan. 9, Sackman said.

Senior Kate Burnham, recruitment chair for Zeta Tau Alpha said her sorority has been preparing heavily for rush.

"We have done several workshops and meetings every week to get the sophomore class ready since this is their first year to participate in rush," Burnham said.

Senior and Vice President of Recruitment for Alpha Gamma Delta Katie Hanlon said her house has also been preparing for the upcoming rush. She said she is looking forward to the great experience of meeting all the new women.

"We've been cleaning the house, making sure we know what types of conversations to have with the women and making sure we know the rules," Hanlon said.

Burnham explained that Zeta tries keep the way they approach recruitment the same every year because they have such a successful return rate after 19 party. Zeta accepts a different number of women every year, but they try to keep the numbers consistent.

"We don't have a set number we wanna take every year," Burnham said. "We factor in how many seniors are graduating or how many sisters are studying abroad. We try to keep the numbers consistent every year. We don't want to have a pledge class of 60 one year and 20 the next."

Freshman Allison Stangel is hoping to find a house she feels she fits into, she said. She said she knows nothing about any of the chapters on campus but still hopes to pledge a house. "I am really looking forward to the process," Stangel said.

"I am looking forward to meeting all the girls in the different houses. I also think it will be great getting to know the different girls I am rushing with."

Getting a great pledge class into the house is something Burnham is looking forward to the most. She is also looking forward to seeing all the hard work she put forth pay off.

"The whole process is exciting, in getting great women," Burnham said. "I am a senior, so I want to make sure we get really great women to take our place."

-- Contact staff writer Maggie Bozich at mbozich@indiana.edu.

I'm almost tempted to go to campus this weekend just to see that. Butler's rush was very, very low key compared to this!

Well if you do go and visit, be sure to report back here! That's fascinating and and I'd love to hear more about it.

Is it just me or does the fact that 1400 women are going through recruitment and the campus doesn't use a quota system bother them, too? So many disappointments....makes me sad.

Rather they should expand the NPC system and move towards a quota/total and bring more people into Greek Life.

JMHO,

Barbara

Makes me sad too.

Makes me sad, too. Imagine all the unmatched women who would've matched with a set quota. And with a Greek System that size, there's no reason that every woman shouldn't have at least one bid, if she keeps her options open and meets the basic membership requirements.

but I'm sure they have a system that works for them-- or they wouldn't be able to accomodate so many chapters and they wouldn't have such huge numbers coming out to recruitment.

Okay playing Devil's Advocate for a MINUTE, if all 1400 women stayed in for the final ranking with a quota system that would mean about 74/75 women would be going to every sorority. Now I'm sure some of the sororities could handle a pledge class that large but that's a LOT of women to educate and hopefully initiate. I love sorority life but we know that just because someone is interested in Greek life doesn't mean that Greek life is for them. And I guess you could add more sororities but that just seems like it would add more women to rush and not really solve the whole enormous potential pledge class thing.

Many of the big schools have pledge classes with those numbers. Louisiana State, U of Oklahoma, U of Central Florida, and Ole Miss are some schools that have had pledge classes above 70. While it is a big pledge class, the sororities are more than prepared to handle it.
After graduating from a school like UCF that had pledge classes above 70, I can't imagine what it would be like to have a small pledge class! :)

True. Most sororities that have classes of 70+ have a chapter size of at least 150 or 200. So they are more than prepared for it! :)

Wow.... I can't imagine such a large pledge class. When I joined, quota was 17 and we had a total of 47 girls match bids out of maybe 70 girls who went through. Granted I do come from a small campus. I like being from a small campus and a small chapter. Our chapter has about 40 girls. I couldn't even fathom a pledge class of 70+ girls. Wow....

I don't think a class of 70 new members is all that outrageous, to me that sounds like a normal sized class. Quota here at Mizzou is always around 65+ so that's why I don't find that weird.

Anyway, I just the only thing I find shocking about this is how loooooong their rush is. I'd go insane if I had to start rush and then wait so long to finish! :eek:

IU definitely has a weird rush.

I thought I would just add that I feel bad for the girls today. It's raining here. I know the girls will have buses but still!

Why do they spread rush out like this? That would drive me insane.

I have also heard that a large number of women are left unmatched. I have friends in my department who were greek here at IU. I'll talk to them and see what I can find out. :)

Also, I was driving and saw the PNMs waiting to go inside the houses. I feel so bad for them! It has simply been pouring all day long. It must be hard to keep the houses clean after a day like this!

They do that in time for semester grades to come out between 1st & 2nd rounds. Most people are cut for grades between those rounds, I think. (minimum GPA to pledge, per Panhel, is 2.5. But most houses have a higher minimum GPA.)

And it is crazy.

just out of curiousity...how come they don't use the panhel rules? i sort of thought that everyone had to use quota/ total, etc. if there were more than 2 groups on campus. does anyone know?

My sense when I was a chapter adviser there was to actually do some "self culling". With the holiday break between introductions round and the next round, there is actually a rather large drop due to grades and other pressures.

It is a fairly healthy system there...amazingly enough. Lately it seems that the fraternities have been taking the bigger hits in chapter failures (for a number of reasons), with quite a few boarded up residences (saddly).

(My parents live in Bloomington :)

The quota/total system is only an NPC recommendation, not a rule.

i am seriously on the floor right now. wow. i really do need to get my hands on a green book.

is there strict silence between now & when recruitment begins again? their system is so odd to me!

Yes, actually there is. Obviously if you're going through and you're lab partners with a sister, you have to talk sometimes but you cannot talk about recruitment.

I always wonder about siblings when one is in a house and the other is going through...that's got to be tough.

Holy shit, if 1400 people EVER rushed at Otterbein...i don't know what we'd do. That's almost half of our campus!! I think we had something like 150 girls rush last year with me...and it was just stressful and tiresome for us (I can only imagine how the chapters felt). Thankfully our campus is small enough that we walk during open houses. Quota sucks in some ways, but I suppose if it would reduce the numbers of unmatched girls...

Rush Hour: 19 Party
 

Rush hour
Hundreds turn out to participate in 19 party
By Haley Beck
Indiana Daily Student
Monday, October 25, 2004

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CAMPUS STORY
More than 1,400 potential sorority members were out in full force Saturday and Sunday participating in 19 party, the first phase of the greek recruitment process.

The women donned matching black long sleeve shirts highlighting the 19 reasons to go greek on the back, and starting at 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday could be seen trekking from house to house. They visited 10 houses the first day, and the remaining nine the second.

Groups of 70 to 80 potential pledges, chosen alphabetically, were accompanied by four or five recruitment counselors. The counselors, also called Rho Gammas, are sorority members who disaffiliate themselves from their houses to help women through the process. They do not reveal anything about themselves that would give away the house they belong to, including last names and sometimes even first names.

Rho Gammas are usually in charge of one floor of a dormitory, and have between 10 to 30 women in each group.

Each group spends a half-hour at each of the 19 houses, talking to members and sometimes taking a tour. Members welcome groups into the house by banging on windows and doors while clapping and chanting their house cheer. Much of the rest of the day is spent traveling between houses and waiting for the next party to begin. Sororities use this time to prepare for the next party, while Rho Gammas take attendance for their group. Women must attend all 19 parties to be eligible for a bid.

One traditional responsibility of Rho Gammas is to make name-tags for all the women in their group, and they take this job seriously. Many times the creative tags are elaborate, using glitter and unique themes to set the groups apart. Pink elephants, sparkly flamingos, Polar Pop cups and snowmen were some of the tags recruits wore this year.

Women either walked or rode special recruitment buses that shuttled the potentials to different sorority houses. Many said they were grateful for the ride Saturday when it rained for much of the day; but even the uncooperative weather couldn't ruin the event.

"The weather was horrible this morning," said Michelle, one of the Rho Gammas who declined to give her last name, as she waited outside Delta Gamma with her group Saturday night. "We're all wet, our feet are wet ... but everyone is hanging in there. If we get through today, then tomorrow will be easy."

Jamie, another recruitment counselor, was impressed with the way the women in her group handled the inconvenience.

"They kept their morale up even though the weather was bad," she said. "They were all so positive and happy."

The women were rewarded Sunday with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s.

Rain or shine, most women saw their experience during 19 party as a positive one, and planned on continuing with the process.

Freshman Jaclyn Goldman said although she was getting tired by the end of the first day, she was still having fun.

"I thought it would be stressful, but the (sorority members) are really nice," she said. "It's laid back ... except for when they pound on the door before we go in."

Goldman said she thinks she will like being in a sorority because "there is always something to do, and always someone to go out with."

Sophomore sorority members are also going though a new experience; this year they are on the other side of the recruitment process.

"It's very different, but interesting," said Libby Hiple, sophomore member of Delta Gamma. "It's just as nerve-wracking because I want to portray a positive image for my chapter."

Hiple also said the days seemed to go faster for her this year because she didn't have any waiting to do.

"Things go on (in the house) in the 20 minutes between parties that I didn't know about last year," she said.

For her, one of the most challenging aspects of the parties is keeping up good conversation with the potential members she meets.

"At times it can be difficult because everyone is kind of nervous, and so it sometimes seems forced. The little awkward silences can get weird," she said. "But other times it just flows, it really depends on the person."

Despite this, Hiple said she is having a great time hearing everyone's story, and encourages women to join a house.

"On the whole, the greek community is a very unifying force," she said. "In my chapter specifically, we have people from all over. We have women with 4.0s, women who like to stay in, some who like to go out ... you can't have that many people in one house and not learn to appreciate everyone's differences."

Junior member of Alpha Omicron Pi Ashley Ray also said she was enjoying recruitment this year.

"There are a lot of good women coming through this year," Ray said Sunday morning. "The house is energetic and excited to continue today."

Ray said the best part of the process is meeting potential members, but it is sometimes difficult to get to know the person in such a small amount of time.

"It's hard because you want to give all the women the same amount of attention as you gave the first person," she said. "It's also a long weekend on little or no sleep."

Sorority members sometimes stay up till the early hours of the morning after the parties are finished. Alpha Omicron Pi members were not finished until nearly 2 a.m. after the first round of parties.

Freshman Julia Huber, a Bloomington native, said the whole experience has given her a different view of the houses she used to drive by and think of as pretty mansions.

"I now know the (women) that live in the houses," Huber said. "It gives them a whole new perspective and meaning."

____________________

To my knowledge, this is the first time that PNM's have worn the same thing when meeting the houses. When I was there, it was EVERY single member of the sororities that wore the same shirt with the 19 reason's on the back. It's interesting to see that they changed the dress code for the first part of recruitment.

Also, they take talking with a PNM very seriously. If you are in a group with a PNM or one is a relative, you have to fill out a paper that bascially gives the member and a PNM permission to talk, but not about recruitment. Otherwise, there is a no contact rule and if caught talking, the member and the member's chapter could get serious infractions that may result in a fine.

What about the fraternities? Do they have the same system ( first round in October then waiting until Jan for the next)?