Dirty Rush
 

Scenario: Your campus has deferred recruitment and you are a PNM. What would you do if a group of sorority members from one sorority asked you out to dinner and it was well-known that this was a chapter that had been routinely taking PNMs out for meals? What would you say without making it seem like you were giving them the brush-off and in the interests of a fair recruitment?

If they are buying PNMs dinner, that constitutes as gifts which should be against Panhellenic rules. So it's dirty rushing. Tell the Panhellenic advisor.

Interesting
 

My school did rush even before classes started. I don't know much about rush rules with deferred rush.

What are the rules about contact before rush begins? Do greek women basically not talk to frosh until rush is over? Is it only a problem if it's a group of women exclusively from one sorority spending time with a group of women likely to go through rush?

The question is tough. I don't think I would have been able to turn in a group that I was interested in joining; I'm also afraid that I wouldn't have had the strength of character to turn down the invitation either.

I'm playing the Devil's Advocate here, but honestly I think a lot of PNMs would love to be in that spot of being asked to dinner by a sorority they might be interested in. If that were the case, I doubt they'd report it. Most likely to report something like this are PNMs who are not being asked to dinner, and sororities that are playing by the rules.

For those of you that do deferred recruitment, how do you handle dirty rushing at things like parties? It happened on my campus with only a few weeks before the start of classes and rush, so I imagine with a whole semester/two quarters of classes it must be close to unavoidable.

What's the likelihood that the PNM will even know what dirty rushing is?

If I were the PNM, I'd be flattered if a sorority took me out. Dirty rushing would be the least of my worries if it meant that I'd have a better chance of getting a bid from them.

My school does deferred recruitment, but we don't have any contact rules. Each sorority does two informal "sprite dates" during first semester, which are big events that any interested PNM can attend (my chapter has done a group fitness class, a midnight movie and a non-alcoholic tailgate before a football game). Additionally, sorority members can invite PNMs out to dinner, etc. on a more informal basis. My younger sister is rushing at my campus, and I know she's been out to dinner and hanging out with members of my chapter.

Agreed, I would've been flattered too, and would basically think, "It's up to the other sororities to worry about this stuff, not me!"

But, we did actually know what the sorority members were allowed to do and not-do, but only after meeting with our recruitment counselors for the first time. They explained it to us so we wouldn't be confused if the girls that had been so friendly to us one night basically ignored us when we saw them the next morning.

Honestly, the way it happened on my campus when I was there: up until the couple weeks before rush, pretty much everything was fair game. Members would chat girls up at parties, go to places on/off campus that they knew were freshman hangouts, talk to any PNMs in their classes, etc. I think panhellenic has cracked down on this a little, but I'm sure some of this stuff still goes on.

At my school, the deferred rush is until a person is a sophomore. So going to dinner as a freshman is okay. Going to parties with freshmen women or inviting them to a closed party would probably be looked at as dirty rushing, but for the most part that is still allowed technically. I think the official silent period begins on the first day of school or first day back on campus where you could be spotted!
I know for a fact that there was a sorority on my campus that took freshmen to the bars, and most of them were on the same sports team.

I'd probably tell them that I would love to go to dinner, but I didn't want to get them in trouble by being seen with them. I'd voice my concerns to them and see how they reacted. But as a PNM, I'd probably end up going b/c of the reasons listed above and I definitely would not have known as a freshman that this was not allowed.

Well if it was the entire sorority having dinner with one freshman I think it would be considered a rush event, which would be dirty rushing. I know that at my campus silence between actives and PNMs started in october-novemberish. There was no harm with people hanging out with freshman before that as long as it didn't come across like a formal invitation from teh sorority. So a sister could invite a freshman to dinner with her a couple girls, but a freshman couldn't get an email from the sorority recruitment chair asking her over to watch movies with the chapter.

As far as dirty rushing, it happened at my undergrad but ti's hard to catch. Often time the girls that get dirty rushed dont tell cause they're happy with their bid, and girls that feel they were dirty rushed and didn't get a bid are too embarassed. The one time a sorority got caught talking badly about another sorority in their pref night occurred because they said it too a girl they thought was all about them but was really all about the sororoity they were trashing.

There also is a very fine line between being excellent rushers who make every girl feel like they're welcome and loved and blatantly leading a girl on to believe she will get a bid.

It all depends on what the contact rules are for PNMs and chapters.

Well it depends on a lot of things...

Are they taking her out for some super expensive meal, or just TGIFriday's or the like?

Is it THE WHOLE sorority on one freshman, or a mixed group of people - some freshmen, some guys, some sorority girls?

Does at least one person in the sorority group know the girl before the invite is given from class or dorms or something, or do they come up to the girl out of the blue and say "hey! Go to dinner with us!"

Deferred rush is supposed to encourage normal social interaction and it would be a shame if that was cut out (although as is very clear from a lot of the posts on here, there are MANY campuses and Panhellenics that don't understand that at all), but rush or not, if a bunch of girls I'd never met came up to me and asked me to go to Morton's for dinner, I'd seriously wonder WTF was up with that and probably say no.

I absolutely hate when girls dirty rush. I was dirty rushed when I went through recruitment, and I had no idea it was against the rules. I later found out the chapter who dirty rushed me BUILT INTO THEIR DUES enough money to cover rush fines. Panhellenic finally got wind of it this year and they were forced to stop doing that.
Now, being on the other side of rush, I can't stand when other sororities dirty rush girls. My chapter is ridiculously strict about it- our VP Recruitment will individually call us out if we get fined for something like this. I was livid last night when I was looking at a girl's facebook profile who I rushed the day before and absolutely LOVED. She's torn between us and another sorority on campus- the one we always compete with during rush because we're so similar. I saw numerous postings on her wall from members of the other sorority. I turned them into our VP Recruitment, who said she'd been filling out rush infraction forms all night for those girls. It just sucks because the PNMs are told by their Rho Chis that this is against the rules, but I'm sure they don't think ike that. I know I would've been realy flattered going through rush if a sorority I liked wrote all over my wall.

Ahhhh dirty rushing.

The only thing I could think of would be losing pledges or campus social privileges. The first isn't permitted by the Green Book and the second - if these girls have the $$$ to build in for infraction fines, they have the $$$ and means to get around social probation.

Plus if (as is often the case, sadly) the group infractioning is one of the more popular on campus and Panhel forbids them from having mixers or such, it just makes the other sororities look like jealous bitches to the guys, cause guys don't understand the whole infraction thing.

I was dirty rushed and frankly it was fun. I ended up at a top house and never complained, not that I would really have thought to or thought that it wsa "dirty" anyway.

I know of one chapter in Florida (not at UCF) that builds into their dues to pay for rush infractions for all members to dress alike. This particular chapter also bills their members $700 because they mass order clothes for all active members which included 7 jeans and Lacoste polo shirts. Another chapter I heard of (again not at UCF) made all their members wear Spankz under their clothes which honestly struck me as funny.

Unless the school specifically prohibits this, I'm pretty sure it's not a rush infraction.

I was just thinking that. My chapter mass ordered clothes for rush....but everyone did that at my school.

I completely agree. I think they SHOULD lose new members, or not be allowed to participate in recruitment the following year, or something more strict than simply fining them. But, whatever.

Its so much cheaper that way too.

The rules DO prohibit this, but they eat the infraction bill each year because they can afford it.

I just don't get why they would waste major $$$ just to dress alike.

Especially since most schools would allow them to have 1/4 in 7 jeans and a Green polo, 1/4 in Paiges and a Gold polo, 1/4 in Chip & Pepper and a red polo, and 1/4 in Gucci and a white polo and not get an infraction. (Just as an example, if ASA was going to dress designer....not to mention that afterwards they could all go stand in an intersection and direct traffic...gotta love our stoplight colors.:p )

In that case, it's the panhel's fault for not implementing stricter consequences for having an infraction. Either that or this sorority has some mighty wealthy and powerful alums.

Dressing in the exact same outfit (unless panhellenic provides it) is against the rules for most no-frills campuses. The whole idea of no-frills is to paint a more accurate picture of the chapter, which does not include shelling out $$$ to dress alike on a daily basis.

To play devil's advocate here, there are some chapters where everyone in the sorority can afford 7 for all mankind jeans and wears them. It could be possible for everyone to have the same jeans and polo since they're "basic" things.

Although I'm the queen of pushing no-frills...if I was the rush chair and had to worry about 200 individuals' interpretations of "cute and casual, polos and nice jeans" I think I'd probably eat the infraction bill too. I know there are such things as dress checks, but I can't imagine that telling someone "Magda, your jeans are too tight and that green polo makes you look like Kermit" lessens any of the stress of rush.

Trust me, the initial NPC Rush Resolutions (referred to by many as "no frills") said nothing about not being able to dress alike. I think if a chapter chooses to do it...great. If your chapter doesn't want to...great. I'm tired of college panhellenics dictating every minute detail. It removes much of the creativity & fun that can be a part of recruitment.

Be careful that "NO FRILLS" doesn't turn into "NO FUN!"

Thanks for the responses. A PNM told me that "ABC" and "XYZ" keep inviting the same girls out to dinners. Her "NOP" classmate used the phrase, "Dirty Rush," when these dinners were mentioned. She wondered what she should do if she encountered the situation.

We usually gave guidelines like "Wear a light pink tshirt and a denim skirt." It allowed women to wear clothes that looked good on them, and expressed their own style without it looking chaotic.


This is a perfect example of how recruitment can vary widely from campus to campus. At my school (a private in Southern Calif.) I think many of the sorority members would have complained about having to be identical. I know my chapter, which always touted our diversity and individuality of its members (and meant it) would have never accepted wearing the same outfit. Not to mention that most chapters at my school had women of all shapes and sizes, and putting them all in one outfit is not always possible or attractive.

I know what you mean by not getting carried away with no-frills, though. I remember the year I was on panhellenic exec. and we had to actually designate the BRAND of bottled water each chapter should buy for their parties because some groups were concerned the PNMs would judge them on whether they got store-brand or name-brand.

OH. MY. GOD. I would have told them to STFU and spend the extra $25 to get Evian instead of Sam's Choice if it meant that much to them. Hell, go all out and get Pellegrino for all I care, it's your rush budget.

I think we ended up picking Sparkletts because it could be found at any supermarket in the L.A. area :D

This is exactly why I would have never lasted as a Panhellenic rep!
By the time Rush would start, I would have been bald from pulling my hair out over silly debates like this!
I call it "majoring in the minors!"

It's pretty funny when I look back on it. I loved being on panhellenic, actually, and I preferred being on that side of rush. Disaffiliation was not fun, but on the other hand, the Rho Chis were basically our own little sorority. I also thought it was interesting getting to hear the comments from PNMs on all the sororities and seeing how releases, bid matching, etc. works from the panhellenic perspective.

The one year I was with my chapter during rush, I found it very stressful in comparison. Our rush advisor was from a southern univ. and was used to a totally different type of recruitment. Some of her tricks and tips made us giggle or roll our eyes, BUT I do have to say that our preference room looked like Heaven on Earth, and blew everyone else's away.

B/c advising is a volunteer position and people move. ;)

some of our consultants are paired with schools that had similar "greek culture." But i think a little diversity can add fresh air to a recruitment style. However, it was interesting talking with our consultant from a larger Washington state school, when I was at an east coast small private school!

Back to my original question-- what does the PNM say to such an invitation if she is asked and does not feel comfortable accepting, knowing it is against the rules and caring that it is against the rules?

Weeeeeeell, to avoid offending anyone she could be like "I'd love to! But wait-isn't that against rush rules or something?" and then go from there. Sort of playing dumb (which I NEVER advocate except in this particular type of situation) in order to avoid looking like the Rush Rules Enforcer Marshall or something.

"Thank you for your kind invitation and for thinking of me. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend. Perhaps we can get together at a later date."