Ideas needed
 

Okay, my chapter just had a really crappy Spring Rush. We're on the quarters system, so we don't recruit again until Fall and we're going to need a pretty awesome rush in the Fall since 50% of our chapter graduates after next year. I'm not the Delta, I'm the Theta (Philanthropy/Community Service Chair for the chapters that don't have Theta), but I'm interested in helping. My question is do any of you have any ideas for a combined Theta/Delta event?

Hmmm

Putting together a gang for a Habitat for Humanity project would bring guys together; I wouldn't bill it as a rush event but it could well be that. No worries about alcohol because there won't be any. No worry about the kind of guy that you'll find because they are "discovered" while doing good for Habitat.

Offer free breast cancer screenings at the local sororities?

GZ, you're excused now

Everybody wins!!!

It's not a combined event, but there have to be some freshman in your house who know guys who aren't in a fraternity. You have the entire summer to get them interested in the house. Rush should never be "over." And if it was really that bad you could always do a summer rush and initiation.

I suggest a Hooter's trip. Nothing brings guys in better than the female
figure and chicken wings...

Oh boy, Hooters. I remember when my area got our first Hooters. (It has sense gone out of business)

I was excited because I have always heard of the "Hooter Girls". When me and my friends finally went our first time, it looked like the B-Team from the worse strip club in the area!!!

I hope it's a better situation over in St. Louis, but here in Mass., they would have to include 2-3 free pitchers before the girls could look attractive.

But PiLambda is right. Booze and broads is always a good formula.

No drinking while recruiting though!

If you are going to have alcohol, don't talk about Lambda Chi...

I know everyone hates doing it, but Rush teams help quite a bit. Especially so its just not 1 guy doing all of the work, and people showing up to socialize with themselves. Our ELC just came and gave us a bunch of great ideas. He has our delta pass out note cards, and have everyone write down at least one guy that might want to join. Pass them out to the rush teams, make them call them, take them to dinner, have a good time. It pays off in the end if you do it right. We are also setting up a highschool scholarship. Something like $1000, and we are passing out applications to all of the local highschools. Supposedly the people that apply, but dont get it, show a strong tendency for joining the house. We are trying that out for next year. We are getting our alumni to pay for it.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

In ZAX,
John Dever
GT1111

"No drinking while recruiting though! If you are going to have alcohol, don't talk about Lambda Chi..."

Oh riiiiiiiiiiiight, no drinking. ;) wink* wink*

Heres the thing, and I know hes serious about the no drinking thing. If you have events where alcohol is involved you get guys that thing everything is a party. Don't get me wrong I like having a good time with my brothers, but I hate when people get the idea that we are only about drinking. You cant put through guys who are going to want to get drunk all of the time and never help out the chapter. It leads to bad things. Its hard to form a stable and successful chapter on alcohol.

Rush is work - not a party
 

We had the rush vs. party problem at North Dakota years ago. Alcohol at rush was legal, but then the guys asked sorority girls to come over to help show off the house. It turned into a scam session with all the guys trying to get set up with all the girls and little recruitment going on.

Yes, there is a difference between a rush and party event.

I was actually going off of what PiLambda said about Hooters. I mean, you have a bunch of guys going to Hooters, looking at women, ordering Buffalo wings,and drinking....a Diet Pepsi???

Alcohol is acceptable within reasons I believe. If you have a bunch of LXA's taking potential members to a Hooters and nobody orders a beer, it may work against the chapter in some cases. Yes, it is not about partying, but you also don't want to come off as too uptight that even a beer is not acceptable.

Having a beer with potential members at a Hooters; ok. Holding the legs of a potential member while he does a keg stand; not ok.

We did a rush team concept and it work out for my chapter this spring bringing in 12 AMs, opposed to our 5 AM spring average. We called the rush team the Delta Force and made cool T-Shirts. You can always ask sororities to give you names of non-greek members and make a contest out of it, which ever sorority gives you the most name of potential AM's gets to have a mixer with you. Its a win win situation for both of you, and the new potential AM's get to meet girls. Try to rush new members during the summer through freshman orientation, and try to get members to be part of the orientation team. Just some ideas that I know have worked.

Point 1: If you're recruiting fresmen and sophomores who are 18 or 19 years old, they probably won't be able to get served at Hooters.

Point 2: Dry rush is fine, but if you're recruiting guys who drink, you might want to see how alcohol affects them before you give them a bid. Guys who are mild-mannered and sensible can turn into the Tasmanian Devil after a few beers.

Point 3: RUSH NEVER STOPS!!! As per a discussion I had with my chapter's High Pi the other day, every time you walk on campus, you are a one-man rush event. Every person who sees you or talks to you is forming an impression of Lambda Chi Alpha. If he sees brothers having a good time in the dining hall, they remember it. If they see brothers talking to hot chicks, they remember it. Conversely, if they see you doing something stupid, they'll remember that, too. Bottom line, wear your letters and go out of your way to treat people well.

I like the Habitat for Humanity idea. Also, talk to somebody in your school's administration and tell them what you're trying to do. Ask if they have a project you could do, along with an undetermined number of non-greek volunteers, that would benefit the campus. (Wait for them to reagin conciousness before you continue.) If you're on campus for your service project, you'll be working right in front of the men you're trying to recruit, so even the ones who don't come out for the event will see you doing it. Try to find an event where you can work in teams of 2, with one brother and one non-brother so you can actually have a conversation. Recruiting is all about making friends.

You made my point before I got around to replying. Freshmen can't order alcohol. It would be kinda awkward to drink in front of them when they can't. We have had the problem of rushing older guys in the past few quarters. Our generation gap is going to catch up with us next year, and a lot of our older guys are going to be gone.

Thanks for the ideas.
 

Thanks, everybody. Well, my chapter's biggest problems have always been lack of committment when it comes to rush and the fact that we don't have a proper house. The latter isn't really fixable at the moment since the housing market in Athens is godaweful, but we've already started fixing the committment problem. We're beginning to realize that after next year, half of our chapter is gone. We had trouble enough getting people to fill officer positions this election (I got hoodwinked into being Theta instead of Phi), I can't imagine how it will be next time when half the chapter is inelgible because they're graduating.

We do tell everyone to submit names for rush, but most people don't do it anyway (I freely admit I didn't because I suck at talking to people). Even with this attempt and an awesome week of Rush events, we only managed to get two people, one of which had already rushed once before but had to leave. I thought our Alumni Advisor was going to kill us. At Founders, he's going to tell our alumni not to give us any money for summer rush efforts, which I think does more harm than good and isn't logical in the least.

Whether you suck at talking to people or not, remember, recruitment is the life blood of any Zeta.

No new members, it dies, period

Graduating Brothers need to be replaced. Who replaces them? Not Grads, the Brothers who are in the Zeta.

So out of curisoity, do you not beleive in LXA, Your Brothers and Zeta?

Do you know who your ECL is? He is available for you, just ask!:) He may not be able to get to your Zeta or email you asap, but He will!

I used to be the same way, but with the work I did with my local and LXA, I was able to do a turn around and as you can see, I am not bashful at all!:D

I Did, You can also! You are not an individual now, You are a Band Of Brothers who are here for you!:)

I have this vision of Ron White using this in a future show....exactly how BAD does it have to get for a HOOTERS to GO OUT OF BUSINESS!? I mean, "you can't fix stupid" and, help me out on this...you've seen one set of (hooters) - you want to see all of 'em....:p

You guys and your hooters. First off that restaurant has the worst wings ever, they make you sick for days. They have the worst service because the girls can't figure out whats going on.

Now i'm sure someone will try and explain that you don't go there for the food, you go there for the "atmosphere". Let's see, ive seen pregnant hooters girls. Ive seen seen hooters girls bring their kids to work, and let them run around. Kinda kills it for you.

I still never understand why guys bring their family's to hooters. Their food is not that good. Seems kinda wrong to me.

First, if you've seen all that, you must've spent a lot of time there.

Second, they serve food at Hooters? Really?

That was all one night. Went last quarter with the house. Ive had my hooters fill for a while.

I've seen a little league team in there a time of two. In uniform, after a game. A Hooter's over by Anaheim Stadium.

And those guys, 11 or 12 years old, they ALL knew what was going on. They were NOT there to study owls.

You win on that point, back when they first started getting popular my Uncle took me there a few times. That was when I was in my middle school days. Always cracks me up when guys drag their wives and daughters in there. My little girl is going to stay far away. Ill invalidate my point however. My aunt used to love coming with us, she liked talking to the girls. She always said how nice they were. Nothing like that southern hospitality.

To get back to the original topic, try rushing during the summer. Dave, see if you can get a list of incoming freshmen from the college. During the summer, the brothers can look up whoever lives near them. Say something like, "I hear you're going to XYU in the fall and thought you'd like to know some of the ins and outs of the campus", or something like that. Then meet somewhere, go clubbing, bowling, or whatever.

They don't even have to mention the fraternity, not at first anyway. But that kid will know at least one person, and then you can invite him to a rush function once school begins, and he'll know you.

I know for a fact this works because that's how I (and another high school graduate) got recruited. The three of us actually ended up driving from NY to FL together. Geno and I were Lambda Chis before we even arrived at the college.

Another Tactic I'd Almost Forgotten
 

Find out what you have to do to get on the Freshman Orientation Team (or whatever your school calls the students that help the freshmen move into the dorms and helps them feel at home.)

You get to meet your prospective new members a week or so before the other fraternities even show up. Invite them over to a barbecue at the house. If you do it right, you'll have them ready to join Lambda Chi before they even find out what the other fraternities' names are.

And as a side benefit, (maybe the primary benefit?) you also get first pick of the freshmen girls.

You guys are always welcome to have a retreat up here at OSU. Quite a few chapters visit us on a regular basis during the football season. Come up for the weekend bring your prospective members. Great atmosphere for a good time.

Yeah, one of my goals has been to try and get up to Marietta or OSU sometime, just to see how other chapters are. I've haven't really met any other Lambda Chis besides the ones from my own chapter. That'll change in the summer with Summer Conference, but I'd like to try and make some trips before that.

I too was a Lambda Chi before I even 'officially' got to school. The guys had a booth set up and talked to me for while and before i knew what was even happening I was ready to join and couldnt wait for to school to start. That was in the Summer of 2005, I got initiated in Spring of 2006, and have been active now for over a year, and absolutely loving every minute of it.

Also the guys did talk to the freshmen girls as well........kinda getting the phone books full of prospects (new guys for the fraternity, and new girls to hang out with ;) )

KY Twister
 

In the past we have invited over the women's volleyball team and women's soccer team for a little KY Twister. It's lots of fun for brothers and it gets potentials around as well. You don't have to drink, but you can order the wings. Hooters has nothing on that.

Unfortunately we live in the days of PHA, and the 5 or 10 girls rule (I can't remember which). I don't know how it is at other school but here at OSU, there can be no more then X number of sorority girls from any single house at your fraternity house at any given time. This is a PHA rule not an IFC rule, so we could care less. The sorority girls are scared to death to break it, if they do they get sanctions.

I totally respect the point of the rule and what they are trying to accomplish with it, but it makes it very hard for us when we are amicably trying to host an event with a sorority. They are currently trying to change it.

I've never heard of a rule like that. Odd

Section 2. RESOLUTION GUIDELINES

• More than ten (10) women from the same chapter constitutes sponsorship of a function. If a chapter’s headquarters’ policy is stricter, the chapter must follow that policy.

Basically you have to fill out a bunch of paperwork, and get it approved by a bunch of people. It is possible to have events at a fraternity house, but its usually easier to find somewhere else to host the event then have it at your own house. Ironically enough the sororities can host as many fraternity members at their houses as they want. Red tape makes things hard. There is some other rule that says something about fraternity houses or something, I can't find it (too much work to find). Everyone tells me it exists.

So do they have to go to the dining hall in shifts or what?

The whole rule makes no sense to me. The idea behind it I suppose is that they think if there are any more than 10 girls at any one place there is a better chance that one of the guys will try and take advantage of them? Seems to me its backwards, the more girls at any event the safer the will be. Anyone who has ever been to a TG with a sorority knows they don't let each other out of their sight. I wont even pretend to know how they think.

Well, I was always told that if there are more than three Lambda Chis
in one place it could be construed as a fraternity event. So, we often
had to consider well attending other functions and whether or not it
would break this rule and look like it was our event if something happened.

I'm sure liability and not overly affectionate fraternity men is the pivotal issue here. I don't remember the number, but Lambda Chi does have a similar rule. Anytime we were in the dining hall or whatever and another brother would come in, we'd tell one of the ones who was already there to leave so we wouldn't have to file paperwork. Of course we were just kidding. Rules like this are made for good reasons, but you need to use common sense as to when they apply.

Does PHA have a police force or something? Who do these girls think is going to catch them?

Risk management & FIPG
 

FIPG and risk management and numbers has always been a bit murky. I suspect that the "Ten Sister Rule" has some sort of risk management policy at it's root. I am not aware of anything that lists a hard, fast number for FIPG purposes, Percentages, yes. Hard specific body counts, no.

Certainly attending class would never be considered a fraternity event, no matter how many guys are there - there is no fraternity purpose in going to the class, the purpose is to get smart.

Meeting after class at a local campus hang out is a different matter and it could, under some circumstances, fall into that FIPG murky hole of "what is a fraternity event?".

An exchange with the the Alpha Beta Gamma sorority would be a fraternity event.

Some rush and recruitment events could be considered fraternity events but I don't know how many chapters go through the drill of filling out and retaining the form as required by FIPG rules.

Ive always been told that they are afraid other houses are going to tell on them if they find out, girls talk a lot I guess. There is a police force of sorts, they send ifc/pha delegates to registered events to check if everyone is following the rules. One of those better safe then sorry, people can get in a lot of trouble these days. Its real easy to get kicked off campus in these modern times.