Retro Fraternity Rush -totally 80's
 

"Now, don't go and do something stupid like join a fraternity." The words rang in my ears as my parents' car pulled away from my dorm. It was September 1987, and I had just arrived at Ball State University to begin five, long years study in pursuit of an architecture degree. I was over three hundred miles from home and knew no one on this campus of nearly 20,000 students.

My parents had always pushed academic achievement, and while I excelled in most subjects in high school, my parents constantly reminded me that I was going to college to hit the books, not have a good time. While my mother had been in a sorority in college, she discouraged me from pledging. My father had only finished one semester of college before enlisting in the Navy during the Korean War, and had no affinity for Greek Life.

At the time Ball State had a rather schizophrenic reputation: outstanding architecture program - #18 on the Playboy party school list. It was no secret that the architecture program was the most demanding major at Ball State - one only had to look at the haggard expression on the students entering and leaving the building. I spent most of my first quarter living in the first year studio, leaving for what seemed like only short intervals. I envied the masses of students making the party crawl up and down fraternity row on Friday and Saturday night, plastic tumbler in hand.

I knew nothing about fraternities except what I had seen on tv and in the movies, and had my head full of preconceptions about what the members were like and what happened behind the doors of their houses. I viewed myself as shut out of that aspect of college life, especially since I was living in the honors dorm, and my roommate and friends in the dorm were sooo straight-laced.

I made friends with a couple of guys in my first-year architecture studio after the first month or so, Pat and Jon. They took me to my first party in college, and we started to hang out quite a bit. They had a friend Paul, who was also a first year, who had started gen. ed. classes during the summer. I didn't really care much for Paul; I found him rather obnoxious, but he always knew where there was a party on the weekends, so it was a sort of package deal.

Fall quarter ended around Thanksgiving, and winter quarter brought around Formal Rush for freshmen. Paul had spent a great deal of time during the summer hanging out at one particular chapter house, and Paul had known all along that he was going to rush that chapter at the earliest possible opportunity. He gave Pat, Jon, and I the hard sell that we should all rush "his" chapter, and that we could all be pledge brothers.

I still remembered what my parents had said, and I didn't see myself as the fraternity "type", but I finally was persuaded to just go through "Round Robin" and satisfy my curiosity about what some of those houses were like on the inside.

I registered for recruitment with Pat and Jon at an IFC Rush table at the Scramble Light on campus. We attended a mandatory rush orientation meeting in Pruis Hall that was packed with guys sitting on the stairs and every available seat filled. The fraternity adviser and the IFC officers said a bunch of things that I no longer recall, and there was a slide presentation on the different chapters with each chapter rush chair speaking for maybe 90 seconds...

We each got a rush directory with a 2-page spread on each fraternity. Most of the fraternities had a picture of guys in blazers or tuxes, a picture with sorority women, or a "jock" picture engaged in some sort of athletic activity.
There was one chapter that definitely veered from the norm: it had on the bottom half of one page, a picture of a guy that was clearly taken from GQ Magazine: cleft chin, moussed hair, expensive clothes. Beneath that picture was a simple caption, "None of our guys looks like this." We laughed our asses off at that.

And....

Yay! A Retro Fraternity thread. Fun! Glad to see some guys get into the action. Can't wait to hear more.

what a great sense of humor the member of that fraternity who designed their rush page must have!

Retro Fraternity Rush -totally 80's (continued)
 

So the Saturday of Round Robin comes around, it's a beautiful, late fall day. (at least as beautiful as it gets in Muncie) My friends and I show up at the student center ballroom to be assigned to our Rho Chi group, where there are about 600 guys waiting to go through Round Robin. (fraternity rush numbers are nowhere near that anymore)

The Rho Chis are gathered around the front of the room, all of them wearing navy blazers, khakis, white button downs and repp ties. Jon and I get assigned to the same Rho Chi, who strikes me as being a bit of a meathead.
We will visit all 16 houses on this day, 20 minutes at each-no breaks and lots of walking.

Since it seems to be a trend, and a lot of y'all care about it, I will describe what I was wearing: A&F Khakis (from back when A&F was REALLYold school preppy and not just a mall store; a white turtleneck, and this really nice, Woolrich sweater that I still have (but don't fit into anymore), and my Bean blucher moccasins.

We visited the following 16 chapters for round robin (and keeping in the style of the others):

VW Rabbit Cabriolet
Ford
Oldsmobile
Hyundai
Chevy Monte Carlo
Nissan
Porsche
Buick
VW Microbus
Camaro
BMW
Corvette
Yugo
Honda
Dodge
Mom's station wagon

I've forgotten a lot of what happened at some of the houses, but here are some of the highlights:

VW: Well, to be blunt, I felt more like I was being hit on rather than rushed!

Ford: My Rho Chi belonged to this one. Pretty much the whole chapter seemed like him, and when we went in the house, there was NO furniture on the entire main floor - bizarre.

Oldsmobile: Had an active brother that was - I swear - at least 50 years old. Grey hair and a porn-star mustache. I asked one of the (younger) actives if he was an adviser, and he said "No, he's an active brother." They also had a tiny chapter with a house that could only house 4 guys.

Nissan: Had their round robin party in the garage behind their house. I saw inside the front door of the house, and there was this HUGE hole in the floor of the living room, going down to the basement. They showed us really crappy blueprints of their upcoming new house that was designed by a guy a year ahead of me...

VW Microbus: Showed us this loft/den-type thing that was essentially their opium den or something.

Porsche: We all referred to it as "Polo House" because everyone was wearing Polo cologne and shirts. They swarmed all over me, but ignored most of the other guys.

Monte Carlo: They seemed pretty cool and the guy I talked to was nice.

Honda: Snapped their fingers all the time, all wore identical blue blazers & ties, talked about their famous alumni (only one actually from their chapter) and showed a slide show

Corvette: Pretty cool, the guys were nice, very athletic house.

BMW: Great house, BMOC chapter. First guy I talked to actually turned and walked away from me in mid-sentence. Their rush chair tried to make the save, but...

Yugo: Paul's chapter that he swore we would all love. Not impressed at all.

Mom's station wagon: 'nuff said

Buick: Really friendly guys, who asked me a lot of questions about St. Louis and had a Chow mascot.

Ball State is David Letterman's school right?

(I'm mean, it's so much more, I'm sure, but it's the place he went and where he gives the C student scholarship, right)

I'm feeling like I might spot Sigma Chi in the list, maybe?

This is just too funny!

So far, I think Porsche, Monte Carlo, Honda, Corvette, and Buick sound promising.

Looking forward to more.

Yup- Ball State is David Letterman's school. My husband considered going there and still has an old tee shirt that reads "I'd rather BallU than IU".

Can't wait to hear more!

What's a BMOC chapter?

Big Man on Campus :)

I already spotted Sigma Chi. Unfortunately, I'm betting that they thought Brother Dave being an alumn was their biggest selling point.

AlwaysSAI - Big Man On Campus (Student Body President, IFC president, etc.)

AlphaGam - ;)

ForeverRoses - The ultimate Ball State t-shirt, although I also always liked the one that said "Do I Have to Go 69 (interstate 69 sign) to get to Ball U"
Ah the double entendres!

And the story continues...


So, back in 1987, fraternity rush was spread out over two weeks, and it was the first year of mandated dry rush, which they were enforcing really strictly.

Round robin was the only event that required we go to all of the houses. Some of the chapters had made good impressions - some really, really, bad.

Now I had approached this whole "rush thing" as just something to do out of curiosity with my friends, since my parents had come just short of forbidding me from joining a fraternity. I hadn't anticipated that I would even be interested, but after meeting some of the guys at a few of the houses, I was seriously reconsidering.

Sunday was the night of my weekly phone call home, so I broke the news to my parents that I was rushing. Suffice to say, they weren't thrilled but as I explained to them "I probably won't even get a bid anywhere."

So the first night of open houses, Pat, Paul, Jon and I all went to Monte Carlo and Porsche. Pat, Paul, and Jon went to Yugo, and I went to Buick by myself. At each chapter we visited it was "Information Night" where the chapter president and/or rush chair talked to the rushees for about 15 -20 minutes about the chapter, and the rest of the time was spent meeting the brothers.

Monte Carlo had a nice house, but it was a big chapter on that campus (140 brothers) that had a strong party reuputation. Their house was in the most prominent location just off campus,and while the guys I met there were nice, I decided that I really didn't think I would fit in a chapter that size.

Porsche was a smaller chapter of about 80 guys, and by far the most preppy chapter at Ball State. I was by far the preppiest guy in my high school, so this chapter appealed to me immediately. Once again, the actives seemed really interested in me, but definitely less so in the other guys. I liked the guys I met, but they had us fill out this questionnaire that the first things it asked after the basic contact info, was "What do your parents do?" and "What is your parent's income?" I was a little put off by that, because it did seem like everbody in the chapter came from affluent families. Their house was also nice, and they had a cook (as did Monte Carlo). I later found out that my great-uncle had been a founding member of the Porsche chapter at Washington & Lee.

The other guys went on to Yugo and I went next door from Porsche to the Buick house. Honestly, their house was one of the crappiest on campus, but in a really great location on the row. The chapter was also the smallest of the three. I came in not knowing anyone other than the guys I had spoken to briefly at round robin. The brothers though were a very eclectic group of guys with no particular "type" predominating. They were very laid back and casual, and I never really got the impression that they were trying to impress me. I think I was the only guy there that didn't already know several of the brothers, but they were really friendly, and I wound up spending an hour talking to a few of them up in the president's room.

So the next morning, the four of us compared notes about the previous night's parties:

Pat was definitely interested only in Monte Carlo.

Paul was most interested in Yugo, but wanted to be invited back to Porsche, mostly because their pledge night was a "Playboy Club" theme party with hot tubs and women in bunny costumes.

Jon was leaning towards Monte Carlo or Yugo.

Oh, and since it was the 80's... EVERYONE in Monte Carlo had a mullet, a handful of the guys in Porsche were sportin' and about half the brothers in Buick. If memory serves (and it probably doesn't), I wore pegged, really pale jeans, and a rugby. I , never,ever sported the mullet.

I decided that I was most interested in Buick, but would still consider Porsche.
:D

It was kind of a give away. And not just from the famous alumni reference.

How so?

Are you visiting Honda or Corvette, since it seems like you liked those? I guess we know you don't end up as a Honda. :)

From my experience it would be the the identical blue blazers and [similar] ties.

For what it is worth, a few years back, IHQ produced a couple of humorous "This is Sigma Chi Headquarters" videos. One of the videos made light of identical blue blazers, white shirts and kakis worn by undergrad Sigs (might have been interns at IHQ).

I always thought the ritual outfit of Sigma Chi WAS the blue blazer, khakis, etc. !!

That's makes sense. I pretty obviously have never been through IFC rush, but I will say I remember every fraternity at UGA pretty much wearing identical navy blue blazers. Sigma Chi was off campus the years I was there, but perhaps they took it to the next level.

Cool Thread .

I love descriptions of the hair/clothes in 80's threads. And I'm glad to hear you resisted peer pressure and avoided the mullet.

I'll second that!

LOL. I have my 1988-89 composite in my office, and my students often remark in awe, "Look at all the mullets!!!":eek:

Personally, I blame Rick Springfield.:D

I won't be able to do a lengthy story update until Sunday. I hope you all can hang on until then!

The real mullet related horror, as I see it, is that that hipsters seem dangerously interested in them.

Just like when horrible 1970s Starsky and Hutch leather jackets seemed to emerge in the early 90s as "ironic" fashion statements but then seemed to influence mainstream fashion. . .

We should all probably offer sacrifices to the fashion gods to prevent the return of the mullet.

Yeah, go to Europe sometime, the mullet is really getting popular again over there. I've had a few students that have grown them out before common sense has prevailed...

For our Homecoming this year (1980s theme) we are having a mullet and big hair contest...

Well, I dunno about ranking the Mullet. Anyone old enough to remember the blow-dried parted down the middle manly hair of the 70's? Went with the silk shirts and Britannia high waist jeans.....(personally, I preferred my boys in red tag levis, like the Sig Ep I liked back in '79!)

The story continues...

So the next night, since Paul and I were the only one's still interested in Porsche, we went to their house for Monday Night Football. They had the big screens, pizza, subs, wings, etc. They had basically gone all out for a football party. Now I had some reservations because clearly everyone in this chapter had $$$. When a couple of the brothers sat down with me and gave the Porsche pep talk, I had to ask the one question that any "serious" Porsche candidate doesn't ask..."How much are dues?" I think I heard my father hit the ceiling clear back in St. Louis.

Five minutes later I was entering the front door of the Buick house, sans Paul, where the brothers were hanging out, watching football, and enjoying a non-catered selection of snacks. I really liked the chapter dynamic of the Buicks, and it felt like I was being let in on the joking between the brothers. They were also a really varied group of guys with diverse backgrounds and upbringings. Eventually, I wound up in the president's room with the rush chair and the chapter president who gave me the Buick pep talk. The dues question was not a deal breaker like at Porsche, and at the end of the night, the rush chair gave me and some of the other rushees a ride back to our dorms.
I decided that night that Buick was the only chapter at Ball State that I could see myself being a part of.

After that night, Pat was only interested in Monte Carlo, Paul only in Yugo, and Jon was still wavering between Yugo and Monte Carlo.

The next night was an off night from rush for everyone.

I felt like things were going really well...but then they would take a SHOCKING turn!:eek:

AHHHHHHH The suspense, i feel like im watching American Idol when they cut to commercial before every big scene. Keep it coming please

This is a great thread. Can't wait for the shocking turn!

It's kind of fun to hear a rush story from a guy's perspective... definitely interesting!

What is the shocking turn?????

More Please.

Have you all noticed that there seem to be more guy generally reading and commenting on recruitment stories lately?

No, not really. :cool:

Is there a goat involved?

The next night, Wednesday, was a mandatory "night off" from rush for everyone. I was pretty happy things were going well with rush, and had started working on getting my parents "warmed up" to the idea. "I'm rushing, but I'm only interested in one fraternity - annnd I probably won't get a bid, buuut if I do..."

So I decided that night that I wanted to attend a lecture that I had heard about and went to the student center at 7pm. It was in a big conference room in the student center, and there were at least 200-250 people in the audience. Everything was fine until about 30 minutes into the lecture I started feeling kinda...funny. Not funny ha-ha, but funny...bad. I really began to feel nauseous, and started wondering how I could gracefully exit this room full of people (I was sitting near the front and not by the aisle -DUMBASS!).

So while I've been trying to figure out how to discreetly make a graceful exit, my digestive track has approached a level of DEFCON 4. I make a mad (non-discreet) dash out of the room, hand over my mouth in the international symbol of "OH GOD I"M GOING TO HURL!!!":eek:

I make it just to the men's room before heaving my dinner, lunch, and spleen up.

I take a few minutes to recover, wash my face, and decide I'd better start back to my dorm room.

I threw up 4 more times on the way back to the dorm.

I threw up 17 times total that night, to the point I was dry heaving.

My jackass, child-molesting RA (there is another story there) tried to write me up for being drunk since I was hurling loudly in the bathroom. My roommate, a perfect 4.0-never missed a class in his life- student, fled our dorm room and slept next door, terrified he would catch the bubonic plague that I so obviously had.

The next morning, when the BSU Health Center (affectionately known as the "Death Center") opened, my next door neigbor Mike drove me over. As soon as the doctor saw me, he ordered me quarrantined in the infirmary.
They let me call my parents to let them know, and gave me some medicine that knocked my ass out.

I woke up five hours later, and my parents were there. How fast did you drive? I asked my father, knowing that my mom would have had to call my dad from work, met him at home and driven straight up from St. Louis.
Normally it took five hours just to make the drive from St. Louis!

So, to make a long story short, it turned out I had some strain of highly contagious stomach flu. They isolated me to prevent an outbreak, but it was too late. They kept me in the infirmary for three days, meaning that I had missed rush.

I figured my chances of getting a bid now were pretty much zilch.:(

Ya know.. details are great in most retro recruitment threads, but in this one, they could have been a little less graphic...

If I recall correctly, at the health service on our campus, if someone came in throwing up, you were given a pregnancy test. Hmm, maybe that was just the girls. If you went in with a sore throat, headache, congestion or fatigue, you got a mono test. yeah, every time you went, pregnant or mono.. those were the options!

Did not see that one coming. Certainly one of the least savory twists in the retro-thread movement. Ugh.

[QUOTEDid not see that one coming. Certainly one of the least savory twists in the retro-thread movement. Ugh.][/QUOTE]


I said it was SHOCKING!

Not everyone's stories are all about cute outfits and finger sandwiches. Lol:D

If your story involved finger sandwiches & cute outfits, I sure as hell wouldn't be reading it. I like fraternity rush stories much more. I like the different perspectives that a man offers whereas the girl stories tend to have too much "what should I wear?" "will XYZ like me?" and "It was so moving I cried!" :rolleyes:

Keep going! I want to hear what happened now that you completely got sick & missed rush.

FYI, glad to see you recovered though. Those stomach flu's are nasty! I've been there and it's not fun.

Touche.
Update, please.

Oh man, and I was eating lunch as I read this, too.