Co-Ed recruitment (recruit more guys)
 

The chapter I'm part of currently has a guy problem. We currently have 15 members, and 3 of which are guys (2 of those 3 are graduating spring 2011) We have rush twice a year and are in need of some good ideas to help us recruit guys.
we also do not have a house, but have access to rooms in the student union building.
This past rush we had a tie-dye event, video game night, board-game & ice cream night, bi-weekly tea, and office Olympics. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Get rid of the ice cream night and the tea...those are a little girly. Have wing night or something instead.

Make sure your rush posters don't look too "feminine."

Can you call yourselves a fraternity or do you have to go by "society" since you're coed?

What do you have to offer men that a traditional single gender fraternity doesn't? This is a serious question. You need to figure what that is and a way to push it.

The Alpha Delta Phi Society is a national organization IIRC.

It's going to be a little hard now that you have only one male member, but to draw them in, you're really going to have to "man it up" quite a bit! Do something sports related. Is alcohol out of the question for recruitment for you? I guess what it comes down to is what kind of guys are you looking for to join your group? Do things that will attract that type of guy. If you want the kind of guy that enjoys the things that y'all usually do, just realize that there may not be that many of them.

Yes, but there is also an ADPhi fraternity. I thought they were still linked but I see by googling that they are now 2 different groups.

Yeah, the two organizations are still somewhat linked (send reps to each others conventions, some society and fraternity chapters are friendly, etc), but the society has to call ourselves a society (not that I have a problem with that!).

Anyway, hi! I'm also in Alpha Delt! It's so cool to see another society member on the board, I've been the only one for a while.

I'm from one of the older/bigger chapters. Obviously, we already have a much larger established base, reputation, and a gender balance that makes recruiting guys not really a problem. But here are some of the Rush events we've used that tend to attract a lot of guys:

--Video game nights are definitely good. Super Smash Bros is big on our campus, as is rock band.
--Board games also work for us, but make sure you have some of the more strategy intense ones (I don't know what you're doing now). Cutesy board games don't attract guys, but games like Risk, Settlers of Catan, etc. do (or at least they do on our campus). They are also a good way to get to know new people, since you're sitting there playing a game for a LONG time.
--Casino/Poker night! Our campus doesn't allow us to give out prizes (because that would make it gambling? IDK, it's stupid), but if you can, that's even better.
--Open mics (poetry+music): In line with our mission, and attracts just as many artsy/music-y guys as girls, at least for us. People like to perform.
--Outdoor events like capture the flag or flag football or ultimate frisbee.
--Definitely sports watching events. Any of the big games, especially (super bowl, world series, etc).
--Movie nights, as long as the movies have mass appeal (Animal House is always good, since it's based on an ADP chapter :P).
--Ice cream sundaes works for us because people like free food, but IDK, maybe it dos come off as girly if you aren't already really established?

If I had a dime for every time a different fraternity member has spun me the yarn on how Animal House is based on an actual chapter of their fraternity, husband and I could retire.

Except this time it's actually true! Animal House was adapted from National Lampoons stories written by Chris Miller about his time as an Alpha Delta Phi at Dartmouth. Another one of the screenwriters is a Zeta Beta Tau.

I'll be honest, having only one guy for your next rush is going to be a huge detriment if you are really trying to make it more co-ed. There is no possible way you are going to get the "guy's guy" with that kind of ratio (but then again, it's just as likely that is not the type of guy you are targeting anyways).

I'm sure some of the girls have guy friends outside of your society. Have a meeting and sit down and think of which of those guys feel comfortable being friends with girls...some guys will have figured how to relate to girls as friends by this age and some will have no idea. Target those guys specifically. But even then, there will probably be a bit of an issue of the stigma of joining an organization that in reality is a organization of girls.

Yep. The original short story that was the inspiration for "Animal House" was Miller's The Night of the Seven Fires. In 2006, Miller published a memoir of his college years: The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie. (A great read unless you're squeemish or easily offended.)

The Dartmouth chapter of Alpha Delta Phi withdrew from the national fraternity in the late 60s. It continues as Alpha Delta, a local.

The really truly original Animal House:

http://www.justmyshow.com/images/alpha_delta_house.png

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One of my chapter's most successful recruitment nights is at the local wing place. Food and beverages are picked up by the chapter so we get lots of potentials outs (college kids love free food, especially if it's good food).

Cosign on the bold. Enlist local alumni to help with recruitment. IMHO they should be helping out, talking to PMNs, etc but in this case, you could ask a more artistically inclined alum to help put together a recruitment campaign.

My suggestion, from a member of a co-ed org to another, is to encourage your female members to approach potential guys and talk to them about your organization.

Thanks for defending my Animal House statement, guys!

Anyway, other posters have reminded me of another important factor, which is DEFINITELY have your members try to recruit people/get them to events by word-of-mouth. Even though our chapter does pretty well, we're on a pretty anti-greek campus, so I sympathize with how hard it can be to recruit people who initially aren't that interested. In situations like that, you can't just rely on standard rush events/advertising to attract people -- you need to convince them to show up!

For instance, tell all of your members to try to drag at least one guy friend to at least one rush event. You might spark some interest (and you'll probably have better luck recruiting people who already have one friend in the group), and even if some of the guys don't want to join themselves, if they have a good enough time, they might pass the word on.

Which actually brings me to another point: definitely encourage people who get along with you to keep coming to events, even if they turn down a bid or something. Not only might they change their minds, but they might bring friends! We definitely have some "friends of the house" who never wanted to join themselves (too anti-greek), but liked hanging out with us, and eventually brought by other people who DID join. Plus, it's important to have critical mass at Rush Events (even small ones), or else the event can seem awkward/lame.

Also, not strictly for Rush, but maybe try to link up with other groups on campus with similar goals, and throw events together (we've done open-mics with the Writing House on campus, for instance). It's a good way to meet new people with similar interests and to get your name out there in a positive way.


In general definitely make sure to market yourselves year round. Given that you only have 15 members, I assume you're one of the newer chapters or affiliates, so you need to make sure you're really getting your message out about what you are and what you have to offer that is different from other groups on campus. if you're doing a philanthropy event, make sure people know about it!

Thanks for all the advice! I will definitely pass all this onto our rush chair and PR chair. To add a few things: the bi-weekly Teas are a tradition of the society so those must stay (they aren't necessarily rush events) and we have 3 guys for our next two recruitments (we rush twice a year) one thing that sets us apart is that we are the only recognized co-ed on campus. Our founding members just graduated a few weeks ago, our chapter was founded 3 years ago. We just had our first mass of members graduate so now we actually are creating an alumni association for our chapter (there are 7 alumni).

and anonymouse42 which chapter are you affiliated with? (if you don't feel comfortable sharing on a public forum you can send me a PM) I talked to an alumn of the Bowdoin chapter this weekend from ADPhi who said he was on GC and I'm curious if you might be him.