Greeks Exist @ Oakland University
 

My name is Sam and I am a Senior at Oakland University in Michigan. This is not like most campuses where most of the students live here. It is a lot of commuters which makes it hard to get people involved in Greek Life. If anyone has any suggestions or tips for rushing on a commuter campus I would love to hear them.

Are you already involved in Greek Life or are you considering rushing?

Be seen, be seen, be seen.

Do you guys have houses at OU?

Your scenario isn't NEARLY as uncommon as you think. You have to market yourselves a little differently, maybe go after a slightly older crowd, and provide a REASON for people to hang around after class. It has to be fun first and foremost. Look into the urban schools around the country and you should get some good examples and maybe you can ask them directly. I'd probably start with Chicago and New York. But you should also know what is realistically "success." A chapter of 30 or 40 guys would be outstanding, in my opinion, and 20 is probably pretty good. If you get fewer than 10 it's probably pretty hard to manage the business of keeping the chapter afloat.

Quite a few of my sisters (collegians and alumnae) drove several hours to attend the Safety and Wellness seminar held at Oakland Univ. this weekend. That kind of event is great PR and sends a positive message to the students at your school, as well as to other schools in the state. It helps put your Greek system on the map and gets people talking.

Yay Michigan! I go to Lawrence Tech and it's the same dynamic. Like PIKA said, be visible!!! Hang around campus more, make a serious effort to talk to the orgs you're interested in, and attend as many Rush events as you can.

I'm trying to figure out if the question is from a "rushing" or a recruiting perspective. I was interpreting the OP's original question from a current member recruiting perspective: ideas for attracting new members at a commuter-based campus.

Um, y'all noticed that he has Theta Chi (I'm assuming Eta Phi is his chapter) in his handle right?

I did notice that, but there are a couple posts that indicate some confusion. I just wanted to make sure I was interpreting correctly.