Recruitment Requirement Changes
 

My school is proposing to make it so only sophomores (not freshmen) are eligible for recruitment or new membership. In the past, sororities and fraternities have held recruitment in the beginning of second semester freshmen year and held a smaller one for a few sophomores their first semester. Does anyone have any experience with mandated sophmore recruitment? How does it work at your school if that's the case?

Is Your School Private Or Public?
 

If it's public they can't institute deferred rush of any kind unless you agree to it. If you're private, that presents a different set of problems. Sophmore-only rush is a very bad idea. You would be well advised to organize fraternity and sorority alumni and approach the university officially, with attorneys. If the administration has already told you they're going to impose it, then take them at their word. These people tend to be either virulently anti-greek, or just ivory-tower academics. Administrators are used to dealing with students, and tend to overpower them. They don't like dealing with alumni, especially organized corps of alumni who can't be intimidated.
Best advice to you: make sure you know what you want (don't equivocate on the issue), then get your alumni to deliver the news to the administration.

I'm curious as to the justification for this? It appears you already have deferred rush - freshmen are already required to wait until second semester (I'm assuming for grades), so what will waiting an additional semester accomplish for these freshmen members?

When I went to the U of Arkansas, only sophomores could rush. It was awful. The PNMs always felt like they were being watched--pretty much, they were--and there was a ton of cheating by the sororities. They would take freshmen out to dinner, corner them at fraternity parties, etc.

Plus if your rush fell through and you transferred, you then had little to no chance to pledge the next fall, seeing that so many Greek systems don't care for juniors.

Aren't you at F & M? I thought the school didn't recognize the Greeks - how can they impose rules on when students can rush?

Deferring recruitment that late really hurts numbers. If you want to defer recruitment, do it until second semester for freshmen. By the time most students are sophomores, they are already very involved.

clarification
 

Let me clarify:
I am indeed at F&M, a private college. The Greek system has been derecognized for 15 years, but has continued to prosper...and a new president came in and wants to rerecognize for a variety of reasons. The administration just presented their guidelines to nationals, alumni, and students. One of them will be deferred rush until sophomore year. At this point, I don't know how we will react or if we will be able to change that policy before rerec happens. For the most part, the Greeks are unhappy with that policy, but I don't know if they plan to do anything about it.
I am interested to hear how sophomore deferred rush works at other schools, including timelines for recruiting and general recruitment strategies, so we're as prepared as possible in case it does go through. Also, if you are at a school like this, how detrimental is it to you?
The deferred rush until second semester isn't actually a college policy -- it used to be, so the Greeks just continued with it since derecognition.

it stinks. it is definately a trend in the pa private schools tho. muhlenberg and bucknell moved to sophomore deferment in 1995. layfayette did, too, but i am not sure when.

since rush is more laid back in the northeast, pnms don't feel like they are being watched. the main problem is that all the people going through rush already know exactly where they are going. there are no questions, no maybe i will change my mind. upperclassmen make friends with freshmen and they basically can tell you by the end of the school year who is in their new member class. it is also really hard for a chapter to break out of any stereotypes it may have.

good luck to you!

Deferred Rush Doesn't "Work"
 

Give yourself the greatest advantage: no deferrment at all. period. If the University wants to re-recognize, maybe it's because they feel it's in their best interests to do so. Could be because the alumni want it and the schools wnats to accomodate them - which is good. On the other hand, it could because anti-greek administrators want to control the system and regulate it out of existence altogether- which is bad.
Even at private schools, I don't think they can discipline anyone merely for membership. They can ban the organization, but I doubt they can prohibit free association.
Be careful. Try to determine their motive for re-recognition. Again, organize your system alumni. Administrators cannot successfully bully, browbeat or bluff forty-year-old alumni who are watching out for the best interests of their chapters.

I respectfully disagree Firehouse - I think at some schools deferred is the only way to go. If there are a lot of first gen college students at a school and they are expected to show up for pre-class first semester freshman rush, it probably won't work very well. It's unfair to expect them to know as much as the person who is a 3rd gen legacy.

I agree, stay with the second semester, and ask the admin why they thnk this change should be made. if this is just a prelude to a lot of rules that are going to hurt, I would say forget getting rerecognized.

33girl
 

Exprience has inclined me to respect your views and opinions. I do feel that any restrictions on free association & membership tends to hurt the Greeks. In this particular case your advice is excellent, as always.

At Dartmouth, only sophomores may rush, and from what I hear there is still a lot of interest and many large/healthy chapters.

I went to Muhlenberg (very similar to Franklin and Marshall) with sophmore deferred rush and I can understand the arguments against deferred rush.

On the other hand, by the time girls go through rush as a sophmore, joining a sorority is something they have given alot of thought to and are very serious about. Virtually no one drops out once they've received a bid and retention rates after initiation are close to 100%. I suspect that if rush were held first semester freshman year at a school like F+M or Muhlenberg, many girls would go through rush without taking it seriously and look at joining a sorority as another club to join. I know this is not the case at other schools but I suspect this would be the case at private schools in PA.

If your school does move to sophmore deferment, you must be serious about "rushing" girls when they are freshmen. Not in an illegal way but rather doing what you can to promote your org around campus.

Whatever happens, good luck!

Edited to add: It sounds like second semester freshman year rush sounds like the best solution in this case but if it does move to first semester sophmore year, know that it may not be that bad.

lionlove, I am completely in agreement with this. The less popular chapters might have problems still, but I think they can be more sure that the girls who are there joined because they want that sorority warts & all, not because they have been fooled during formal rush that a group is something it is not.

I was amazed the first time I found out everyone's initiation rates weren't 100% or close to it...and retention rates after initiation just completely blew my mind.

At Georgetown College (a small private school), we are a recognized body with deferred rush, and we love it. I don't think that waiting until 2nd year would be a good idea because of all the reasons you listed but also I don't think an immidate rush is ideal either. I know that I have experienced the whole "think I know where I belong" but it took a semester to figure out that that wasn't the best place. I've also had friends that were anti-greek first semester but then they changed their minds when they figured out that it wasn't as bad as MTV had made it.

As to alumni involvement, I totally agree... but I would add that you might want to find a big contributor to the college who could very well pull their givings if Greek life was elimated or changed to the detrement of the system. Also I would look into the Board of Trusty members and see where they are coming from (Greek/non-Greek) and then get their help in definding your position. Do you know why they are wanting to defer it even more?

As to how it works... I would assume that it is like any other rush, only it is 2nd years and takes place in the Fall (it will depend on the school when it happens, first week or mid October). Get your internations in on this issue because they have big guns and according to NPC Green Book, the school cannot disband your chapter, they can only do as they are currently doing, not recognizing you.

How many chapters are at your school?