1,400 Women to Begin Rush @ IU
 

1,400 women to begin rush
4-step process will showcase advantages of different chapters
By Maggie Bozich
Indiana Daily Student
Friday, October 22, 2004

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CAMPUS STORY
One thousand four hundred women will wake up early Saturday to begin women's recruitment. They will load buses before 11 a.m. to tour different chapters, only to wake up and do it again Sunday.

Saturday marks the beginning of 19 party, the first of four events leading to the choice to join a sorority house.

The women will visit 10 sororities Saturday and nine sororities Sunday. IU has one of the most competitive recruitment processes of any college, said senior Sarah Sackman, executive vice president for recruitment for the Panhellenic Association.

"IU has one of the most structured recruitments," Sackman said. "It is also one of the biggest and most competitive, so we try to keep the process the same every year."

Each woman who registered to rush paid $60, a portion of which will be donated to Dance Marathon, Sackman said.

The process begins with 19 party, which consists of the women visiting every chapter on campus for half an hour each. Rush then continues when the potential sorority members return early from winter break for 12 party Jan. 5 and 6. Next six party will be on Jan. 7 and three party on Jan. 8, Sackman said.

After each event in the recruitment process the women rushing will rank their preferences until the final ranking on Jan. 8 after three party. Bid day will take place Jan. 9, Sackman said.

Senior Kate Burnham, recruitment chair for Zeta Tau Alpha said her sorority has been preparing heavily for rush.

"We have done several workshops and meetings every week to get the sophomore class ready since this is their first year to participate in rush," Burnham said.

Senior and Vice President of Recruitment for Alpha Gamma Delta Katie Hanlon said her house has also been preparing for the upcoming rush. She said she is looking forward to the great experience of meeting all the new women.

"We've been cleaning the house, making sure we know what types of conversations to have with the women and making sure we know the rules," Hanlon said.

Burnham explained that Zeta tries keep the way they approach recruitment the same every year because they have such a successful return rate after 19 party. Zeta accepts a different number of women every year, but they try to keep the numbers consistent.

"We don't have a set number we wanna take every year," Burnham said. "We factor in how many seniors are graduating or how many sisters are studying abroad. We try to keep the numbers consistent every year. We don't want to have a pledge class of 60 one year and 20 the next."

Freshman Allison Stangel is hoping to find a house she feels she fits into, she said. She said she knows nothing about any of the chapters on campus but still hopes to pledge a house. "I am really looking forward to the process," Stangel said.

"I am looking forward to meeting all the girls in the different houses. I also think it will be great getting to know the different girls I am rushing with."

Getting a great pledge class into the house is something Burnham is looking forward to the most. She is also looking forward to seeing all the hard work she put forth pay off.

"The whole process is exciting, in getting great women," Burnham said. "I am a senior, so I want to make sure we get really great women to take our place."

-- Contact staff writer Maggie Bozich at mbozich@indiana.edu.

I'm almost tempted to go to campus this weekend just to see that. Butler's rush was very, very low key compared to this!

Well if you do go and visit, be sure to report back here! That's fascinating and and I'd love to hear more about it.

Is it just me or does the fact that 1400 women are going through recruitment and the campus doesn't use a quota system bother them, too? So many disappointments....makes me sad.

Rather they should expand the NPC system and move towards a quota/total and bring more people into Greek Life.

JMHO,

Barbara

Makes me sad too.

Makes me sad, too. Imagine all the unmatched women who would've matched with a set quota. And with a Greek System that size, there's no reason that every woman shouldn't have at least one bid, if she keeps her options open and meets the basic membership requirements.

but I'm sure they have a system that works for them-- or they wouldn't be able to accomodate so many chapters and they wouldn't have such huge numbers coming out to recruitment.

Okay playing Devil's Advocate for a MINUTE, if all 1400 women stayed in for the final ranking with a quota system that would mean about 74/75 women would be going to every sorority. Now I'm sure some of the sororities could handle a pledge class that large but that's a LOT of women to educate and hopefully initiate. I love sorority life but we know that just because someone is interested in Greek life doesn't mean that Greek life is for them. And I guess you could add more sororities but that just seems like it would add more women to rush and not really solve the whole enormous potential pledge class thing.

Many of the big schools have pledge classes with those numbers. Louisiana State, U of Oklahoma, U of Central Florida, and Ole Miss are some schools that have had pledge classes above 70. While it is a big pledge class, the sororities are more than prepared to handle it.
After graduating from a school like UCF that had pledge classes above 70, I can't imagine what it would be like to have a small pledge class! :)

True. Most sororities that have classes of 70+ have a chapter size of at least 150 or 200. So they are more than prepared for it! :)

Wow.... I can't imagine such a large pledge class. When I joined, quota was 17 and we had a total of 47 girls match bids out of maybe 70 girls who went through. Granted I do come from a small campus. I like being from a small campus and a small chapter. Our chapter has about 40 girls. I couldn't even fathom a pledge class of 70+ girls. Wow....

I don't think a class of 70 new members is all that outrageous, to me that sounds like a normal sized class. Quota here at Mizzou is always around 65+ so that's why I don't find that weird.

Anyway, I just the only thing I find shocking about this is how loooooong their rush is. I'd go insane if I had to start rush and then wait so long to finish! :eek:

IU definitely has a weird rush.

I thought I would just add that I feel bad for the girls today. It's raining here. I know the girls will have buses but still!

Why do they spread rush out like this? That would drive me insane.