Problems after switching to deferred recruitment
 

Hey all,

Our school is in the process of switching to deferred recruitment, and I am now in the process of having to figure out how to implement it properly. I know there are other threads on the pros/cons of it, but what I need to know is what are some problems that arose after being implemented at your school that could have been avoided?

Thanks

What is the timeline - i.e. how long have you had between finding out about it and implementing it?

At schools where chapters have large houses, going too quickly to deferred can create issues (i.e. everyone has to make housing decisions too soon).

The issue of dirty rushing comes into play. If freshmen aren't allowed to join sororities in the fall, the active women have a whole semester to "court" potential members. You can ban all communication between sorority women and freshmen, but that makes them look stuck up and snotty. You'll have to find the happy medium.

ETA: Another problem that I have seen is that in the fall, chapters tend to come back well under Total, which puts them into a position of being able to COR sophomore, junior, and senior women. So then they are recruiting not one, but two semesters and constantly have new members. They will have to adapt their new member programs to be pretty much year round.

Both of these depend on campus climate and the makeup of the chapters though. If recruitment isn't that competitive, dirty rushing might not be a problem. If your Total is way low, chapters won't be falling in numbers. But that is a separate issue and brings up problems of cash flow / dues income, etc.

There's a fine line between dirty rushing and getting to know the PNMs as students/introduce them to the idea of Greek Life. At schools with deferred, there isn't semester-long silence, but they're not supposed to be courting the PNMs specifically for their sorority. It happens anyway... The best you can do is educate chapters and PNMs on the do's and don'ts of pre-recruitment semester rules for communication and incentivize the chapters to be pro-Greek instead of dirty recruiting. They can still invite PNMs over for a dinner or ice cream or to a philanthropy event, depending on how you structure your rules. I know Baylor goes through some of this every year since they are on deferred recruitment. There are groups who dirty rush very actively and others who seek out individual PNMs who may be from a sister's hometown and have her touch base and just say hello and get to know the girl without pressuring or insinuating recruitment or bids or preferences.

ETA: Huge benefit: you have ladies rushing who have at least one semester's grades under their belt and who have successfully transitioned to college. You also have PNMs who really want to be there. I think there are a good number who rush in the fall who are doing it to please a parent (I am sure this happens with deferred, but to a lesser extent) and the sororities have had a chance to observe the PNMs on campus, for better or worse.

Con: You may have less women going through b/c they may have found a comfortable niche by the time recruitment rolls around. You also run the risk of the PNMs coming in with preconceived stereotypes b/c they have observed the sororities on campus for a semester, for better or worse. But on the plus side, you have PNMs who truly want to join a sorority and have proven themselves academically at the university.

I went to a school with deferred recruitment. I really liked it because, as adpiucf said, you have PNM's who already have transitioned into college and who have been able to observe the greek system to see if it's something in which they may be interested. The major problem with it is one that others have already mentioned...dirty rushing. But if you work out the boundaries, again as adpiucf described, it can be lessened. Another problem is more on the PNM's side. A lot of freshmen come to college and act crazy their first semester, not realizing what a horrible impression that is giving to other people.

I went to a school with deferred rush, and we had to come back early from Christmas Break. I do not know the exact numbers, but I do know that many women did not show up for these rounds because they did not want to come back early. This was even more pronounced if the ladies were not thrilled with their invites.

We have until the end of this semester to come up with a plan, and it will become active 2008-2009 school year. I am just trying to basically troubleshoot any potential problems we might have after it is implemented by attempting to get rid of them now...

OK, then if there's a housing issue that should give you time to budget accordingly. Some schools tell the Greeks AFTER everyone's signed housing contracts for the next fall that next fall will be deferred rush and they don't know why it doesn't go over. :rolleyes:

Some of the big things are:

DO NOT enforce silence for an entire semester. (I think the new Green Book says 30 days is max) Too many schools w/ DR do this and it is not at all what DR is supposed to promote! Long silence makes the sorority members hate it, because they have to constantly worry that they "slipped," and it can come across as snobby to the rushees or campus in general because they don't understand the rules.

The whole point of DR is for potential rushees to get to know the sorority members as normal people, not just girls at parties.

Everyone else pretty much touched on the most important things. True, you're going to have girls coming in maybe having heard more talk about reps or HAVING reps - but to me, the knowing that on both sides, you're choosing who you want in spite of all that is what makes DR so so SO much better. You don't have to worry that the girl who loved you in rush and once she gets a bid and starts pledging, then hates the fact that you have 3 intramural teams and are all gung ho into sports. Because she's had a whole semester to observe you and know that info going in.