|
When Auburn University was on the quarter system, school started in late September and Rush week was usually mid-September with rush work week beginning after Labor Day weekend. I always thought this worked very, very well. It gave the chapter the chance to do a great deal of preparation for an entire week during the daytime without having to worry about classes, tests, etc., etc. It also allows the rushee and chapter members to participate in rush during the daytime without having to worry about skipping classes, tests., etc. The only big downside I can think of is that rushees would drop out of rush if they didn't get the group they wanted, drop out of classes at Auburn, get a full refund on tuition, then enroll somewhere else, join the group they really wanted, and sometimes try to affiliate into Auburn's chapter in a year or so. A really minimal disadvantage if you asked me, since this was a pretty rare situation.
Auburn moved to the semester system about 2-3 years ago and I think there is a week between the end of Summer period and the beginning of Fall sememster and I think rush is held that week. I'm not sure when they hold rush work week. It may have been cut down to just a day or so, not sure.
I advised a chapter for a couple of years where the Panhellenic has struggled to find the right time to hold rush. They have tried for having it within the first 2 weeks of school to avoid exams and tests from conflicting w/ rushee's schedules, but they have also found that rush numbers go down by having rush too early in the year (i.e. not enough time for publicizing rush to incoming freshmen). This year I think rush was held maybe 3-4 weeks into the schoolyear. It gives the chapter more time to prepare and the groups more time to push going through rush to unaffiliated women. Depending on how your campus calendar operates, its pretty difficult to come up with a schedule that meets the needs of the rushee, chapters and advisors if you have to do rush while school is in session.
|