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Jumping into the deferred/non-deferred discussion, I have to say that without deferred recruitment, I wouldn't even have CONSIDERED joining until at least sophomore year, which on my campus is a HUGE liability.
For us, the first semester consisted mostly of "rush dates" which consisting of an equal number of sorority women and PNMs getting together and getting coffee, watching TV, etc together. We were encouraged to get to know the PNMs.
There were, of course, a lot of rules and restrictions on this (Neither sorority women nor PNMs could pay for each other, NO alcohol [couldn't even pass the keg tap at a party. Had to put it down and let the PNM pick it up, no playing drinking games together, etc], had to be equal or lesser number of sorority women to PNM, etc), but I found that it really did help me to get to know the women outside of tent talk (although there was a lot of that, too). Without this enforced (well, by the chapters) contact, I would never have rushed, and would have missed out on some great friendships and opportunities.
Of course there were infractions, but the only thing I really remember was that my freshman and sophomore year, this one sorority (who ALWAYS dirty rushed and tried to get around the rules) got so many infractions that they got their door songs taken away. Of course, being who they were, they interpreted "no door songs" to mean "it's okay to bring a boombox and play dance music as the PNMs walk in." Letter but not the spirit of the law. Sigh.
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