At U of I, everyone in a chapter, whether IFC, Panhellenic, or Black Greek Council gets the same rush shirt. They have a generic rush slogan promoting the whole Greek system. Everyone wears them the first day of classes, so the freshmen see them EVERYWHERE.
Do you guys have letter days? We have Panhellenic letter days, where we get discounts at campus businesses for wearing our letters. I always wait for letter days to get my haircuts 20% off. If you don't have enough support from campus business to swing discounts, try giving out rewards yourself. For example, if someone on IFC sees you wearing letters, you get tickets for a raffle, or points for your chapter (frat boys love competition) or something like that.
Get fraternity men and sorority women to help with move-in. At U of I, we have I-Guides that help with move-in, so if you have something like this, get your members to volunteer and be sure they are wearing letters. If it is too late to volunteer, just hang out around the freshmen dorms wearing letters and hand out bottled water.
Are there any home football games coming up? Pre-game barbeques are great for recruitment, especially if you can get the sorority girls there too. Get some girls to offer to paint guys faces outside the stadium. This is a great icebreaker to allow the houses to meet guys.
Put ads in the student paper about the Greek system. For example, congratulate the chapter with the highest spring GPA. Encourage the chapters to place ads too. At U of I, every chapter runs an ad in the Daily Illini with their members on the dean's list or 4.0's, and thanks the fraternity or sorority every time they have a social function.
Chalk the quad and the sidewalks with announcements for recruitment events. This should be done mostly the individual chapters, but you could do a general "Go Greek" sort of thing.
Also, how is PR the rest of the year? Do the Greeks do a lot on campus? Do you brag aobut it when they do? Make sure the student paper is covering your activities. Every chapter should be doing a homecoming float for everyone to see. I know it is expensive, but we paired up with a fraternity last year, and spent less than $200 combined.
The point is just to make the Greek system seem like a really big deal, because then everyone will want to be a part of it.
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