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I have to second 33girl's comments about deferred recruitment. My school has tried it both first and second semester, and the rush numbers were substantially higher with second semester rush. That doesn't necessarily work everywhere; my school was one not so much with first generation students as first generation Greeks who had to find out that Greeks weren't all scary, evil, snotty girls from a Lifetime TV or after-school special. (And yup, our retention was at least 90%.)
The biggest issue (as far as logistics) with either deferred or sophomore rush is the contact rules. You can't realistically forbid upperclassmen to talk to freshmen for an entire year! On the other hand you can't be running around promising bids, either.
I think no matter what you all decide to do, leave an out clause with your university. That is, if rush numbers go downhill, be able to change the timing of recruitment. Because it is a little bit of an experiment from school to school to find out what works best.
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Alpha Xi Delta
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