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rush most popular ever (at Southern Cal)
Frat rush most popular ever
InterFraternity Council unity helped attract more recruits, president says
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Daily Trojan - U of Southern California
By ELIZABETH WAUGH
Contributing Writer
More than 1,200 students registered to rush fraternities this week, the highest amount in all of school history, said James Low, president of the Inter Fraternity Council.
Last year, less than 800 people registered for rush.
The previous record for the highest number of rushees was set in 1986, when almost 1,000 registered, said Low, a senior majoring in political science.
Rush week is the time in which those interested in joining a fraternity or sorority participate in activities leading up to their potential recruitment as members.
Two things can be credited to the record turnout this year, Low said.
First, the "fraternalism between chapters" of the IFC and overall "promotion of brotherhood" connected the various fraternities, who united to create a successful rush week, Low said.
Rush was designed in an innovative manner this year to include more personalized attention for the rushees, Low said. For example, instead of holding many IFC-wide events, only one event, called "In-N-Out," involved the entire IFC community this year. Rushees were offered free In-N-Out burgers served on the Row.
Instead, this year many smaller events took place. The fraternity houses took out more intimate groups of potential pledges to attend activities such as baseball games and dinners at the Hard Rock Café.
These allowed for "more face time and more interaction," Low said.
Many houses within the IFC community celebrated Rush Week's success.
"(IFC creates) a good interest in the fraternities and sororities, and we take it from there," said Phil Koosed, president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, and a senior majoring in business administration.
More than 200 students rushed AEPi this year, compared to about 100 last year, Koosed said. He said he attributed the success of rush to IFC, particularly noting the fact that his fraternity gained the attention of 30 people at the IFC In-N-Out event.
Rush Week will culminate Saturday and Sunday nights, when current fraternity members will dole out bids to the rushees who showed the most potential during the week. Students who choose to accept the bids become a pledge.
Anthony Andrade, a freshman majoring in pre-business, said that he decided to rush after coming to campus, even though he originally planned on avoiding the fraternity scene.
Andrade said he "didn't want to commit to a group" and "wanted to choose his own activities."
Parties the week before school persuaded him to participate in Rush Week, he said. Fraternity members he met and talked to gave him a different impression of fraternity life.
"At times, rush week has a tendency to be dishonest, because being a pledge is not like being a rushee," said Mike Maizels, a current fraternity member and a sophomore majoring in fine arts. This is because rushees who become pledges often have to do hard, physical work for the fraternity during their first semester, he said.
Still, he admitted that rush is a "fun indulgence for freshman."
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