Idea's for Rush

[Miami1839]

Hey Bro,

I noticed your post on greekchat/name your house. What kinds of things does SIU IFC do to promote greek image and recruitment? Maybe having a campus wide/greek letter wearing day.

Kevin
Beta Theta Pi Alumnus
Epsilon Mu #106

[Wooglin4Ever]

At SIU our IFC and Panhelleic really doesn't do a whole lot. We have IGC (Inter-greek coucil) Which oversees IFC, Panhellinic, and Pan-Hellinic. The three sub coucils do a lot, but most everything is run through IGC. IFC is hosting a pork roast the first week of school which hopefully will bring some kids out. We are also putting a flier in every mailbox in the dorms. In the past we have held a "Meet the Greeks" in the University student center. The problem is that IFC rush is just a total free for all. Everyone who joins a house just joins because they already know someone in that house. Everyone who rushes already know which house they are going to join. I am the PR director for IGC and I need to find some ways to bring kids out this fall.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

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.

[Miami1839]

Hey Wooglin

I think DeltaBetaBaby has some great ideas. I agree that the main thing to remember is to make the Greek system seem like a big deal so that the freshman will want to come out. With my school if you werent greek or if you didnt play sports there was little for you. Especially as a commuter school. I know our chapter did the move in thing and that was a great tool. Another tool might be encouraging greeks to be tourguides or participate in freshman orientation. I think its also important to encourage the freshman to seek everyone out(not just one house)and not go to one house too early. At least try to have all the houses encourage that because I think that will be beneficial to everyone in IFC in the end.

[This message has been edited by Miami1839 (edited August 05, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Miami1839 (edited August 05, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Miami1839 (edited August 05, 2001).]

[AlphaChiGirl]

Originally posted by DeltaBetaBaby:
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.

We did this with our Greek Council. We all wore letters, and hung out around some of the first-year residence halls (PC term for "freshman dorms" ), passing out lemonade (with Greek Council cups, listing all of the school's Greek organizations!), and giving directions. We had many talks with women who were trying to encourage their daughters into rushing. It was very successful (in my opinion).

Also, is there an Activities Fair during Orientation (my school is small, so we have one big weeklong orientation for everyone right before classes start)? If you have one of those, people usually want to stop and talk. Have lots of people wearing letters, and have pamphlets and a list for people to sign up if they want more information.

Best of luck!

[Wooglin4Ever]

I was looking for some good ideas for rush. Both for individual chapters and for IFC as a whole. I am more worried about IFC rush than my chapters becauseour greek #'s are falling. IFC really needs to get it's name out there and known around campus. Any Ideas?

[Liv4ChiO]

Wow, great ideas DeltaBetaBaby!

Try pairing up with some non-Greek organizations for some activities. Some people might be too intimidated to come to Greek events, thinking everyone there already knows each other etc. If there are any big campus activites, getting your name involved might help.

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Travelling with no boundaries, moving in imaginary.

[AlphaSigLana]

IFC at my school is so informal. Usually their are flyers posted by the houses inviting guys to meet them at the pool hall or dinner at Old Chicagos. My sororitys rush theme is army related- we have pink army shirts with our rush motto- unofortunately i don't remember it!

[ck524]

wearing letters is definitely important and makes an impact-especially if they are different. we ordered these greek metal stud tees and greek rhinestone tattoos to wear out around campus. nobody had them but us- we got asked so many times where we got them-we got them at www.mygreekletters.com- they gave us group discounts too!

[shadokat]

DeltaBaby has some great ideas. It's important to band your fraternities together and promote the system. It can only serve to benefit each house. Have the IFC/NPC help freshmen move in...we do that and wear the "greek" t-shirt, not our own letters, as that wouldn't be fair to the system. Ads in the paper are good if people read the paper. Set up a letter wearing schedule with IFC, where each fraternity hands out days of the week for their members to wear letters. It's ok to do a fraternity a day, but that may mean that some fraternities that are larger get "more coverage". Also, consider having an barbecue or something with sports teams and other non-greek organizations. This way, folks can see what fraternity life is about.

As the PR chair, once recruitment is finished formally, keep the greek push alive by having fraternities and sororities place ads in the paper welcoming new members and being sure to get press coverage on their events. And hold a mid-semester event to keep interest up for the upcoming semesters of recruitment.

Best of luck!


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