NYU Recruitment...

[Lunarwolf]

Hey all, I'm the recruitment chair for the NYU chapter of AST. I need some advice. Our colony is only 15 members currently, and while I don't want the numbers to skyrocket, having a few more NM's would make me a very, very happy gal.

That said, if anyone has ever even visited NYU, you'll know how decentralized, disconnected, and rather, erm, noncommital the student body tends to be. NYU is a huge school, but only about 4% belong to fraternities and %2 belong in sororities. (The higher ratio of fraternity members is partially due to the fact that, in the largely gay male population of NYU, the straight guys like to seek out the masculinity inherent in a fraternity.)

I have two questions:

a) How can we as a Greek community make Recruitment less scary and more enticing to the incoming freshmen? Our Recruitment week is barely a week after school starts. We have plans to help move people in, and I think programs are being planned for Orientation as well. But besides getting the word out, how can we get them to actually come? (The lucky thing is, in this early juncture of their NYC experience, they won't have the blinders on that everyone else has acquired by their second month.)

b) How can we, as a very small colony, make ourselves appealing? We're only allowed to COB a week after formal rush and that's all, so COBing is not the way to boost our numbers.

Any suggestions would be very, very helpful.

[pinkyphimu]

Originally posted by Lunarwolf


b) How can we, as a very small colony, make ourselves appealing? We're only allowed to COB a week after formal rush and that's all, so COBing is not the way to boost our numbers.

Any suggestions would be very, very helpful.

question....how come you can only COB for one week after formal recruitment ends? what other chapters do you have and what do their numbers look like? unfortunately, i don't know that i will be that much help bc i have never visited your campus, however, get your letters out there as much as possible. take out ads in the newspaper, post banners, etc., etc., etc. will you be able to take a pledge class in the spring? start getting to know the freshmen and inviting them to events. since you are still a colony, i would think that getting members who are sophomores and juniors or even seniors would be a good thing. i am also willing to bet that the 15 current members of your group weren't best friends before AST, so have everyone invite some friends. plan things that are more relaxed so that people will feel comfortable. have a philanthropy event and invite friends. even if you can not offer bids to people after bid day, keep inviting people throught the semester. this will defintatly help with a spring pledge class!

[33girl]

In your situation I would say deferred or delayed formal rush might work better. I would freak out for about a month moving to NYC at my age - I can't imagine going there at 18 and dealing w/ NYC let alone all the things that go with college. The reason you aren't getting a lot of members is they are probably all still trying to find wherever you are holding the events. Are you the only NPC on campus?

As far as COBing, according to NPC regs you are allowed to COB any time you want if you are under total, and the girls can take up to a year to pledge after they sign (they don't encourage this, but it is permissible) unless the school has regulations that don't permit it. If it is the school making these rules, I would contact your nearest alum Panhel and ask them to assist you in changing it. Putting a time limit on COB defeats the entire purpose.

[Glitter650]

My school has rather the same problem with the anti Greek mentality. I suggest maybe having a table out somewhere central like a Student Union or bookstore that first week ...have out a scrapbook/mascot/any other paraphanalia that you can think of and just talk to people to get the word out. Hand out fliers and answer people's questions when they come to the table, if they are interested, you can get their contact info and E mail to remind them. It can be intimidating to do this, especially at a school where you're likely to get responses from eye rolling to people loudly saying in a false bubbly tone to their friend as they walk by "OH MY GOD TOTALLY JOIN LIKE MY SOROITY" BUT on a campus where people just don't "GO GREEK" it's the only way people may even know you actually even have a greek system. We only have one table since our campus is rather small.. NYU is HUGE so if you can have two or three tables at different places around campus that would be even better. Also wear letters/jewelry EVERYWHERE the week before recruitment starts. I would also do you best whenever you get the chance to dispell any rumors you hear about GLOs around campus... I know at our school a lot of people think you get hazed.. so whenever I get the opportunity I try and make the truth known.
I have visited NYU.. though I'm not a student so don't know how well these ideas might work on your campus.. but the general idea is get the word out any way possible.