Fall 08' recruitment. Advice

[DeltaSig-211]

I'm a brother of the Delta Sigma Pi chapter at Kennesaw State University. We are a "professional" fraternity. Now, I was president of my chapter for 3 years, every since I was a freshman, and now I'm just a member because I decided to step down for my senior year. Now, my entire chapter still looks to me as if I were still President, and I'm the deciding factor on when we will conduct our Rush for Fall 08'.

Half of my chapter says that we need to do Rush after the social fraternities and sororities do theres first, because we are not social and therefore have no reason or need to try to compete with them.

The other half say that we should at least try compete with the socials and do ours at the same time, because if we run our chapter like a professional chapter, then ultimately our chapter will die out (I happen to agree with this statement, because our university just isn't mature enough yet to sustain a professional fraternity, and most people will just try to regard us an honor society if we proceed in that manner.. and we all know that no one has respect for honor societies in Greek life).

My personal opinion is that we should do our Rush at the same time as well. I've always tried to run my chapter as if it were a social, the only exception being that we're coed. Besides the coed thing, no one would think our chapter isn't social without someone telling them, or if they just knew the fraternity. I was just wondering what everyone else's opinion is on this topic.

I've always had success going up against the socials, but now, without my voice on the executive committee of my chapter, I am also worried about their ability to be as successful given their complete lack of experience. If you can't already tell, I'm all for going against the social, I know that we have the potential to compete... at least under my Presidency we were able to...

[33girl]

I think you need to REALLY step down and let the current leadership of the fraternity handle this. You're basically pulling a Lurleen Wallace here.

[knight_shadow]

At my school, Delta Sigma Pi and the social organizations operate on two different wavelengths (in every aspect). They mainly use recruitment tactics within the business school, so there's no "competing" with the social Greeks during recruitment. If there's some sort of Campus Activities Day or something, I'd say go for it. You should be able to get a lot of interest in a setting like that.

ETA: What 33girl said too

[DeltaSig-211]

I would gladly do that. I thought I did. It's been a great two months so far without having the burden of "president" on my shoulders. But our entire executive committee is of brothers who were initiated only 7 weeks ago, so they still look to me for a lot of things.

At one point I was the sole member of my chapter, then I brought it up to 4, then to 5, and as of last initiation we went to 18. I've given serious consideration to just letting them argue it out amongst themselves, and I'll probably do that. My question was just what would members of socials suggest. I dont plan on getting involved in my chapter's drama any more than necessary, I was just wondering what other people's thoughts on professionals vs socials were.

[kifler]

Your problem is that you're not comfortable reliquishing the reins of power.

Try to diversify your membership. Show the guys a good time in a social setting. Remember, as a professional group of guys, you might want to reflect on the age old proverb; It's not what you know but who you know.

If you really feel stressed about the decision, then voice your opinion. Also be respectful of the fact that you are no longer an executive and you must allow others to succeed or make mistakes aswell.

[Kansas City]

I'd recruit at a different time than the "Social Organizations" on your campus for two reasons:

1) Your organization is a "Professional Organization". Your programming can be as social as you want but in the end, it will still be a "Professional Organization" and should recruit members to fit the organization. For example, a pre-med organization would not actively recruit theater majors.
2) Unless I am mistaken, members of "Social Organizations" can also be recruited for your "Professional Organization". By recruiting at the same time, you run the risk of limiting your membership due to the availability of those that are participating in their "Social Organization" recruitment. Recruit before or after so that your members and potential new members both have the time to devote to your "Professional Organization" recruitment.

Finally, I'd recommend passing all of the information you have gathered on this thread to your board and let them make the decision. They still look up to you to make this decision because you were the only member of your organization for a period of time before you brought it up to 4-5 members and now 18 members. This "Professional Organization" is no longer solely your organization but belongs to all 18 members who may or may not want it to take it in a social direction. Let them make the decisions to balance professional with social and learn to let go.

[irishpipes]

I am also a brother of Delta Sigma Pi. I would strongly urge you to not recruit at the same time as the social fraternities and sororities. While I don't know your campus, it is quite common that social greeks comprise some/much of the membership of professional fraternities .I am an NPC member also). Social greeks tend to be joiners and campus leaders. Social greeks would likely ignore your recruitment due to the time commitment required for their social greek recruitment. I would recommend recruiting after the social greeks (to prevent pledges who join Delta Sig only to demonstrate campus involvement during social recruitment, only to drop out later.)

[ForeverRoses]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

I am also a brother of Delta Sigma Pi. I would strongly urge you to not recruit at the same time as the social fraternities and sororities. While I don't know your campus, it is quite common that social greeks comprise some/much of the membership of professional fraternities I am an NPC member also). Social greeks tend to be joiners and campus leaders. Social greeks would likely ignore your recruitment due to the time committment required for their social greek recruitment. I would recommend recruiting after the social greeks (to prevent pledges who join Delta Sig only to demonstrate campus involvement during social recruitment, only to drop out later.)

Second what IrishPipes said.

My husband was president of his Delta Sig chapter and their chapter was fairly small until they started actively recruiting social greek members, and then the chapter grew fairly quickly.

[ASTalumna06]

Delta Sigma Pi on my campus was never big on "recruitment" to begin with. I never really heard about it. I know a couple people who were involved in the fraternity, but for the most part, they got involved by someone in one of their business classes saying "hey, have you heard about Delta Sigma Pi?"

It sounds as if it's a bit different at your school. What do you do for recruitment? Do you have activities similar to the social fraternities? If you do, having your recruitment at the same time as theirs could become confusing.

Like Kansas City said, I believe that members of the social organizations can join yours, also. Take advantage of that. Ask some of the fraternities and sororities on campus if you can market your organization at one of their business meetings.

You say that people don't understand that you're a professional fraternity rather than a social one? Set yourself apart. How are you trying to sell the idea of Delta Sigma Pi? Pretend that you're a company trying to sell a product. That should be easy considering you're a business fraternity! haha. First analyze your goals and purposes and try to get the students to buy into that.

You say you don't want to be seen as an honor society. Then don't come off that way. On my campus, in the social fraternities and sororities, we struggle to recruit people because of the stereotypes of Greek life. We don't have people "rushing" to become part of our organizations. So our challenge is to get our campus to believe that we're not all stupid, drunk, hormone-driven people, but are in fact intelligent, philanthropic, hard-working members of an organization founded on years and years of rich tradition and values. The trick is to project the positive aspects of your organization, and to force people to understand what you're about.

Decide what you want people to see, hear, and feel about your organization first. Then try to market it based on those ideas. When and where you can recruit should then fall into place.

[texas*princess]

As a member of Delta Sigma Pi and an NPC, I feel I need to chime in here.

DSP is not a social fraternity, and should not "compete" with the NIC and NPC orgs for members. Period.

Delta Sigma Pi is a business fraternity, and while it is a business fraternity, I know of many chapters that are social and not just all nerdy business students. I promise, it's real. I've visited many chapters & met with many chapters at our leadership conferences.

With that said, if you're asking when you should hold recruitment events, it's been my experience that it works best if you do it at a time when no one else is doing something. Being a non-social GLO it's hard to get seen on campus when a zillion big things are happening at once. This also gives NPC & NIC and others the opportunitiy to join because I can assure you they will not join if they are focusing on their own recruitments.

I'm not saying that NPC/NIC are the ONLY people you can recruit from, but I know several members that are in both their social and their professional and active in both.

Also -- if you need help with recruitment, get in touch with your Regional Vice President. If you don't know who the RVP is, go to the website and find out. Start chapter traditions. For example, at the chapter I transferred to, every semester as part of the "recruiting" period, they have a Broomball event with their alumni, actives and prospective members. It's an insane amount of fun and it's something they look forward to every semester.