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Good Press
Here's some good press from my chapter (Beta Sigma) printed in the local paper. Unfortunately the school paper never likes to cover a story like this.
The "creed" mentioned in the article is actually The Five Values, the reporter didn't get it right.
Old days of rush have given way to new era of recruitment
By GAIL KOCH
MUNCIE - Surrounded by members of Ball State University's FIJI fraternity, rushee Damon Disque considers his next move.
Cards in hand, he glances at his small stack of plastic chips, weighs the odds and chooses to fold.
With the game of Texas Hold 'Em continuing without him, Disque discusses what brought him out to attend a rush event on this cold January night.
"One of my buddies is a FIJI, and so I thought I'd come and check it out," the soft-spoken freshman said over the sound of clinking poker chips. "I like the guys a lot so far. Plus, the house is clean ... and hey, free pizza doesn't hurt, right?"
Everywhere you look in these cramped quarters, young men like Disque are playing poker - not for money, just fun, they note - or chatting in small clusters with pizza and soda in hand.
Clean-cut image
No alcohol is present at Ball State rush events but if the men were allowed, they wouldn't be drinking here anyway. The FIJI house, a small residential property on Wheeling Avenue that houses nine of the fraternity's 38 members, is a dry house - and it shows.
Instead of posters from Animal House and Old School, the downstairs walls are covered with framed group photos. The fraternity, known officially as Phi Gamma Delta, was chartered locally in 2001.
In one room hangs the fraternity's creed and photos of its national founders.
In another, bookshelves hold the trophies, plaques and certificates FIJI has received for outstanding grades and community service. A sign across the room reads: "Chapters who tolerate hazing jeopardize their careers."
While some men might shy away from a fraternity boasting such a clean image, others say it is the very reason they were drawn to join FIJI.
"Their values drew me in," explains junior Adam Meyer, who introduces himself as FIJI's "mulleted member."
Wearing a trucker hat that reads "Wisconsin is Cheesier," Meyer added, "We're tired of the negative image and part of the whole recruitment process now is to look beyond that."
Agressive recruitment
The sentiment from fraternity presidents across campus is that recruiting new members nowadays is a much different process than it was even five years ago.
"Guys aren't coming to me saying, 'I knew from day one that I was going to join a fraternity,'" said FIJI President Chris Kurtz. "You can't just throw open your doors and expect them to come in anymore."
What is more common, according to Kurtz, is for active members to aggressively recruit guys they know on campus, maybe from class or the dorms, all the while considering the man's academic standings and social interests.
Grades, he points out, are more important than ever before. Fraternities now must maintain a chapter semester average of a 2.6 GPA. FIJI's current GPA average is 2.814.
In general, Kurtz said, Ball State's fraternity men have had to work harder to maintain a Greek scene than men at other schools.
"Most of the students who come here, they're first-generation college kids," he reasoned. "You don't have a ton of legacies here like you would at a school like Purdue or IU.
"That can make Ball State a tough place to join."
By the way if any of you want to buy the mullet of our "mulleted member" Adam is selling it on e-bay to make some cash for a trip to Las Vegas over Spring Break with some other brothers.
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