AlwaysSAI - Big Man On Campus (Student Body President, IFC president, etc.)
AlphaGam -
ForeverRoses - The ultimate Ball State t-shirt, although I also always liked the one that said "Do I Have to Go 69 (interstate 69 sign) to get to Ball U"
Ah the double entendres!
And the story continues...
So, back in 1987, fraternity rush was spread out over two weeks, and it was the first year of mandated dry rush, which they were enforcing really strictly.
Round robin was the only event that required we go to all of the houses. Some of the chapters had made good impressions - some really, really, bad.
Now I had approached this whole "rush thing" as just something to do out of curiosity with my friends, since my parents had come just short of forbidding me from joining a fraternity. I hadn't anticipated that I would even be interested, but after meeting some of the guys at a few of the houses, I was seriously reconsidering.
Sunday was the night of my weekly phone call home, so I broke the news to my parents that I was rushing. Suffice to say, they weren't thrilled but as I explained to them "I probably won't even get a bid anywhere."
So the first night of open houses, Pat, Paul, Jon and I all went to Monte Carlo and Porsche. Pat, Paul, and Jon went to Yugo, and I went to Buick by myself. At each chapter we visited it was "Information Night" where the chapter president and/or rush chair talked to the rushees for about 15 -20 minutes about the chapter, and the rest of the time was spent meeting the brothers.
Monte Carlo had a nice house, but it was a big chapter on that campus (140 brothers) that had a strong party reuputation. Their house was in the most prominent location just off campus,and while the guys I met there were nice, I decided that I really didn't think I would fit in a chapter that size.
Porsche was a smaller chapter of about 80 guys, and by far the most preppy chapter at Ball State. I was by far the preppiest guy in my high school, so this chapter appealed to me immediately. Once again, the actives seemed really interested in me, but definitely less so in the other guys. I liked the guys I met, but they had us fill out this questionnaire that the first things it asked after the basic contact info, was "What do your parents do?" and "What is your parent's income?" I was a little put off by that, because it did seem like everbody in the chapter came from affluent families. Their house was also nice, and they had a cook (as did Monte Carlo). I later found out that my great-uncle had been a founding member of the Porsche chapter at Washington & Lee.
The other guys went on to Yugo and I went next door from Porsche to the Buick house. Honestly, their house was one of the crappiest on campus, but in a really great location on the row. The chapter was also the smallest of the three. I came in not knowing anyone other than the guys I had spoken to briefly at round robin. The brothers though were a very eclectic group of guys with no particular "type" predominating. They were very laid back and casual, and I never really got the impression that they were trying to impress me. I think I was the only guy there that didn't already know several of the brothers, but they were really friendly, and I wound up spending an hour talking to a few of them up in the president's room.
So the next morning, the four of us compared notes about the previous night's parties:
Pat was definitely interested only in Monte Carlo.
Paul was most interested in Yugo, but wanted to be invited back to Porsche, mostly because their pledge night was a "Playboy Club" theme party with hot tubs and women in bunny costumes.
Jon was leaning towards Monte Carlo or Yugo.
Oh, and since it was the 80's... EVERYONE in Monte Carlo had a mullet, a handful of the guys in Porsche were sportin' and about half the brothers in Buick. If memory serves (and it probably doesn't), I wore pegged, really pale jeans, and a rugby. I , never,ever sported the mullet.
I decided that I was most interested in Buick, but would still consider Porsche.
Hybrid Mode
