Fraternity Recruitment Standards

[Woof]

I was always curious how rush and the voting process worked for very large chapters say anywhere between 80-100 people. The logistics just seem way out of this world to handle. I can't even imagine how the voting process would work. Isn't there a chance that a large number of people will obstain from voting? Are those votes then disregarded?

I'm on a campus where fraternity sizes aren't large, but it doesn't take many abstains for a possible pledge to passed up, at least for another week, sometimes altogether.

[JohnnyCash]

Originally Posted by Woof

I was always curious how rush and the voting process worked for very large chapters say anywhere between 80-100 people. ... I can't even imagine how the voting process would work. Isn't there a chance that a large number of people will obstain from voting? Are those votes then disregarded?

Well the formality of the school's rush really depends on the campus. Some large schools have very formal processes, some have very informal processes and vice versa.

I can only speak for my chapter but you can't abstain when voting on pledges. And every guy is voted on, one by one. Which can be annoying and tiring (it always takes a few hours, especially initiation vote).

As far as when voting for rushees occurs, we vote on bid extensions as we go along. My chapter has recruitment events before the formal rush period (mostly during summer) which makes it much easier to vote on guys you want to bid. We don't wait until the second-to-last day of formal recruitment to vote on guys. By that point, most guys have been voted on.

Not to mention our "formal" recruitment isn't formal at all.

The logistics just seem way out of this world to handle.

ETA: Which is why my chapter has been lazy in the past. We would nominate and then select 5 guys to represent the Bid Committee and they were in charge of deciding who got a soft bid. Then the chapter would vote on the guys after rush ended. It worked for the most part, but we're not going to use this process anymore since it can get sticky (ie. a guy on the Bid Committee is friends with an unpopular rushee, committee not taking into consideration the the chapter's wishes, etc.)

[DTD Alum]

Originally Posted by Woof

I was always curious how rush and the voting process worked for very large chapters say anywhere between 80-100 people. The logistics just seem way out of this world to handle. I can't even imagine how the voting process would work. Isn't there a chance that a large number of people will obstain from voting? Are those votes then disregarded?

I'm on a campus where fraternity sizes aren't large, but it doesn't take many abstains for a possible pledge to passed up, at least for another week, sometimes altogether.

My chapter was consistently that size. Like I said, the meetings could take forever, and it wasn't uncommon for a brother to sneak out (or angrily storm out if his favorite was cut) after awhile. Nobody was allowed to abstain though, however it was pretty common to count the "no" votes first (since only 15% was needed) because it would simply be easier to count.