A Review of Deferred Recruitment from Auburn University Division of Student Affairs

[FSUZeta]

2nd argument: the report mixes sororities and fraternities. there should be separate reports for panhellenic, ifc, multi-cultural and pan-hellenic councils.

[wareagle93]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

2nd argument: the report mixes sororities and fraternities. there should be separate reports for panhellenic, ifc, multi-cultural and pan-hellenic councils.

^This. An interesting read nonetheless.

[DubaiSis]

I could see deferred rush being of benefit to small Greek systems that can use the first semester to drum up interest. But I just really can't come up with a scenario where deferred rush is the better choice on any campus with more than a handful of sororities. It's too much pressure on everyone involved! With IU having deferred rush AND bed quota, I'm surprised girls on both sides aren't literally having heart attacks from the stress. I SUPPOSE if you started school at the very end of January so that you could take a full week for work week and a full week for rush, but not infringe on New Year's, then it could work. But why? Just do it in August when the logistics work so much easier.

I applaud schools like Auburn looking at their system to see how they might improve what they've got, but I see no need to change it. Except that with numbers continuing to go up and up, it may be time for expansion again.

[FSUZeta]

i went thru rush the week prior to class starting. i loved it and still like that method the best.

i advise at FGCU. the administration won't allow recruitment to begin prior to classes beginning and i see the stress on the members trying to balance class, part-time jobs, other orgs. and recruitment. on top of that, recruitment starts during the week, and because so many classes are taught at night, the parties don't begin until around 9 or 9:30. there is no greek housing, so the sororities have to break down the rooms after each round of parties-add to that membership selection and sometimes the girls(and advisors) don't get home before 3 or 4 in the morning. not a good situation.

it is the same at my daughter's alma mater, and i assisted there her senior year. lots of unhappy members, trying to balance school and rush, and there is greek housing there.

[SthrnZeta]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

i went thru rush the week prior to class starting. i loved it and still like that method the best.

i advise at FGCU. the administration won't allow recruitment to begin prior to classes beginning and i see the stress on the members trying to balance class, part-time jobs, other orgs. and recruitment. on top of that, recruitment starts during the week, and because so many classes are taught at night, the parties don't begin until around 9 or 9:30. there is no greek housing, so the sororities have to break down the rooms after each round of parties-add to that membership selection and sometimes the girls(and advisors) don't get home before 3 or 4 in the morning. not a good situation.

it is the same at my daughter's alma mater, and i assisted there her senior year. lots of unhappy members, trying to balance school and rush, and there is greek housing there.

Sounds a lot like my alma mater... I'm kind of jealous of schools where recruitment happens before school ever starts for that reason. On the other hand, when you have freshman going through recruitment before they even start attending class, they may lose out on meeting lots of different types of people. There are solid arguments for both sides.

[katydidKD]

I'm wondering why the study mentioned suggests that having recruitment ASAP mitigates the negative self esteem that can come from recruitment. Anyone know why?

[phimusam]

Because, if you don't pledge, you get to start over as a GDI with all of the others when they arrive.

[violetpretty]

I am one of the biggest deferred recruitment cheerleaders on GC. A few reasons why I like it:

1. Freshmen have a semester of college coursework under their belt by the time recruitment starts. Especially since a lot of flagship state schools are a lot more competitive than they used to be, therefore your high school GPA has to be high to get in to the University, you won't get much separation from high school GPAs. It's splitting hairs. Some high schools are easier than others and some women take more rigourous classes. You really don't know how some students will do in college until they're there. With deferred recruitment, everyone's GPA is judged on an equal footing. Also, you weed out the women who flop first semester.

2. One of the biggest criticisms of deferred recruitment is "OMG PNMs have a WHOLE semester of tent talk and they have their minds made up!" I disagree. You mean to tell me that PNMs don't hear tent talk the second they start fall recruitment before school? That's all the time they need to form opinions, especially if they are doing literally nothing else.

If done properly, fall semester can be a great time to encourage authentic interaction between PNMs and members. Virginia Tech (a very large recruitment, I think 900-1000 last year registered?) actually opens registration for spring formal recruitment early in the fall semester, and registered women are placed on a Panhellenic listserv and notified of what they call "365 events". 365 events are sisterhood, programming, or service in nature than involve members from a few different chapters inviting PNMs to join them. For example, Sigma Kappa and Pi Beta Phi might do pumpkin carving with PNMs.

The catch/best part? PNMs don't know who is participating in the 365 event until they get there, so there isn't any "Oh, I don't want to join that sorority, I won't go to that 365 event". That way, PNMs can observe and join sorority women doing things they normally do as a chapter, they get to interact with them in a more natural, activity-based setting, dirty rushing isn't as much of a problem because the activity is supervised by Panhellenic, and PNMs are more likely to be open to more chapters after getting to know members. I hate when CPHs don't allow interaction between PNMs and chapters---this breeds a bad image of sororities as stuck up! I think the best prevention measure against dirty rushing is Panhellenic educating PNMs that NO ONE can guarantee you a bid!

3. Personally, I was not sold on joining a sorority when I began college. I was resistant. It took me the fall semester, where I actually met sorority women in my classes, that I became convinced that sorority life was for me! I had a male friend filling my head with garbage about certain chapters, but I didn't care about the things he said when I actually met women in those chapters!

4. It can reduce the number of women who go through recruitment, BUT retention is usually better, and presumably quality. PNMs have a semester to gather information on the expectations and obligations of joining a sorority. There are fewer women who join just for the letters.

Is it right for Auburn? It probably could work, but I would need to see a reason to change it. In the SEC, you don't "need" to change PNMs' minds about going Greek; the demand is already high, which is probably why deferred recruitment is more common in the North. If the chapter GPAs are higher than the women's average, then that also is no reason to change. Plus, all groups made quota, so it's not like there's any struggling chapters that are significantly behind.

[NUBlue&Blue]

I don't know how the sorority thing works at Ole Miss, (where they have semi-delayed rush), but from the fraternity perspective....they're basically pre-rushing them from the day they get there and there's something going on every single night. Personally, I think it would've been a lot better to get that business out of the way before school started instead of dragging it on and on....and then you go into the whole "pledge" period that takes up all kinds of time, and then there's football and The Grove, and a game in New Orleans and we're going to Alabama this weekend and there's semi formal and a mixer twice a week....I guess my point is that the period where you kind of "settle down" comes very late in the semester in this set up.

I also know that when my girls were at GT, sometimes students had to attend in the summer prior to their freshman year to gain full admission and sometimes girls who had a little too much fun on campus in the summer saw their options sharply decrease. While you can file that under "good to know" about a pnm, sometimes stories quickly grow and really may not be all true. I guess sometimes it's good to come with a clean slate, on both sides.