Fraternity Recruitment-Formal vs. Informal

[Firehouse]

I think the rush guys on this board will all give you the same advice. First, the dynamic at a small private school is very different than at a large public university. At small schools, the fraternities tend more to "specialize". That is, all the football players will join one house, all the finance & accounting majors will join another, etc. It's not a bad thing, and it does ensure a steady stream of new members.
I'm almost always against rush rules of any kind. However, once again, small private schools with deferred formal rush generally do OK with it; some even profess to prefer it. The real danger is that the IFC sounds as if they assume the authority to control rush; that can have a very bad result if jealosy and petty politics take hold.
Here's the most effective thing you can do if you want to upgrade the system. Pick out the chapter that is the best and/or has the most potential, and push them to establish absolute dominance of the fraternity system. The hot blood of competition makes more things happen than the changing of rules. If one chapter steps way out in front, then one or two of the others will work harder to overtake them just because they don't like being so far behind.
One of the bad things about formal rush is that it makes the good chapters lazy. The real opportunity to move ahead of everyone else is in the fall, when upperclassmen can be pledged. There are a few nationals that really buy into this sort of thing; if one of them is on your campus, then you can contact the national office and tell them what you want to do. They'll jump all over it; they'll help you.
Trust me, if one chapter really shows dramatic improvement (superficial improvement: sudden big increase in membership, involvement on campus, etc), the others won't like it and will stoke up their own engines. The IFC is the "X factor", unfortunately. The big boys have to watch out for retaliation for their success. That's where you come in as IFC advisor; don't let that happen.
You could have fun with this!