Rush is in full swing on campus as Greek houses recruit new members for the coming year. The deadline for recruiting, known as Super Deadline Day, is Mar. 6.
Starting next Wednesday, the fraternities, sororities and societies will begin to offer bids - or invitations - to students they want to recruit. If the interest is mutual, the student turns in the bid card Mar. 4 to 6, said Alex Dean '08, program house committee chair for Residential Council and a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Society.
Rush - the one time each year when program and Greek houses can formally add new members - is especially important for houses that are low on numbers. Greek and program houses are required to have at least 22 in-house members at any given time. Failure to do so can adversely affect a house in the semiannual program house review conducted by ResCouncil.
Greek Council, which is made up of all on-campus Greek houses except for St. Anthony Hall, sets the start and end dates for rush. The council also regulates when official events can be held. Currently, houses can hold official rush events Monday through Thursday, 8 to 10 p.m. The council also determines whether alcohol can be served at events: Alcohol is now prohibited at official events, though there is "no specific guideline as to whether or not" alcohol can be served at non-official rush events, said Greek Social Chair Teresa McRann '07, a member of Zeta Delta Xi.
Greek Council does not have rules about how houses interact with rushes, but some houses may have their own rules, McRann said. The treatment of rushing students has "not been problematic in a public way," she said, but added that she doesn't "know if that would be an issue raised to the community at large."
So far this year, there have been no violations of rush policies, McRann said.
The process is akin to matchmaking - students are feeling out houses to see if they'd like to join while houses look to attract students they think will fit in well with their culture and lifestyle.
"It is competitive, but at the same time, we want more people to join the Greek houses," said Mark Connolly '07, chairman of Greek Council and a member of Delta Phi.
Houses generally work to avoid confrontation. During the month-long rush, houses that compete for "the same 'types' of rushes" schedule their 8 p.m. events so they don't overlap, Dean wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
"(The) Greek system is pretty good at trying to avoid direct competition" in terms of event timing, said Matt Dennis '09, president of Delta Tau. Still, there is competition among the houses to get the students they want. "Hopefully we've done our job pitching our side," Dennis said. "There definitely will be competition."
Some Greek houses started their recruiting fairly early this year. Zete started recruiting new members Friday, Jan. 26 and visited first-year dorms to drop off calendars of rush activities.
"Every freshmen has probably gotten a calendar from Zete," said Mark Fuller '09, chair of rush for Zete and a member of ResCouncil.
Zete has held fondue and sushi nights so far for rush, as well as a Super Bowl Party. There are "generally just people here all the time," Fuller said, noting the house holds about four events a week.
Like Zete, ADPhi started recruitment soon after students returned to campus. The house has had an "event more or less every day" since rush started, according ADPhi rush chair Daniel Heller '07.
DTau is going about the process a little differently. DTau was once a frat dominated by members of the wrestling team but saw its membership decrease dramatically after Head Coach Dave Amato started dissuading members of the team from joining the fraternity in 2003. Since then, the frat has reinvented itself - it has only four seniors, and the rest of the members are sophomores.
Pizza and a televised sports game make up a typical rush event at DPhi, Connolly said. The "open-door policy" of the events makes for an informal environment, he said. The frat also gets in touch with students more casually by talking to them in classes and meeting them through athletics.
The two sororities have different rules for rush than the University's fraternities because they are part of the Pan-Hellenic Conference, a national organization of sororities. Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Chi Omega share advertising space, host events together and even share sign-in sheets for their events.
Since there are only two sororities, students can get a general feel for sorority life from both of them, said Nicole Villaverde '07, recruitment chairman for Theta. The houses also hold individual events so interested students can learn about each sorority.
In addition to larger events, such as a comedy night held in conjunction with the Stand Up Comics, Theta also has three informal events. These events allow "girls (who) are shy" to talk to sorority members more easily, chapter adviser Jennifer Paolino '06 said.
Overall, Brown's sorority rush is "much more relaxed" than at other schools, according to Villaverde.
Rush ends Tuesday, Mar. 6.
