Advertising: The Interfraternity Council sends out postcards and e-mails to freshmen during the summer. IFC does not endorse specific fraternities but only gets out awareness of Greek Life on campus. IFC will also show a video it made during New Student Orientation to show them how the rushing process works. Jimmy Byars, IFC adviser, said that individual fraternities will also have Facebook groups or advertisements to encourage new students to get interested in their organizations.
Making the list: During this step, individual fraternities accumulate a list of men. Peter Barnes, president of the Rho chapter of Sigma Pi, said several fraternities choose names from a list of all freshmen and those who have shown interest in their organization. This process happens during the summer as well.
Move-in: Members of Greek Life, including IFC, will help students living in residence halls move into them by offering to carry their belongings to their rooms. During this time, the brother or sister will inform the person moving in about his or her respective organization. ╥ We do this to show we do service, and in part to get our name out there ╔ This shows Greeks are a part of campus and we do contribute, ╙ Byars said.
Events: IFC holds Chillin ╒ & Grillin ╒ with InterResidence Council and will hold two events to encourage students to get interested in Greek Life. Individual fraternities will also hold their own events. ╥ The purpose of the events is that they ╒ re like interviews. We ╒ re seeing if we are a good fit for each other, ╙ Barnes said. Byars said fraternity events vary, but a growing trend is having rush events in which the participants are doing community work. Barnes said most events held by fraternities during the rushing process are open to everyone interested, as long as the person interested gives the fraternity notice he is planning on attending. Barnes said the easiest way to find out about fraternity events is to contact the recruitment chairs for IFC through the Greek Life office and they will have copies of all rush calendars. This is the part of rushing IFC fraternities are in now.
Bids: The fraternities have a vote whether a rushee is extended a bid, which is an invitation to possibly become a member. Those who have bids have to meet the standards of IFC, such as having at least a 2.25 grade point average, though some fraternities have higher standards for GPAs. Fraternity brothers also look to see if the rushee has made an effort to come to events and has a connection with them.
Accept or Decline: The men who have had bids extended toward them have the choice to accept or decline them. But the person can only accept one bid.
Pinned: Once rush is over, the fraternities pin the people who have accepted a bid. This part is a claiming ritual in which the new possible members become part of the fraternity, even though there is more work for them ahead. Pinning is different for different IFC fraternities. For some fraternities, the person pinned is a full member, but other fraternities call these people associate members.
Educational/Pledge period: During the educational and pledge period, the pinned members learn about the secrets, traditions and values of the fraternity. Fraternities also test the knowledge of the pinned members by giving them an examination on the general facts about the organization. This part also tests how well the pinned members get along with the brothers.
Initiation: After initiation, the associate member is officially a full brother of the fraternity. Initiation isn ╒ t guaranteed for everyone who pledges. Each fraternity has its own initiation traditions.
