fraternies/sororities

gsp_silicon_valley
Sun, 02 Jul 2006 13:58:04 +0000

If you are really interested in a particular frat, you can just let frat members know, and they will either invite you to participate or not.

The process of joining a fraternity or sorority is commonly referred to as “pledging” or “rushing.” The term “rush” refers to the historical practice where students would hurry to join fraternities at the beginning of the school year in large part to find housing.

Recruitment is done formally or informally. The traditional “formal recruitment” often consists of a period known as “Rush” or “Rush Week”. Fraternities and sororities invite fellow students (often referred to as “rushees” or “potential new members”) to attend events at the house (or on-campus) and meet the current members of the organization. These formal rush weeks may impose limits on contact between interested students and active members to ensure fairness, such as time requirements to visit each house. “Informal recruitment” as the name suggests, is much less structured. New members are introduced to the fraternity’s members and activities through friends and everyday behavior. Many campuses may have formal recruitment periods and also allow informal recruitment after the formal period ends. “Deferred recruitment” refers to systems where students must have at least one semester’s experience on campus before joining.

Depending on the requirements of the school, prospective members may need to meet certain academic requirements, such as a minimum grade point average, or a minimum number of completed credits, in order to rush. At some schools, Greek organizations may be barred from recruiting new members for a year if the organization’s cumuluative grade point average is too low. At the end of this period, the house invites the visitors of their choice to “pledge” the fraternity or sorority. If the invitation, or “bid”, is accepted, the student will be admitted to the house as a pledge, a time during which they will enjoy fewer privileges in the house until they are initiated as full members. A student may pledge only one fraternity or sorority at a time, and most often agree to never pledge a second house if they have already been initiated into another one, though this does not preclude such events from happening. In general, this restriction only applies to social fraternities and sororities, and does not bar a member from being a member or later joining professional, service, or honorary fraternities or sororities.