Greek groups begin search for new members

Although fraternity and sorority rush lasts only a week, preparation lasts months.

Some Greek organizations on campus have started getting ready for formal recruitment, which will take place Aug. 8-14 for sororities and Aug. 29-Sept. 1 for fraternities.

An important part of preparation is educating the freshman pledge class, said Emily Pierce, recruitment chair for Alpha Chi Omega sorority and junior in history and political science.

Pierce said the sorority has held meetings with the freshmen to explain how recruitment works and what they should expect each day of the week.

"Then we have our big, chapter-wide recruitment workshop, which will be a day-long thing, coming up in about a month," Pierce said.

Recruitment chairs from all sororities attend Panhellenic meetings to discuss rules and policies for recruitment, Pierce said.

Sororities must follow the specific guidelines regulating recruitment, said Jill Moore, associate director of Greek life.

Moore said an important concept for sororities to remember is "positive Panhellenic contact."

This means if a sorority member and a potential member are already friends, they may maintain a normal friendship.

However, sorority members cannot contact potential members in an attempt to persuade them to join.

"You wouldn't want Alpha Alpha Alpha sorority to get together and send out letters to everybody they think is going through recruitment," Moore said. "It's not OK for a sorority to contact someone because they believe they're a potential member."

During the week of recruitment, potential members and current members may not be in contact except during actual recruitment events, Moore said.

While all women are required to pay a fee to participate in sorority recruitment, men do not pay a fee unless they pledge a fraternity, Moore said.

"The most important rule people should know is when a fraternity hosts a recruitment event: that event should be alcohol-free," Moore said. "The reason for that is these fraternities are trying to recruit guys that are straight out of high school, so none of them are old enough to drink."

Will Rollins, president of Chi Phi fraternity and sophomore in finance, said Chi Phi has started gathering names from brothers of high school seniors coming to Auburn.

"We think that's probably the most important thing because if you have a pre-existing relationship with someone coming into a fraternity, you're much more likely to feel comfortable," Rollins said.

Rollins said the fraternity has also planned dates for band parties in the fall.

"Right now we've got the dates set out, and now it just comes down to getting what bands we want," he said. "We'll probably have two or three big events between the time school starts and when formal rush begins."

FarmHouse fraternity has begun its preparations by recently electing its summer rush committee, said President William Van Hooser, junior in finance.

Van Hooser said FarmHouse will host six or seven rush parties during the summer.

"We invite girls, and we invite all the brothers," he said. "We normally go to the lake or go to a Braves game--something like that."

Van Hooser said he expects 35-40 men to accept bids.

"That's pretty much what we normally try to have," Van Hooser said. "We're not trying to grow; we're trying to stay about the same. I don't see us having a problem meeting that."

Rollins said since Chi Phi is a smaller fraternity, its brothers might not have as many contacts for men going through rush as a larger fraternity.

"That puts us at an initial disadvantage as far as recruiting for numbers," Rollins said. "But you can make up for that with dedicated rush chairmen and quality events you throw and selling people on your fraternity."

Pierce said she believes dedication in the months leading up to rush will pay off come the week of recruitment.

"I sure hope it goes smoothly," Pierce said. "My overarching goal is the more we get done early and the more we stay organized, the smoother everything should go and the easier the week should be on all of us."