Rushing a fraternity and partaking in recruitment for a sorority is a common occurance on most American campuses.
Unfortunately, the way that most people have come to learn about the so-called “Rush Week” is through horror stories of hazing and excessive partying that is often portrayed through the news, movies and other media outlets. As a result, sororities and fraternities are given a negative connotation — something that many would argue they don’t deserve.
Don’t get me wrong — new stories of tragic hazing and other disgusting acts within fraternities and sororities are factual and 100% not okay. Any organization that condones the bullying and torturing of another member or members should not be given a place on campus. However, much of Greek life does not take part in any obscene behavior, yet they are still painted in a negative light.
Even my own perspective of Greek life at Temple has been completely tainted by the overwhelmingly negative stories the media publishes. I realized that I’ve often denoted the word “sorority” with things such as cattiness, exclusion, partying, hazing and bullying. Throughout my time at TU, I have never considered joining a sorority and have at some points even gone as far as to outwardly reject the thought of being part of sorority to my friends.
I realized that these negative connotations formed in my head were purely a result of what the media and other people had been feeding me — not my own, personal opinions. In reality, I had no first hand experience that would have supported this poor framing of Greek life.
So what is rushing/recruitment really like? And how does it compare to the bleak history that it’s known for?
So, it’s good to know some Greek life ~basics.~ For future reference, “rushing” and “pledging” refers to fraternities and “recruitment” refers to sororities. It’s confusing, but apparently necessary. First of all, the rush/recruitment process is actually pretty simple and not at all what one would one would see on the news or in films. What people don’t know is that “nine million college students are [currently] members of a greek organization” today, and “…college graduation rates are 20% higher among Greeks than non-Greeks,” according to Nicole Glass’s article for USA Today called “Examining the Benefits of Greek Life.”
In the media, only stories of hazing and inappropriate actions within Greek life are given air time, and these stories should be brought to light. However, stories of people who have had positive experiences with Greek life should be given a place in the media as well. It seems that people rarely hear about the large percentage of students who were benefited by being a part of a greek organization.
Because my knowledge of rushing is nonexistent, I asked students from different universities in Philadelphia to educate me on everything that goes on with rushing/recruitment — from the logistics of signing up to the benefits after you leave the Greek realm.
One student from the Philadelphia area, who prefers to stay anonymous, helped break down the whole process for me. The recent pledge explained that “Rush Week” can generally be split up into three phases: recruitment, bidding and pledging. Depending on the college and the variety of sororities/fraternities it has, the experience can be different. Usually, the first few days will require the Greek-hopefuls to visit all (or only some) of the different sororities or fraternities campus. As each day passes, the PNMs, potential new members, visit fewer and fewer places, narrowing down their preferences as they go and getting to know each organization by talking to current members. The sororities and fraternities can likewise drop anyone they don’t think would be would be a good fit with them.
The attire for the recruitment stage is fairly formal, though there is admittedly a difference in the recruitment stage for fraternities and sororities, and it’s probably why you see lots of women in dresses and skirts in 20-degree weather roaming the streets. On the last day, the “bidding” occurs, where people are notified if they were accepted into certain organizations.
After this comes pledging, where “the new member who receives a bid goes through to learn about the history of their new Greek organization. Normally, this is the stage that others think of as ‘hazing,’” the student explained to me. It’s common for people to believe that some sort of hazing takes place here, and for some organizations, it sadly does. But, keep in mind, the way it’s portrayed especially in film is often extremely exaggerated and based on outdated interpretations of Greek life.
When asking students at Temple what their perceptions of sororities and fraternities were like, most non-Greek life students came to a similar conclusion of what sororities and fraternities encompassed: heavy partying.
Patrick M., a sophomore journalism student, is not in a frat himself, but is close to those who are a part of Greek life.
“No, I’m not in a frat. My roommate is though, which has changed my perception of frats and frat life,” Patrick said. “Yes, you have the drinking and the drugs in all frats, but that is only part of frat life. From what I have heard, frats offer a sense of community and belonging. And considering freshman in their second semester are mostly joining frats, a sense of belonging is exactly what they need to trudge through the four years of stress and headache that occurs in college. However, I would still not join a frat.”
Freshman Aimee Y., a computer science major, has a similar opinion when it comes to Greek life for her personally.
“I would never pay to join an organization that’s basically just about partying,” Aimee said.
Aimee also brought up the fact that rushing can be very expensive — to her, and many others, the price tag isn’t worth it. Some people have claimed that they have paid hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars for the opportunity to be a part of a sorority or fraternity.
For those who have gone through the sorority or fraternity process in the past and are now upperclassmen have generally found that joining Greek life has been beneficial. One Temple junior, who is an accounting major, claimed that participating in a sorority gave her real life connections to people and employers that eventually lead to job opportunities that she wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. She also explained that her friends who have graduated said that their sororities gave them personal relationships and friendships that were genuine and that they still have to this day.
Overall, it seems all students have some polarizing views of rushing and recruitment, but none of them are truly consistent with what is explained by the media. The anonymous student who explained the process of recruitment to me also gave a good explanation of what I thought the general consensus was from those who had rushed before:
“Throughout the rush process, I met incredible girls, both PNMs and upperclassmen with passions about education and their career aspirations, girls who loved friendships, good times, and enjoying college and completely genuine girls. It is safe to say that not every[one] I met was like that, but the majority were… Aside from the connections and a new family you receive from joining a sorority, the immense benefits of connections for careers/internships also apply. This is as much locally as it is nationally, and sometimes internationally. Throughout the process, I could tell which conversations were genuine, which were not, the vibes of the houses and girls and the overall personality. Some were filled with internationals, others with athletes, others with art lovers. I can truly say that you are bound to find your place, even if there are only [a few] on-campus sororities.”
The process of rushing or recruitment may, on first glance, appear like a frivolous social event based around exclusion and harassment, but in today’s reality, most sororities and fraternities aren’t like the archaic representations we see from the media. They can be a place of security and inclusion, where students can transition smoothly into campus life.