With all the controversy surrounding Greek life, it’s no surprise that our own West Chester University is making changes to the traditional “rushing” that happens the first couple of weeks of the new semester. If you’re planning on joining a fraternity or sorority on campus, the best time to do it is now.
Many of the organizations are making spring rush available to students. A lot of current members post pictures and videos on social media advertising their respective fraternity/sorority.
These organizations hold events such as “Meet the Brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha” and “Meet the Sisters of Alpha Sigma Tau.” Attending these events are the first steps of rush and can be helpful for you in the long run. It is important to rush now because the rules/steps of rushing for both boys and girls will drastically change in Fall 2018.
Although not yet confirmed, many sororities and fraternities believe they will not have recruitment in the fall and all of those planning to rush must take a credited course at the university about Greek life. The point of pushing back fall recruitment to spring is to let freshmen get adjusted to the college lifestyle and get a full semester of grades and credits.
A lot of current Greek life members think the changes are a smart idea and support them, but some think the changes are unneeded. Many freshmen’s grades were not satisfactory after their first semester and many believed it was due directly to the rushing or “pledging” process. Many of the sororities don’t initiate their members until the end of October, and the fraternities initiate their members even later than that which means almost a whole two months of “pledging.”
Spring rush is a little different than traditional fall rush. In many of the Greek organizations’ cases, their spring rush is faster than the formal fall process. Something you see more common with sororities is a “Snap Bid,” which is an informal process where you reach out to a member and say you’re interested and then the members vote on whether to give you a “bid” for the organization or not. This requires almost no pledging and is a much easier process.
With the recent wave of changes implemented to different colleges’ Greek life around the country, it was no shock that West Chester would soon follow. Colleges that have recently altered or suspended their Greek life include Penn State University, University of Michigan, Florida State University, Ohio State University, West Virginia University and many more.
All of these universities were concerned for the safety of their students participating in Greek life and made changes accordingly. No drastic changes have been implemented yet, but this semester may be the last one students can participate in without expecting any changes. So, if you have been thinking about rushing for a fraternity or sorority, now is your time!
Carly Daley is a student a West Chester University. ✉️ CD865044@wcupa.edu.