A bench on campus has been chalked to encourage students to "Go Greek." (CU Independent/Ilana Finer)
The Fall Formal Rush Week is just around the corner for the 14 chapters belonging to the Interfraternity Council.
From October 1 to 10, the fraternities will hold events to promote their fraternity and accept new members. While each chapter may offer continuous recruitment and bidding year long, the fall rush event allows all the fraternities to organize for one big recruitment event.
Rush Week accounts for about 75 percent of all new recruits.
Rush Week takes place over ten days and opens with a Meet and Greet at Farrand Field on Thursday, Oct. 1. Bus tours are available Oct. 2 to visit and walk through each house. Open houses on Oct. 3 will be held so potential members can view specific chapters for longer periods of time. This is the first time open houses will take place during the daytime.
“Due to the lateness and the workload of freshman classes and midterms coming up, [the IFC] wanted to give the potential members plenty of time to study,” said CU Greek Advocate Marc D. Stine.
The rush ends with Bid Day on Oct. 10 at 12 p.m. in Chem. 140. Recruits will receive their bids and then partake in the introduction ceremony on the terrace.
“At the introduction the new members’ first fraternity event as a member will be being cheered on by their new brothers, it’s a big community kind of event,” Stine said.
During last year’s Fall Formal Rush Week, 398 new members accepted bids on Bid Day, including 85 members who received bids prior to rush.
All bids are good for up to two weeks to allow more time to make a decision as many receive two fraternity bids.
In order to accept a bid on Bid Day potential candidates must be registered on the Interfraternity Council Web site by the end of Fall Formal Rush Week. Over 350 have registered already.
On Sunday all new members and officials are required to attend a ninety-minute session called Greek 101 to explain all the expectations on issues such as alcohol poisoning and sexual harassment.
Despite the common myths of non-stop parties, fraternities have a strong focus on academics. To assist members with education, the houses offer study halls, tutoring programs, and most have GPA requirements specific to each fraternity.
“The fraternities consistently have higher GPAs than the average male undergrad,” Stine said. “This indicates a positive academic influence.”
Fraternities are also very involved with the community and hold annual fundraisers and events for their chosen philanthropies.
Pi Kappa Phi, for example, takes part in the PUSH event called Journey of Hope where members ride bikes across the country to raise awareness and money for people with disabilities. Boulder’s chapter has participated in the event since 1992.
More locally is Sigma Pi’s Miss Greek Pageant, which raised over $60,000 for the Clinica Family Health Services and the Denver Tennyson Center for Children.
“There is a long list of advantages for being in fraternities, the most important is what we call brotherhood,” Stine said. “Many are overwhelmed by size and have problems finding their group. Research has been done and shows a greater chance of success at large institutions if people find small groups they can bond with. Some find it with journalism or band or sports, some find it with fraternities.”
Some are also hoping to share the brotherhood experience like 18-year-old open-option majors Taylor Herda and Sam Creamer.
“I think it’s cool how they build close bonds between the guys and how you can be a part of their history,” Herda said. “[I also like how they] are really involved in the community, which is really cool.”
Some students even know what fraternity they hope to join.
“It looks like a lot of fun, like a brotherhood and they do a lot of sports,” Creamer said. “I’m thinking of joining Kappa Sigma.”
Contact CU Independent. Staff Writer Rose Heaphy at Josephine.Heaphy@colorado.edu.
