Most freshman males interviewed by The Dartmouth said the recent changes to the Inter-Fraternity Council guidelines, which sets a mininum requirement for bid allotment, will have little bearing on the number of houses they choose to rush.
The newly instituted clauses include formalizing old procedures and collecting data to track rushees and the bids they receive.
The IFC's rush policy strongly encourages all males to rush at least four houses, and guarantees the vast majority of rushees will receive a bid from at least one house.
Chad Silverman '02 said the guidelines "won't affect how I choose to rush or pledge," and said he was not afraid to rush just because he might not receive a bid.
Many male freshman echoed a similar sentiment that the guidelines would not have much influence on their decision whether or not to rush.
"I don't think it's going to change [students'] opinion. They are just guidelines. There are guidelines for everything, but not too many people adhere to all the guidelines," said prospective rushee Jonathan Arbeit '02.
Eric Powers '02, a probable rushee, said the guidelines will help rushees who did not have a house in mind by determining which house wants them.
"I don't think the guidelines will change anything about my particular rush process, but I do think it will affect a good number of the people who plan to rush," he said.
Many of the freshman said potential prohibitive factors against rushing include the time it takes to rush the suggested total of four houses, which is a relatively high number.
"I don't know if I would want to rush four unless it was required or they said they could guarantee a bid if you did. I'd want to rush a maximum of three," Arbeit said.
"I'm more inclined to rush the houses I'm familiar with, and I'd rush two or three at the most. Four is spreading yourself too thin," Silverman said.
As a result of already narrowing his choices, Powers said he has no need to rush four houses and was not too worried about not getting a bid.
Nate Swift '02 said he thought a system of guaranteeing at least one bid from four houses "is a good way to do it."
The guidelines also establish a minimum percentage for the number of bids given out by each fraternity to eliminate discrimination in the size of an incoming rush class based on the preceding class size.
By tracking the number of students in different classes rushing and receiving bids, the IFC hopes to determine the nature of the bidding system, and adjust it if results indicate exclusivity, IFC President Hondo Roysircar Sen '00 told The Dartmouth in a May 20 interview.
A detailed plan was drafted to establish a quota of bids if the rush class is greater than 40 percent of the brotherhood of the spring prior to fall term rush, then the fraternity must dole out bids equaling at least one-third of the spring brotherhood.
