At Sigma Phi Epsilon, one of the largest fraternities on campus, between 80 and 90 students are expected to rush this winter. Down the road, at Sigma Nu, one of the smaller Greek houses, roughly 25 will seek a bid from the house.
It may seem that with their lower recruitment numbers, smaller Greek houses would be hit hardest by a controversial new policy which forbids Greek organizations from offering bids to students before their sophomore winter.
But at the onset of this year's rush season, both small and large Greek houses will face similar issues. Nonetheless, many smaller houses are also experiencing an increased interest in rush in comparison to past years.
With one less term to recruit and one less term of rent revenue, winter rush can place significant dampers on multiple sides of Greek life.
"The fact that a lot less people are part of the house creates a huge financial burden, for either a big or small house," David Turnbull '04, vice-president of the Interfraternity Council and recruitment chair for Sigma Phi Epsilon said. "Especially for the smaller houses, programming can suffer. We're talking about the things that make a fraternity what it is."
At La Unidad Latina, Lambda Upsilon Lambda Fraternity Inc., which started at Dartmouth in 1998 and currently has only three members, Dartmouth's winter-rush based system has had a profound impact. LUL's national organization allows potential brothers to be initiated after one term on campus as a freshman, coming into direct conflict with Dartmouth's policy.
Yovany Jerez '03, the oldest brother in the house, added that LUL does not implement a formal "recruitment" process like other houses. In order to maintain a small, close-knit group, and ensure that it has only extremely committed members, LUL relies on each potential member to approach a member and inquire about the fraternity.
"With our fraternity, you're making a considerable lifetime commitment. For me to go out and try to sell this to someone is the wrong idea entirely," Jerez said.
"I might be a good salesman and convince you to join at that particular moment in your life, but it probably won't stick -- it's not how you attract committed members. We want to make sure that whoever's interested genuinely has a solid interest."
Jerez, who was the sole member of the fraternity for five terms from summer 2001 until spring 2002, felt that the idea of winter rush effectively lumps all the diverse types of Greek houses into one category without addressing the specific needs of each.
"We don't find this policy fair," Jerez said. "We are a different type of organization. I feel like it's one of those policies that's very good at pigeonholing people into one set of universal rules."
As a result of winter rush, houses lose one term of rent from the up-and-coming class during fall term. This phenomenon, paired with juniors frequently spending terms outside of Hanover, can cause potential difficulties filling a house and collecting adequate rent. Sometimes in the event of a house not being able to fill their space with members, said that a house may also consider looking to non-members to rent space, Co-Ed Council president Jason Pavel '04 said.
"What we did see from the recent move to winter term was some houses struggling with actually physically filling their house," Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deborah Carney said. "They did not have the rent-paying members they usually would during Fall term. We found that those organizations with mostly seniors fared much better."
At smaller fraternities like Sigma Nu, where typically 20 to 30 students look to secure one of 15-20 bids issued each year, recruitment chair Brian Lehrman '03 said that regulating house finances and working toward a full house does continue to be difficult. This year, 19 men attended the first night of rush there, 11 of which were guaranteed bids afterwards.
In comparison, Turnbull said that his house, Sig Ep, one of the largest houses on campus, generally has 80-90 students vying for roughly 60 bids.
But Lehrman added that through careful management, the house has been able to function extremely well.
"We may not be one of the largest frats, but through good financial management we do fine," Lehrman said. "We always make an effort to fill the house. The house was almost full in the fall and with such a viable group of new members, we would like to see a slightly larger class coming up."
"The more members an organization has, the more ability it has to gain income, to get extra money from dues and leadership," Carney said.
"Each organization is different, has different needs. Some do very well with smaller numbers, some have excellent financial resources, and then, there are others who don't."
With one less term during the sophomore year to recruit, some wonder whether rushing before the Winter term, otherwise known as "dirty rushing," may occur. But most groups insist that several precautions are in place to avoid such practices.
"We have talked about preventative measures among the houses, discussing different ways to avoid letting it happen," Turnbull said. "I can see that with winter rush now, there could potentially be a temptation to dirty rush, but so far the IFC has not dealt with any cases."
In the co-ed houses, recruitment numbers are usually even smaller, but members assert that they want to remain small. Members of smaller houses also see the benefit in having the ability to house all or most members at any given time.
"I think that naturally a smaller house can have potential to offer a tighter brotherhood," said Fenton McCarthy '04, a member of Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity, which has 25 members. "Everyone can live in the house if they want -- to me that's a huge advantage."
At Phi Tau, a co-ed house, rush chair Kristin Foery '04 said that this year, six people have already signed the house's rush book. In recent years, a regular rush class may range from two to five people.
"We want it to be a small, close house," Foery said. "A large part of the concept is knowing each other well. There will never be a situation where you run into someone wearing a Phi Tau shirt on campus and you won't know who they are."
As there is no set recruitment policy for the co-eds, each house conducts rush in a somewhat different fashion. Phi Tau uses rolling rush to admit new brothers, where people can ask for a bid as early as sophomore winter or delay it until much later. Foery said that there are a number of students who ask for bids outside of the standard winter rush quarter at Phi Tau.
At Tabard, another one of the three co-eds, an open-bidding process is used. According to Pavel, if a student rushes at Tabard, they are going to receive a bid. And Alpha Theta implements a process more similar to the traditional fraternity method.
Members of Phi Tau feel that rolling rush helps to create a more relaxed process, and they also hope it makes joining the house more convenient. When Phi Tau extends a bid to someone, the bid is good for that student's entire undergraduate career. Some sink the bid the next day, others wait a year or longer.
Phi Taus, like members of some other houses, claim that it is less likely for someone to rush the house if they haven't already spent a significant amount of time there. Turnbull said that at Sig Ep, while visiting before rush may be advantageous in meeting more members, the house continues to make an effort to make anyone who comes in the door feel as comfortable as possible.
"We're not a house that people casually join," Foery said. "People tend to hang out here for a month or longer before asking for a bid. Since it's a small brotherhood, about half the people in the room during delibs need to feel like they know you well enough."