Fraternity rush begins 7 p.m. Saturday night and continues through Sunday and Monday evenings, in contrast to sorority rush's more-involved weeklong process that started on Tuesday.
Rush lasts two hours each of the three nights, and prospective fraternity members can visit as many houses as they want during this period. After the first two nights men can "shake out," during which prospective members line up outside the house and shake hands with brothers, signifying an extremely strong, but nonbinding interest in the house.
Fraternities carry out deliberations immediately after rush and hand out bids on Saturday and Sunday nights. Prospective members who do not receive a bid after the first two nights may be called back on Monday night to get another chance to talk with brothers, though this is not guaranteed.
Rushees may sign their bid cards at any point after receiving them, affirming a commitment to join the house.
Interfraternity Council President Alex Lentz '07 described the fraternity rush process as more "streamlined" -- both faster and easier -- than the sorority rush process, attributing that to better knowledge of fraternities by prospective members.
"I think given the nature of the sorority system here, where not all houses host social events, they need to have a process that's a little bit more complicated," Lentz said. "Since IFC houses open themselves up to the campus more, we have the luxury of a system like this where we can accomplish everything we need to in three days."
Lentz added that IFC rush remained essentially unchanged this year, and he said that he anticipated that the number of men rushing this year will remain constant or increase over last year's numbers. He attributed this to IFC efforts such as information sessions, recruitment events and IFC-sponsored barbecues held at numerous houses. Lentz said that the IFC also sent a list of frequently-asked questions to all the men of the Class of 2009 describing terms like "bids" and "shaking out."
"We were even able to reach out to people who didn't make it to barbecues or information sessions," Lentz said.
A strong, growing Greek system will also contribute to a large turnout for rush this weekend, according to Lentz.
Lentz said that he did not believe rush would be affected by the number of houses on social probation.
"I think houses have done a good job, even if their social spaces have been closed, of reaching out to prospective members, and I think by this time most prospective members have a good idea of where they're going, so in my mind the fact that there are several houses that are on social probation is of little impact," Lentz said.
The IFC will send men of the Class of 2009 a BlitzMail survey a week or so after rush, according to Lentz, in an effort to evaluate the process. Lentz said that the IFC is interested in seeking responses from those who did and did not join houses to improve rush for future years.
