Going greek at Southern Methodist University is a huge part of the culture, yet forgoing the tradition is acceptable according to some upperclassmen. Both freshman and upperclassmen can become greek on campus and it isn’t as stressful as most freshmen may see it. Walking around campus you may have overheard the fear some freshmen have about potentially becoming greek.
There was a full house on Tuesday evening September 2nd at the Panhellenic meeting for freshmen who are considering joining a sorority. The future Rho Gammas (or recruitment advisors) described the recruitment process.
Recruitment begins with registering online with smugreeks.com or panhellenicfacebook.com. The sorority ladies advised that you “find a photo that is representative of yourself, not glamour shots.” Contrary to popular belief, letters of recommendation are not required, although they are helpful for sororities to get to know more about you.
Rush-ees must arrive on campus on January 14, 2009 in order to attend the first required meeting in order to be able to go through Rush. The Rho Gammas were able to loosen up the serious-faced freshmen girls by performing “How to Join a Sorority Without Even Trying,” which encompassed several tips for girls on how to behave during Rush and the first semester before it. The performance advised freshmen to get to know the sorority girls by becoming involved on campus, don’t be “that” girl, be yourself and don’t follow your friends, and “success in recruitment begins with success in the classroom.”
If going greek wasn’t appealing to you during your freshman year, it’s never too late to join. A meeting was held for upperclassmen interested in becoming greek at Hughes-Trigg on Wednesday evening Sept. 3. The options are either to follow traditional recruitment or to do the open process. Most sophomore and juniors opt to do COB (continuous open bidding) instead of traditional recruitment. During informal recruitment, the upperclassmen ask the active members as many questions as they want and decide if they get along, and if they do, the member extends a bid and “it’s a done deal and they jump right into it,” Lindy Rothschild said.
Regarding informal recruitments, Rothschild said, “It’s a different game…you don’t have to meet the girls in the 20 minutes that you usually have for formal recruitment and you have plenty of time to get to know the girls.” So if you’re an upperclassman, the choice is yours: traditional recruitment or the open process which only includes spots in five different chapters.
As far as recruitment goes for guys in fraternities, “guys don’t have to do anything, just meet guys and be cool,” as senior Andrew Shaddock put it. Far less demanding than that of the recruitment process for sororities, fraternities are a bit informal. Most fraternity members would say Rush was fun and the older guys are “really nice and drive you places,” among other things.
One of the pros of going greek for guys is that you have a big group of best friends and you feel like you belong somewhere. “You can’t really do it again,” Shaddock said. Living in the fraternity house is common among sophomores at SMU and “living in the house was really fun…you can’t ever live next door to all your best friends ever again,” Shaddock said.
As far as tips go for freshmen guys seeking to be in a fraternity Shaddock says, “be yourself. Don’t be someone you’re not. Find your niche and find guys that are like you. Definitely do it.”
If you opt to forgo the greek life tradition here on campus, you will still have friends. If you don’t like rush, you have more chances to try it out again. By not being in a sorority, you might miss out on the sorority activities, but your social life still exists. Going greek is a personal choice; a lot of girls go through rush, and a lot drop out. Both guys and girls who aren’t greek agreed that greek life is a major part of the culture here at SMU, but it is ok not to be.
