Trashing cars with sledge hammers and taking trips to thebatting cages are just two things Ball State fraternities are doingto recruit new members this week. Fraternities and sororities aresponsoring a number of events to find new members and to educatepotential members about each chapter.
The fraternity events are a way for members and potentialmembers to get to know each other, Ray Hart, recruitment chair forTheta Chi, said.
"A lot of freshmen come to school thinking, 'I'm gonna join afrat and be drunk 24 hours a day' and it's not like that at all,"Justin Zukowski, recruitment chair for Phi Delta Theta, said.
While Hart acknowledged that fraternities have parties, he saidparties are a perk that come from brotherhood, not the purposebehind it.
There are many misconceptions about greek life because of how itis portrayed on television and in movies but people should maketheir own judgments through experience, Wayne Williams, recruitmentchair for Sigma Nu, said.
"Stereotypes come from people that aren't in the organization.[Recruits] should stick with the impression they receive . . . andnot from what they hear from other people," Jackie Ruzich, vicepresident recruitment for Panhellenic Council, said.
Each day this week fraternities are organizing differentactivities at the individual houses. This allows the brothers andpotential members to get to know each other, Hart said. While eachchapter has different philanthropic interests, it's the people thatmake each fraternity different, he said.
Each fraternity will begin extending bids, offers to join theorganization, to potential members on Thursday. Men that accepttheir bids are then given a chapter pin and begin the associatemember, or pledge, stage of recruitment, Zukowski said.
The associate member stage is a six to eight week process wherepledges learn the history of the fraternity, make sure their gradesmeet the cut-off and learn about the philanthropy. After this stageis complete, the men become full brothers.
Sorority recruitment is much more formal and structured, Ruzichsaid. The first part of the process is First Rounds, starting todayand ending Wednesday.
All potential sorority members will spend 20 minutes at each ofthe 11 Panhellenic sororities and then rank which sororities theylike best. The sororities rank the potential members as well.
Second Rounds is Thursday and Friday. The Panhellenic Councillooks at the rankings and matches each potential member with up toseven sororities that they will meet with for 50 minutes each.After Second Rounds, the women rank the seven sororities and theseven sororities rank them.
Saturday is Preference Rounds. Potential sorority members willvisit with three sororities for 50 minutes each to get the finalimpressions. Potential members receive their bid from a sorority onSunday.
"It's so overwhelming," Ruzich said, "but it's a chance to meeteveryone." Spending time with every sorority makes the recruitmentprocess more fair, Ruzich said. "Stick with the process. In the endit really does all work out for them."
Whether joining a fraternity or sorority, Hart said they key tobeing happy within the organization is not having predeterminedjudgements.
"Be very open-minded," Hart said. "Go out there, shake handswith everyone and talk to everyone. If you're closed-minded to whatyou're looking for you'll never find it."
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