Starting on Feb. 3, the Hillsdale College fraternities instituted a new rush system. Each rush period will last the entirety of the semester.
The Inter-Fraternity Council agreed that a semester-long rush period allows fraternities flexibility in distributing bids and extends time for potential new members to familiarize themselves with members of the house.
“It works well for everyone in that regard,” said Vice President of Alpha Tau Omega Ian Atherton. “This is ATO’s baby.”
In 2012, former Alpha Tau Omega president Cody Eldridge presented the idea of an extended bid window that was later solidified by current president Sam Salasky earlier this semester.
“We like to spend a lot of time with the guys who are actually committed,” Atherton said. “We want to make sure that they are fully committed and that we are fully committed.”
IFC representative from Sigma Chi, Gregg Coughlin, appreciates the flexibility of the new system, even though his house will remain unaffected.
“Our pledge process is pretty set in stone,” Coughlin said. “It doesn’t affect Sigma Chi. If other houses want to do other things, they should be able to.”
Although the extended rush system has little effect on Sigma Chi, the three remaining houses have found advantages in the new system.
According to Atherton, Alpha Tau Omega plans to hold two initiations in the upcoming semester. This allows the certain new members to join quickly, while hesitant new members have time to make a decision.
“Personally, I think it’s good because of the extra freedom we’re given,” said Dylan Hoover, the Delta Tau Delta new member educator. “We can more actively go and find guys that otherwise wouldn’t consider rushing the entire Greek system in the first place, and I don’t see a way that this hurts
the Greek system.”
But even with the time flexibility, Delta Tau Delta Recruitment Chair Rossteen Salehzadeh finds some shortcomings in the system.
“You have to be either patient or really commit early on,” Salehzadeh said.
Delta Tau Delta plans to hold one initiation in the upcoming semester. Salehzadeh said that his fraternity will execute a hybrid of the rush system use from the past two semesters, employing a four-week-long rush window.
The extra flexibility will allow Delta Tau Delta several rounds of bid extension, formally known as continuous open bidding, but the fraternity plans to remain with the month-long rush window.
“The cut-off date is self-imposed, but there is a contingency plan in place if we really want to give someone a bid,” Salehzadeh said.
Before this semester, spring recruitment required potential new members to spend time at every fraternity before accepting a bid offer. The semester-long recruitment period no longer requires rushee exposure to every house. Salehzadeh said this was an advantage of the old system and limits both the fraternity and potential new member.
The decision to extend the pledge window through the Inter-Fraternity Council was made only by students without administrative influence. Although the decision required the dean’s approval, Coughlin appreciates that the decision was student-led, allowing freedom to the fraternity system and to the rushees.
“I love this system, personally,” Salehzadeh said. “None of it goes through Central Hall. We give the bids. There are few players in the game.”
