So I've been in the beautiful city of Fayetteville for almost a week now. I've spent my time meeting with the colony members, PNMs, and campus leaders. I've always been fascinated by how Greek Communities differ between campuses. Below are a couple interesting facts I've found:
- Chapters down here are HUGE. Sorority rush just finished up and almost all of the the chapters have over 100 new members. The largest fraternity, Kappa Sigma, is well over 200 men.
- However, the reason for that is they have fewer chapters. Arkansas has 13 IFC chapters and 8 NPC sororities as opposed to 31 fraternities and 16 sororities at Michigan
- Fraternities down here actually have "formal rush" similar to sororities. Groups of PNM's are lead from chapter house to chapter house and as the rounds press on, more and more people are cut.
- At the end of fraternity recruitment, PNM's pick up an envelope with only one bid in it based on mutual selection
- Much of fraternity recruitment is done over the summer. Chapters hold large events in large feeder areas (Fort Smith, Little Rock and Dallas). Some guys are committed to joining before they even step onto campus.
- The alumni support for our colony is incredible. There is a group of local alumni that attend every colony meeting. Its unlike anything I've experienced. I also have a meeting with Skip Rutherford, who is the Dean of the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock.
- Having a house owned by the University is an interesting situation. We have a Graduate Assistant that acts like an RA, minus the "community programming". Also during move-in I had to fill out the same kinds of forms I did when I first moved into Bursley.
- The amount of guys who know coming into school that they want to rush is much higher than I'm used to.
- Girls planning on rushing actually move-in early and rush takes place the week before classes start. The girls know where they got bids to before they go to their first class. I think this makes a lot of sense as opposed to monopolizing the first 2.5 weeks of class.
Just thought some of you might like to know. Comments Welcome
Awesome stuff Alex! Another blog for my Google Reader.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if you can give any insights to how similar/dissimilar IFC is there compared to at Michigan. Especially in regards to recruitment, social policy, and the council is structured.
Can't wait to read more!