Rush brings forth a week of avoidance, frustration and confusion. Rules and boundaries are placed upon sororities and rushees, one of which is the limited conversation that has been in effect all week. Sorority members are told that speaking with rushees, besides a courteous hello, is unaccepted and if this limited conversation rule is broken, consequences are to follow.
Some sorority members are afraid of exactly what they can and cannot say to a rushee, so they avoid them all together.
Rushees are confused, not understanding why the same people that want them to join their organization are ignoring them.
The purpose of limited conversation is to avoid putting pressure on or bribing the rushees to join a certain sorority. Shouldn’t sororities have a little more faith in the Greek system and their fellow Greeks? And what kind of women are joining sororities if they are so easily bribed and influenced? Most people should have more faith in rushees to know the difference between true sincerity and being bought.
The fraternities on this campus are not forced to have limited conversation, which seems to make more sense. Sororities hope to have these women join their organization, but the rushees are not allowed to get to know them beforehand. Yes, rush provides an open house, theme night and preference night, but do these three nights, consisting of a total of about two and a half hours, allow enough time for these women to decide who they want to be life-long sisters with?
Rush allows rushees to learn about the sorority in general; the history, its foundation, beliefs and what is expected once a person joins. Aside from that, when do they get to know the sorority members? How much can they possibly learn about 20 to 30 girls in that amount of time?
Although one can drop out during pledging, that person is held accountable and is not allowed to rush for an entire year. So, for example, a women decides to pledge a sorority after a week of rush and then realizes during pledging that this is not the organization best suited for her, or these are not the type of people she feels most comfortable with. She is, in a sense, punished for this. Would it not make more sense for this women to be able to find out as much as she can about the sorority and its members before making this mistake?
Limited conversation defeats its initial purpose and instead causes sororities to turn against each other. Rather than any sort of camaraderie between the sororities, it seems that each is on the look out to rat on the other one, or catch them breaking a rule.
Oftentimes, a situation arises where a rushee and an active sorority member are friends, or even roommates. This poses the question of whether limited conversation is necessary or even plausible. It makes no sense that during this week, actives and rushees that are friends must not speak with or “hang out” with each other.
Melissa Jaunal, coordinator of student programs, said that limited conversation is “beneficial because women that are going through rush are not under pressure from sorority women, but it is also seen as a detriment because it is too superficial.”
It seems that rush is becoming too much of a judicial debate rather than what it is supposed to be- fun. Sororities are worrying about rushing not being fair to the rushees or the actives due to bribery, but it is even more unfair limiting conversation.
Jennifer Parsons, a sophomore journalism major, is arts and entertainment editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at parsonsj@ulv.edu.
