Greek rush numbers on the rise

A record-breaking number of USC students registered for this year’s sorority and fraternity fall recruitment, according to the Interfraternity and Panhellenic councils.

What a rush · Greek members relax at a the Tri-Delt sorority welcome back barbecue Thursday afternoon. Fraternities and sororities saw record rush numbers this year. - Jessica Granger | Daily Trojan

Almost 1,000 students — 977 — registered for fraternity rush and the 23 fraternities gave out a record number of bids with 476, said Parker Adams, IFC vice president for public relations.

The Panhellenic Council also saw an increase, with about 960 girls registered for sorority recruitment and about 700 girls receiving bids, according to Panhellenic President Laura Redfern.

Alex Bozzo, IFC vice president of recruitment, credited IFC’s new approach to marketing the Greek system to students as the reason behind the increase.

“The type of student USC is attracting is changing and frats have to change how they market themselves,” Bozzo said. “We noticed we’re getting a lot of kids who are first-generation college students whose parents may not be familiar with the Greek system.”

IFC recruitment lasted for one week while Panhellenic’s rush was only five days long.

“As a guy you have to have a more proactive approach to rush and really go out and search for yourself and not just fall into a house,” Adams said.  “The way our rush is structured we really give [potential new members] the freedom to find which house is right for them.”

The rush process for the 10 sororities on The Row is more formal than for fraternities, Redfern said, and not as representative of the Greek system as she would like.

“I definitely think that girls’ recruitment is not the most genuine display of the girls in the house because everything is so staged. It truly is a superficial introduction into a sorority,” Redfern said.  “Thank goodness it’s only five days long, because then after that [the new members] get to really know the girls’ personalities in the house.”

Though Redfern said that “rush is like a circus,” she said she believes the formal structure is the most efficient way to handle recruitment.

“We have to have it so organized and staged because that’s the nature of girls,” Redfern said.  “It wouldn’t be fair if it were as informal as the guys’ recruitment because there would be too much dirty rushing.”

Adams said that the informal process of IFC rush makes it more genuine.

“I like how real our rush is and the guys that are doing it really genuinely want to share their college experiences and their houses with [the rushees],” Adams said. “I know girls make up sentimental stories for rush, but we make it in a way so that rush basically can’t be fake.”

IFC is also hosting a secondary rush event Friday for students who might not have been offered a bid or who did not like the bid they were given.