Men's fall rush begins

Students hoping to join a fraternity this fall will be taking part in the 2001 Interfraternity Council Men's Fall Formal Rush, which begins today with the Greek Kickoff in Dunn Meadow.\nThe kickoff, held from 4 to 7 p.m., gives interested men the opportunity to speak with members from each chapter, to provide information and to answer questions.\nTo participate in formal rush, men must attend the event.\nFraternities give students the opportunity to get their foot in the door, to get involved on campus, and above all, to meet a lot of people, said Adam Skaggs, IFC's vice president for campus relations.\n"The key is lifelong friendships," Skaggs said. "You come here and join a fraternity and you meet people you'll be friends with for the rest of your life."\nEach chapter will have members present to answer questions and tell rushees why they decided to go greek.\nStudents will meet their Rush Counselors at 10 a.m. Saturday, preceding the start of chapter visitations for the next two days.\nDuring chapter visitations, the men are divided into groups of 20-30. Led by a Rush Counselor, the men visit and spend about 15-20 minutes at each house. \n"During the visitations, members will ... tell the (rushees) what they are all about," said junior Sean Carroll, a member of Delta Chi fraternity.\nAfter rushees make their official visits, fraternity members take names and give bids a few weeks following. Typically, a fraternity gives out 30-40 bids, with a return and acceptance rate of between 20 and 30 new members.\n"If you want to be in a house, you are usually able to find one that you like and that likes you," Carroll said."\nRush is the term fraternities use for the process of recruiting new members to join their brotherhood.\nA record number of more than 1,000 men participated in Greek Kickoff last year, attributed to the added advertising, direct mailers and a new rush Web site, gogreek.indiana.edu.\nIf it rains, the Kickoff will be held in "The Commons" of the Indiana Memorial Union, though rush tours will continue rain or shine.\nBecause this year's event conflicts with the Hillel Center's annual Sundown Shabbat at 5:30 p.m., IFC added an hour to the beginning of the Kickoff to give Jewish students a chance to go to both events.\n"We realized our event put pressure on Jewish students to choose between our Kickoff and Hillel's (event), and since students can come and go as they please from the Kickoff, this should allow students interested in attending both to do so," said senior Mike Fenstermacher, IFC's vice president of rush.\nThe ultimate goal of rush is for each rushee to find a good fit, Fenstermacher said.\n"Each chapter offers its own unique blend of interests and characteristics," Fenstermacher said. "If a rushee is dedicated to finding a fraternity they are comfortable being a part of, I have no doubt they will succeed."\nFenstermacher said the key for rushees is to know what they want from fraternity life, and make sure they find it.