Fraternity bid day 2012
By Rachel Smedley
High Point University fraternity recruitment finished up on Jan. 28, ending a week of serious male bonding time.
The boys began rush week much the same as the ladies, starting on Monday night with meet and greets at every frat house. However, this is where many of the similarities between sorority and fraternity recruitment ended.
“I feel like it’s a whole lot more relaxed, with a lot less structure to it. It also gives you a little more freedom, like if you have an idea of what fraternity you might fit into,” said Davis Whitmere, a new Kappa Sigma pledge, about rush. “You have the opportunity to spend more time with that group of guys.”
The following four days provided flexibility in which houses the boys visited, allowing for as much time as they wanted to be spent with a particular fraternity.
On Thursday night, the house meetings became invite-only and then on Friday, the brothers hosted off-campus activities to really get to know their future members outside of the more formal atmosphere of recruitment.
Some fraternities went bowling, others went out to eat, but the overall goal was for the recruits to relax and get to see their future brothers in their natural element and how they interacted with each other. Finally, on Saturday, bid day arrived.
For anyone who witnessed the sorority bid day, the fraternity equivalent was much more relaxed. Void of any balloons or sorority chants, the gentlemen met in the Greek conference center, taking their seats in a large circle around the conference center.
This was made possible by the fact that while over five hundred girls rushed this spring, just over 200 males turned out for fraternity recruitment, allowing for a more private venue.
Beginning with the highest GPA fraternity, a representative stood in the center of the circle and called out the names of their selected potential new members, shaking their hand and giving them their certificate and t-shirt.
They took their seats again in the circle until every name had been called. Once every recruit was proudly donning the name of their new fraternity, they were all ordered outside where they ran into the crowd of brothers waiting just outside. In a sort of frenzied celebration, the guys joined their frats, yelling and jumping up and down.
“I’m still only a pledge, but I can definitely see, with the experience that I’ve had with the guys so far, what they mean when they’re talking about brotherhood. It’s exactly like a family, there’s definitely a strong bond here.”
Over the next few weeks, as pledge classes from both sororities and fraternities settle in with their new sisters and brothers, this bond is only expected to grow and there are sure to be some great experiences to come for these new members and their Greek families.