Rush Is Hard Work For All

Excited new members of Alpha Omicron Pi on bid day

Every fall, freshman and sophomore girls that are interested in joining sororities participate in a week long event called Rush. The girls, known to active members of the sororities as Potential New Members (PNMs), are introduced to every house on campus and decide which one they like the most. However, a PNM may like a house, but the active members may not feel that is the right fit for them. Rush is a very overwhelming experience for many girls because they are introduced to so many new people and they have a really big decision to make that will affect their 4 years at the University of Mississippi. It is also a big event for the active members. Little do most people know, they work months in advance for this week. Starting in the spring months, such as March and April, the newest members of the chapter are required to attend Rush practices.

Jackie Taggart, an active member of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, said that they started their Rush practices in March. She said that they usually last about an hour long and they talk about how to approach PNMs. There are many rules that the Panhellic council sets out that active members must abide by. They cannot ride in a car or hang out one on one with PNMs between the months of June until the week after Rush. This is to make sure that there is no “dirty rushing.” Which means that an active member tries to convince a PNM to go their sorority another time other than Rush week. These rules are enforced so all PNMs have an equal chance of picking a sorority.

Ginger Baldwin, an active member of the sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, feels that the practices before summertime are unnecessary. That over the summertime the information that they learned will more than likely be forgotten so it is a waste of time when they could be studying. Many other sorority girls feel this way too because all of the sororities hold a Rush workshop the week before school starts. The sophomore girls are required to come back to Oxford a week early and everyday from 9 to 5 they are trained on the appropriate way to rush PNMs. They also go into full detail about each night of Rush.

The first two nights are philanthropy round which is where are PNMs going to all 9 houses and learn about what each sorority does to help out the community. The third night, the PNMs narrow down 6 houses and go to each one to watch a skit the chapter puts on to help talk about what their sorority is all about. The fourth night is very personal, preference round. All PNMs go back to their final 3 houses and the active members give intimate testimonials about how much their sorority means to them and talk about sisterhood. Then after that the PNMs place the sororities in ranking order. The first choice being the house they want the most and the last one being the house they didn’t quite as like as the first two. This is a stressful decisions for many PNMs.

The final day is bid day! All the PNMs meet in the circle by the Lyceum and are given an envelop with a bid card inside it. After they open them up, they run to their new home! Its a great experience for many girls and on bid day, both the active members and the now new members breathe a sigh of relief from all the hard work they put into for one week.

http://www.olemiss.edu/orgs/panhellenic/Ole_Miss_Panhellenic_Council/Welcome.html

http://dos.olemiss.edu/greek/

By Devin Savage