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Question:
I go to a school with a rapidly growing Greek scene. However, we do not have Greek Housing currently. We have a large female population so rush is really centered on bringing guys out to parties at unofficial houses. We will not have a house next year as the school is cracking down on the party scene.
We are really worried that we won’t be able to get guys to come out to events because we all know that, although not the main function of a fraternity, partying is a plus. We are a midsized chapter that has only been around a few years. We number at around 25 and need a good fraternity rush this year. Please help!
Answer:
Once upon a time, Blockbuster was the king of movie rental. Every weekend, movie lovers would go to their local blockbuster and pick up their favorite flicks.
This is no longer the case today. Recently Netflix, Red Box, Apple TV, Pay Per View, streaming movies and others forced Blockbuster into bankruptcy.
And this has everything to do with your rush situation. Blockbuster tried to be successful using the same model they had used for years. However, they didn’t realize that times had changed and they would have to change too to be successful.
Your fraternity is facing the same situation. Like it or not, your fraternity recruitment situation has changed. You are no longer allowed to throw huge blowout bashes to recruit new members. You will have to innovate to survive.
So how do you innovate?
First, you have to determine what your fraternity is all about. Are you all about partying, or is your fraternity more than that? Do you develop leadership in your brothers? Are athletics important to you? How about academics?
Once you have a good handle about what your fraternity is all about, go find the men on your campus with similar interests. Become friends with them, and get to know their friends. Then, introduce them to your fraternity.
That is how successful chapters recruit. They do it by recruiting one man at a time by developing one on one relationships.
If half of your 25 brothers can buy into this concept and each of those brothers can recruit one new member then you will have a heck of a new member class this fall. If you can do it again in the spring, then your fraternity will double this year.
For more advice, check out my old articles on fraternity recruitment. There is a ton of info in there that will help you out. Also, check out my book The Fraternity Leader. I devote an entire chapter of the book on how to make Fraternity Recruitment easy.
There is a positive in this situation though. Every fraternity on your campus is probably dealing with the same issue. I bet that you are one of the few that realizes that the game has changed. Innovate first and use it to your advantage. This is how you get your fraternity to the next level and avoid the same fate as Blockbuster.
To learn more, check out our most in-depth article on fraternity recruitment: The Complete Guide to Fraternity Recruitment.
