Want to be more involved?
Beginning on Sept. 21 the Interfraternity Council will host its fall recruitment, which will run until Saturday, Sept. 26, also known as Rush.
Rush is for men on campus who are currently not involved in a fraternity, have a GPA of 2.25 or better, and are enrolled as a full time student. Men must sign up online on the student activities page or visit the student activities office in the Lowman Student Center and there is a $20 event fee. The deadline to sign up will be Monday Sept. 21.
IFC oversees Rush, which gives students a chance to meet all 11 fraternities on campus so they can find the best fit for them. All five days are from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the LSC Ballroom. On Monday students signed up will meet at the LSC Ballroom and hear a brief presentation from Daniel Pawlowski, the IFC president, and then a brief presentation from each fraternity. Tuesday will be a fun day for Rush because IFC has planned a pool party for the guys to get a chance to hang out with everyone.
The rest of the week is more formal and one-on-one for the recruits and fraternity members to get to know each other.
Saturday is Bid Day, and the recruits find out which fraternity they have matched up with. Bid Day starts at 10 a.m. in Old Main Pit on campus. This will be the first year IFC will be having a DJ at Old Main Pit.
IFC expects anywhere from 300 to 500 guys to go through fall recruitment this year.
According to the Student Activities website, SHSU Greeks only make up for seven percent of the student population on campus, but there are many benefits to joining a Greek organization.
“One of the biggest benefits, even on campus, is networking,” said Matt Farris, the Recruitment chair for Pi Kappa Alpha.
When going through fraternity recruitment men should try to keep an open mind. Meet everyone, and give everyone a chance. Because if you are biased then you might miss out on an amazing fraternity that has more in common with you than you realized. Find similarities with the members you are meeting.
Pawlowski suggested that men “join something that not only benefits you, but something that can benefit from having you. It should be mutual.”
Both Farris and Pawlowski referred to “brotherhood,” which stands for something bigger than friendship in a fraternity.
“One of the best times in PKA was going to Memphis for a leadership convention and walking into the conference room and seeing 500 other guys in the same fraternity. At that point I realized it was a good decision to join because there were so many guys that stood for the same thing,” said Farris.
Fraternities participate in philanthropies, campus activities, and Greek activities hosted by SHSU. They motivate their members to do better in school and show commitment and teamwork the fraternity and to its members. “Being involved can make or break you because you are getting your name known and meeting people,” Pawlowski said. about the motivations from being Greek at SHSU.