“Rush” can be defined as the process where sororities and fraternities meet potential new members and assess whether they would fit into their specific organization, so why is it that LMU refers to this process as “recruitment”? As February is beginning, many LMU students went through the recruitment process and have found their forever home in one of the sororities, but what many of the new members aren’t aware of is why we call the process recruitment over rush.
With the help of film and television, Greek Life has been stereotyped and even to some extent adopted the reputations portrayed through the media. This is partially due to the term rush and what is accompanied with the name. The repeated trope of Greek Life organizations is hazing the pledges. Although there are still sororities and fraternities across the nation that still haze, more and more universities are advocating for a Greek Life without hazing.
Sororities and fraternities can be associated with essentially bullying in order to be accepted within that organization, which as a result gives Greek Life a negative, exclusive brand that in today’s society many students will stray from. However, the core of a great organization is one where you can feel to be yourself with a group of people that you bond with. Fortunately, in this new day and age many sororities and fraternities in universities throughout the country are trying to rectify the situation.
In fact, at LMU sororities and the Panhellenic council refuse to call the process rush and have made a decision to change rush into recruitment. This is mostly due to the fact that Rush has the negative association with hazing and other stereotypical greek life styles.
Many women in college specifically avoid recruitment because of the horror stories that are associated with joining a sorority. However, many people at LMU speak out during National Hazing Prevention Week, which typically falls in September. During this week, many college students come together to acknowledge that hazing is a national issue that unfortunately occurs in universities in the US.
The purpose National Hazing Prevention Week is to spread awareness and inform others of the issues that pertain to us and other college students. At the end of the day, we as students have to do more because it is not enough to stop hazing in specific organizations. It is imperative that we stop these actions, and go further and speak up using a platform such as this one instead of just dismissing the issues.