Sewanee rush and pledgeship can be confusing when you’re going through it– the process and all the lingo… So, we’re here to clear up some of that confusion. Here’s our rush and pledgeship dictionary, complete with a rundown of each step of the processs.
Check out our profiles on all of Sewanee’s sororities and 10 tips for Sewanee rush.
And, submit any questions you have, here.
Rush is a week, but, technically, is only two days of actual events for rushees to attend. There are formal house visits on Sunday, January 19, where you and a group of your fellow rushees will visit every sorority. During Formal house, there is always great food, some time for conversation, and then each organization will provide some sort of entertainment, usually skits, songs, or games. After Formal House, there are Return House Visits the following Wednesday. During Return House, you will choose which organizations to return to, but you must return to at least four. Many return to more in order to increase their chances of receiving a bid.
Active: a current member of a greek organization.
IFC/ISC: the governing council of the greek system, comprised of eight junior and senior representatives, elected by Greek presidents, and then a representative from each organization. They organize rush and the distribution of bids.
Rho Chi: a greek woman assigned to lead your rush group during Formal House visits, as well as answer your questions and guide you through the process.
Passing Hello: actives are only allowed to issue a passing hello to rushees during rush week. This is to avoid rushees from being pressured, receiving misinformation, or having any hurt feelings during the rush process. This ends on Shake Day.
Preference Cards (pref cards): the card you fill out following return house visits with at least your top four sorority choices– you can put all nine on there, which will increase their chance of receiving a bid. These will be used to match rushees with sororities.
Dirty Rushing: Most prevalently, it’s serving alcohol at formal rush events or any parties for rushees during rush week. But, it also is the blanket term for anything used to rush girls outside of the formal, ISC pre-rush events calendar.
After return house, organizations have bid sessions and make a list of people to whom they would like to extend bids. For women, these bids are then matched according to each rushee’s preference card, Women receive only one bid under their doors on Shake Day, which is why preference cards are used. Men, on the other hand, are eligible to receive more than one bid based on where they return house and will then choose which organization they want to join.
Bid Sessions: the process of narrowing down who will receive bids. Different organizations use differents ways of voting on who will receive bids, which make bid sessions take varying lengths of time (sororities are usually done in a reasonable amount of time, but fraternities can take hours). These usually happen directly after return house.
To Blackball (balled): a trumping, negative vote from a member that prevents a rushee from receiving a bid. This is more prevalent in fraternities.
Falling through: when a rushee isn’t given a bid to any organization. This rarely happens though, not a single girl fell through my year.
Pick Up Bid: when a rushee’s preferred organizations originally choose not to give her a bid and she falls through, but then is picked up by an organization after the fact and receives a bid. (Note, see this article under “falling through” for Hagi’s explanation that no organizations are ever forced to give pick up bids in response to someone falling through.)
Quota: how many bids are allowed to be given for men, and how many pledges sororities choose/are allowed to take.
Legacy: someone who has had a family member in a particular greek organization. Some organizations must issue legacies a bid, based on their own rules, or, at least, give legacies preference when issuing bids, but this isn’t always the case. It varies from organization to organization.
Shake Day is the Saturday ending rush, when everyone receives their bid and is welcomed by their organizations. For women, you just meet your pledge sisters and pledge trainers at a designated location after receiving bids then move onto your new house. (Finally, why it’s called shake day…) For men, each rushee runs out and shake hands with a member of the organization they would like to join, usually carrying onto their new house for the rest Shake Day. For a handful of places, Shake Day is dry and absolutely no hazing. For others, not so much. Pledging usually lasts until April for women– most sororities initiate by Spring Party, but it does vary. It’s the period where you decide whether or not the organization is a good fit, learn about the organization, and often have to endure some trials in order to initiate.
Shaker: the person who “shakes” you. For boys, you literally shake hands with the member of the organization you want to join. For girls, it’s the person who, depending on the organization, feeds you beer, crafts for you, or coats you with glitter on Shake Day.
New Member Educators (Pledge Trainers): the one or two actives elected to lead your pledge class from shake day to initiation. They are often the ones responsible for ensuring pledges learn about their organization and its members, as well as organizing any pledge events or activities.
Pledge Event: Usually, a Thursday night event where two greek organizations pair up to pregame by playing a game or having a bar. For some, this is just a theme party. For others, this is a hilarious night of twister, truth or dare, or spin the bottle. (Note: this has a varying definition for different organizations, usually based on their stance on hazing and new member education.)
Pledge Gear: fanny packs, hairstyles, and other outfits or accessories designated to pledges. Certain sororities have chosen to abandon this practice. Fraternities usually make their members wear class dress in lieu of pledge gear.
Pledge Pack: Included in pledge gear, a pack or bag that includes necessities for actives: condoms, candy, lighters, bandaids, cigarettes etc. Some sororities have abandoned this, but many fraternities will make their pledges carry a pledge pack.