Record 920 students register for fraternity Rush

Chris Turley wanted to find a way to meet new people in college after leaving behind his close group of friends from high school. \n"Coming from high school, you have such a hardcore group of friends," he said. "You leave that behind in college." \nJoining a fraternity would help facilitate that process, the freshman said.\n"Fraternity brothers are friends forever," he said. "You can re-establish the close ties from high school."\nRush is conducted casually and is an easy way to meet other students, Turley said. \nAfter direct mailings to all male students in residence halls, posting fliers on campus, placing additional advertising in newspapers and on the radio and promoting new T-shirts bearing a Rush logo, the Interfraternity Council drew more than 1,000 students to the kickoff Friday.\n"We wanted to get as many freshmen as possible so they can be exposed to greek life at Indiana," IFC president Ben Schmidt said.\nBreaking last year's record of 700 students touring all 24 fraternity houses, 920 registered this year.\n"I would say that everything has gone as planned and extremely smoothly," said senior Michael Fenstermacher, IFC vice president of Rush.\nThe IFC's role does not go past introducing students to the system -- after Rush, individual fraternities must recruit and select members.\n"We basically take on the task of introducing non-greek men to the greek system," Fenstermacher said. "After this, the Interfraternity Council steps back."\nAfter Rush fraternities typically try to familiarize themselves with rushees through social events and then offer bids to certain students.\n"Within two to three weeks, most fraternities will have offered bids," Schmidt said. \nFraternities do not adopt a common plan for recruiting new members, said Pi Kappa Phi president and senior Kyle Longest. \n"It's pretty much an individual house-by-house process," he said. "We make sure we have (the rushee's) information. Some houses might take a week to decide after the initial tours."\nLongest said the fraternity house tours are beneficial to rushees and members.\n"We give them the chance to see the physical house. It's probably the only opportunity they'll have to see the house," he said. \nTurley said he knows which fraternities he wants to join and was invited to dinner at the Sigma Nu house to become more familiar with the fraternity.\nHe said he was most impressed with fraternities whose members made efforts to individually know rushees.\n"I prefer for someone to talk to me and get to know me," he said. "When guys will go out of their way to get to know you."\nSophomore Brian Adams, who transferred to IU this year, has friends in a fraternity who told him it was a positive experience. He wants to join a fraternity in which members are friendly and "get along with each other."\nThe Rush kickoff Friday was an ideal opportunity to meet potential members, said Zeta Beta Tau member Jerry Ames.\n"A lot of the freshmen come out, and we want to get a grasp on them," he said. "We can see how they feel about us and answer questions."\nHe said ideal members are "good kids who have a good personality" and have an interest in the fraternity and IU.\nPi Kappa Phi tries to recruit well-rounded individuals at Rush, said sophomore Chris Johnson. He was not specifc about his fraternity's requirements.\n"We see kids walking by and talk to them," he said. "We're looking for kids who are well-balanced. There's no real ideal member"