No more informational meetings, no more fees and no more stamp cards for rushees.
A new rush policy has been implemented by the Interfraternity Council and presidents of the 22 greek chapters to make the rush process, which begins today, more informal, less structured and easier for potential members to join.
"It is a new way of joining rush which allows individual chapters more freedom and time to rush incoming people," stated a memo from the IFC.
Chris Bullins, Greek Life coordinator, said there has been a decline in the interest of men wanting to become greek both at the UA and nationally because greek fraternities have developed a reputation for hazing and being more social.
"Nationally, there has been a shift in college students because they are interested in scholarship and community service," Bullins said.
There are 2,700 members in the UA's greek system, 1,000 of which are members of a fraternity.
According to the memo, the IFC hopes that changing these policies will encourage more students to join the greek system.
The new policy will do away with the GPA requirement of 3.0 for first semester freshmen or 2.7 for those who have already received college credit.
"It will bring down GPA, but it will allow more kids to be involved," said Nick Gerakos, an undeclared freshman and member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Bullins said he believes eliminating the GPA requirement will bring more people into the greek system.
"I think that's a positive move because the current rule limited the choice of who the fraternities gave their bids to," Bullins said. "This new system will give them greater flexibility on who they extend their membership to."
Although students with lower GPAs could be admitted into a fraternity, members of the IFC hope that individual chapters will work harder to improve their members' academic records.
"The presidents have voted to install a system where the chapters are personally responsible for their new members' academics," said Michael Katzman, executive vice president for IFC.
Chapters will have to report member progress to IFC.
In addition to dropping the GPA requirement, the new policy does not require potential members to attend an informational meeting and pay a $40 registration fee.
Ted Burhans, president of the IFC, said the registration fee might deter potential members from joining a chapter.
The new policy also does away with what the fraternities referred to as the stamp card. In previous semesters, each potential member had to visit the individual chapters and receive a stamp on their card before they were issued a bid, a formal invitation to join a chapter. Now each chapter will have the discretion to deliver the bids.
The allotted four hours for each chapter to meet with potential members during the week of recruitment will also change. Instead of recruiting from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., chapters will be able to recruit from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
"It gives chapters more responsibility and time to adequately evaluate the incoming rushees," stated the IFC's memo.
But not everyone agrees that the policy changes will benefit the fraternities and rushees.
"Taking away (the old rush process) would hurt out-of-staters because they don't know anybody. Formal forces them to go around and meet people," said Richard Sloss, a business freshman and member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Despite the changes, members of the chapters are hoping that it will be an exciting and informal event for newcomers as well as old members.
"I'm excited to get rush going," said Jason Hersker, president of Delta Tau Delta. "It gives us a chance to be more creative now that it is informal. It is up to us to advertise it."
Informational tables will be set up between the Second Street Garage and the Student Union Memorial Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, tomorrow and Wednesday so potential members can visit each chapter. A schedule of events for each chapter will be handed out at that time.
"We encourage each potential member to come view each individual chapter," Katzman said.