"Too Damn Much Dirty Rushing"
Men's rush week is over and 147 men pledged fraternities.
The consensus of opinion among fraternity men seemed to he
that rushing rules were not followed well during last fall term
*md, to a somewhat lesser extent, during rush week.
One house president said: There was too damn much dirty
rushing. We (the fraternities) all promised each other at the
start of the year that we were going to play it clean. It kind
of gets you to hear about constant violations.”
A house officer said: “I definitely know there was a lot of
illegal rushing going on fall term, and many violations during
rush week. I know of numerous houses that did it. I think
the problem will get worse next year if something isn’t done.
The competition is really getting cut-throat, and each year
there are fewer freshmen going through because they appar
ently are not encouraged in the dorms to do so.”
Fraternity member: “I think just about every house on
campus did it (illegal rushing) last term, and I don’t know
how you could stop it.”
And so it goes. You can talk to almost anyone in the fra
ternity system and find out they are not happy with the way
things went.
Why should this be? Why can’t fraternities abide by the
“limited contact” rules prior to rush week and play strictly
by the rules during rush week itself?
Possible reasons seem to be these: (1) Houses that violate
the rules don't have confidence in their ability to get the men
they want through legal rushing.
(2) Penalties are too light; ofen they consist of a $25 fine
and loss of the right to pledge the man involved for a year.
“And what does that do to stop fraternities?” one house
president said, “I know last year we (his house) went over
board on a boy and got fined. He’s living in our house now.”
(3) Houses that know of violations by other houses don’t
turn them in as they should. They reason this way: “We don't
want to stick our neck out. They may catch us sometime and
we’ll just save this to throw back at them if we have to.” And
so dorm counselors turned in most of the violations that were
reported fall term. Naturally counselors are not in the best
position to see violations, because freshmen involved are going
to keep quiet about them.
(4) There haven’t been enough men going through rush
week to go around—147 men pledged last week divided by
21 fraternities is an average of seven pledges per house. Why
didn’t houses relax and wait for open rushing and a shot at
the large number of men they knew wouldn’t go through
rush week? They probably reasoned like this: “Most of the
“names,” the well-known men who will do us the most good
are going through rush week. We want these men, we have
to have them as drawing cards for the other good men who
didn’t go through rush week.”
What can be done about illegal rushing? The alternatives:
(1) Levy stiffer fines, such as reducing house quotas when
violations are reported. Here again you have the problem of
enforcement. If fraternities wouldn’t turn in violators for light
penalties, would there be any more desire to do so under heavy,
punitive penalties?
(2) There could be more mutual trust and sweetness and
light between fraternities. This, of course, is the ideal. But
it has been aimed at for three years now, and little apparent
progress has been made.
(3) Hold rush week early fall term, as sororities do. The
disadvantages to this are: Fraternities would have no CPA’s
to consider. They would pledge mo;e men who would flunk
out of school. Dormitory ojganiaztion would perhaps be less
effective because of divided loyalties.
We believe the advantages of fall term rushing outweigh
the disadvantages. If fraternities can’t live honestly under
the present system, why should they keep kidding them
selves? Why should they go on under rules they apparently
have no desire to obey?
As to grades, fraternities could do more thorough investiga
tion into high school records, which after all are a pretty good
criterion for predicting college success. Not so good, we admit,
as a college CPA, but fraternities apparently aren’t willing, or
able, to wait until these are available before going to work
on rushing.
And we don’t think there is any reason why dorm organ
izations can’t function just as well with pledges from the
start of the year. They already have to do this for two terms
out of three, so we can’t see anything impossible about start
ing out that way.
Also, smaller houses would get a better break. They could
pledge more and better men because they would not have the
obstacle of a term’s publicity for “big name” houses. There is
certainly no relation between how happy any given individual
will be in a house and the number of campus “wheels” or ath
letes who live there. Thus the whole fraternity system would
be kept strong; we think this is important to the University.
<B.G.)
Rushee Member
Have Verbal Battle
During Rush Week
By Bill Gurney
Emerald Associate Editor
The unique collegiate phenome
non known as rush week tfils just
run its course. And it was quite a
week, fraught with material for
a drama, comedy and satire all
rolled into one. At least 15 fra
ternities now have the ‘‘best
pledge class” on campus, and the
rest have a “great nucleus to
build on.”
The conversation that went on
was especially inspiring. Here’s a
somewhat exaggerated version of
an exchange between a Friendly
Member and a Wide-eyed Fresh
man. (The wide-eyed part is
strictly fictional; most of them
were about as naive and impres
sionable as charter members of
the Black Hand.) ,
Friendly Member: Great to
have you up here, son. My
name is Orkney McLout. May I
take your coat ?
Wide-Eyed Freshm a n: My
name's Sam Snodgrass, and I'll
keep the coat for a while. I may
wanta leave.
FM: (Heartily) Ha Ha Ha.
Well, Sam, where are you from?
WEF; Oh, I don't know. My old
man's on the dodge and I ain't
heard from him for three months.
How much does it cost to pledge
this house?
FM: (Very Heartily) Ho, Ho,
Ho. Oh it doesn't cost much at
all, and we’ll pay your way if you
are a little short. Now let me
show you the rooms- right here
is one of our nicer ones. Look at
that big roomy closet and the big
soft chair, all for only six guys.
Isn’t that wonderful ?
WEF: Yeah
FM: I knew you'd like it. Now
let me show you the sleeping
porches, (opens porch door and
blast of ice-cold air comes out)
Ah! Real fresh air. Just what a
man needs to keep healthy. None
of that stuffy dead stuff.
WEF: Yeah, but how do ya get
up to the top bunk without wak
ing up the five guys below you?
How do ya?
FM: I knew you’d like the
house, Sam, now let me tell you a
little about the men we have up
here. For instance, there's Dudley
Rahrah, president of the campus
bird-watching society and vice
president of the Friday afternoon
beer club, and for all of that he’s
just a plain, modest likeable guy.
And then there is Deltoid Virull,
captain of the lacrosse team, and
a real simple, happy guy. Here's
Deltoid right now.
Deltoid: I am a big dumb ath
lete. I can dress myself, feed my
self, and do menial chores.
FM: That’s fine, Deltoid, now
go back to your room; dinner will
be later. Sam, what’s your major
here at college?
WEF: Will, I kind of like bi
ology.
FM: That’s fine, Sam, you
mean—you study all those theo
ries ?
WEF: No, I mean applied bi
ology.
FM: Well, Sam, its almost time
to leave now. Is there anything
else you’d like to know about the
house ?
WEF: Yeah, where’s the beer.
I’m a little thirsty.
And so on. And so forth. Some
where in the whole process there
are a lot of significant conclu
sions that could be drawn. Right
now, just after rush week, we are
tired.
Six years ago today:
0 Sixteen Phi Delt pledges
staged a "kissing bee,’ enter
ing five sorority houses and re
ceiving (or planting) 65 kisses
per man.
• Thieves took $80 in March
of Dimes money from a window
sill at Kappa Sigma.
The College Crowd
_Campus Headlines Elsewhere
By Rae Thomas
Registration usually causes a
lot of confusion but a coed at
North Texas State College nearly
got the worst of it. She was go
ing through registration . lines
when she was ushered into a sep
arate room. There a nurse told
her that since she had no record
of a previous vaccination, she
would have to take one now.
"But,” the young lady stam
mered, "will that work? I'm reg
istering for my husband.”
* * *
A grave situation is reported at
UCLA. The chairman of the anat
omy department has issued the
statement that the medical divi
sion of the school is in dire need
of bodies. Unclaimed corpses
have provided the medics with
enough experimental material in
the past, but students are getting
behind in thr practice sets. UCLA
alumni are being urged to will
their corpses to the school.
Is any body interested ?
• • •
The Daily Reveille, Louisiana
State University, has this com
ment to make about the honor
system: "It seems that the teach
ers have the honor and the stu
dents have the system."
• * *
A Plymouth sedan and a Car
nation milk truck collided in the
middle of the U of Washington
campus. The woman driving the
Plymouth reported to student
witnesses a bit angrily, "no one
has been injured- yet!”
• * *
Headline: from the Eastern"
State News, Eastern Illinois
State college: "Winter Weather,
Wine, Not Women Cause Wreck."
And from the Daily Tar Heel,
University of North Carolina:
"Jones Jolts Fagged Fans; Zest
Zooms.”
• * *
Ohio State's 1953 yearbook,
The Malcio, will be heard as well
as seen.
In each yearbook there will be
a 15-minute phonograph record
of some of the sounds most fa*
miliHf to Ohio State student; .
the chimes, the marching band,
school songs and excerpts from
speeches by campus leaders.
• • *
Gambling in the Ventura col
lege card playing room is getting
out of hund, according to the
Ventura Pirate Press.
The administration has threat- j
ened to revoke all card playing i
privileges if the gambling con- f
Unites.
. . .
The examination schedule for
students at San Jose was printed
under the headline of "RKAD
’EM AND WEEP, SUCKERS."
« • ♦
The Cougar1, University of
Houston publication, carries in
one paper an account of their
$50,000 fire, in which $10,000
worth of equipment monkeys,
rats, etc. were lost by the Psych
department and the rest lost by
the Pharmacy and Engineering
Colleges. The next issue carries
the announcement that the Uni
versity has received the first cer
tificate for fire prevention ever
awarded by the National Eire f
Prevention Association. They re
ceived the certificate for offering
a course in fire prevention, i It
seems they could better use a
pound of cure.)
The "Daily Texan" reports that ■
according to a recent poll taken I
in several small Southern schools,
these were the sweetest word in j
the English language:
1. I love you.
2. Dinner is served.
3. All is forgiven.
4. Sleep 'till noon.
5. Keep the change.
6. No class tomorrow.
7. Ask me again sometime.
The saddest were: I
1. Buy me one.
2. We're through.
3. I graded those quizzes.
4. External use only.
r>. Report to your local board. |
The Social Side
‘May we introduce ourselves? My frut brothers and I couldn’t help
but notice you’re wearing our pin.”
Oregon W Emerald
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