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Page 6-B- The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 8, 1983
Students rush for campus Greek life
By BARBARA MISLE
Before students come to the Univer-
ity, "rush," means getting to class in a
hurry or the dizzy feeling in your head
%ter you've been out in the sun too
lbng.
But at college, rush is the time-
consuming process of choosing-and
being chosen-to join one of the 52
sororities and fraternities on campus.
STARTING SEPT. 11 for women and
ept. 14 for men, sororities and frater-
9ities will sponsor parties on campus to
tecruit, or rush, incoming students into
tbeir organizations.
i Rush works differently for men and
*omen.
3 Sorority rush operates very formally
for the nearly 850 women who undergo
the three-week event.
RUSH INCLUDES four sets of par-
ties, with each session narrowing down
the number of women sororities invite
hack.
The morning after parties, rushees
pick up "invitations," (computer print-
out sheets) in the Michigan Union
listing names of sororities which have
invited them back.
Rushees can also eliminate
sororities, or drop out of rush at any
point along the way, said Panhellenic
Association Advisor Mary Beth Seiler. The
Panhellenic board oversees sororities
and the rush process.
FRATERNITIES OPERATE rush
with considerably less structure.
Fraternity rush begins on a Sunday
night, and men can visit any house they
choose. There is no initial rush fee, as
there is with women, or computerized
invitations for rushees.
While some houses require men to
sign in at the parties, others use more
elaborate methods such as
photographing each rushee and
flashing his picture on a screen after.
the party at the "hash session," said
Scott Russell, rush chairman for the
inter-fraternity council.
The "hash-session" is a meeting
following the rush parties when frater-
nity or sororiity members discuss the
rushees, to decide whether they will fit
into the house, Russell said.
Unlike the computerized invitations
sororities use, fraternities can invite
men to join at any time during the
week, and the men are not required to
respond until the last day.
"NO ONE IS CUT from a house, but
by the last day if a student hasn't
received a bid, he gets the idea," said
Russell.
Following rush, men and women go
through a pledge period until the end of
the semester. During this time studen-
ts decide whether they want to become
an active member.
On the average, sororities charge
$350 in pledge dues and fraternities ask
for $25.
MOST OF THE fraternities and
sororities on campus own houses and
require members to live in them for
some period of time. The costs are
about $200 cheaper than the dor-
mitories, and members say social fees
and dues are comparable to a
semester's cost of going to the bars.
Students who rush shouldn't believe
the stereotypes about certain houses,
said Seiler. Every year students think
there are only a few "good" houses, but
each sorority offers advantages and
they are not looking for a particular
type of person.
"Go through with an open mind and
see if it can offer you something," she
said. "Whether or not you join a
sorority, it is a good experience to go
through rush."
There are no strict rules about what
to wear, she added. "People wear pret-
ty much what they are comfortable in,"
she said.
Typically, however, the dress for
women becomes more formal with each
successive - party, Seiler said
About 5 percent of students are in the
Greek system, and 6.4 percent of the
campus lives in a fraternity or sorority
house in any given term.
14
I
E COME JOIN US * FELT OWSfTIP " WORSHIP *
Daily Photc
Rush may be one of the most nerve racking periods of the year for some people, but once students enter the Greek
system the nerves calm and the social life picks up. These Greeks race to stack kegs for charity.
Co-ops offer more than
I
4
tofu, sprouts, and hippies
By JAYNE HENDEL
Freaked-out hippie types subsisting
on diets of tofu and alfalfa sprouts may
be the stereotyped co-op resident, but
they are rare exceptions among 600
University co-op dwellers. -
Ranging from modern auadrangle
buildings to a gigantic former sorority
house, cooperatives house a diverse
group of students linked by common
living situations and the Inter-
Cooperative Council (ICC).
Cooperative houses are completely
owned and operated by residents.
Through house meetings and the ICC
government, members set their own
rents and share the responsibilities of
purchasing and preparing food and
keeping up the house.
CO-OPS HAVE been able to sustain a
solid membership for many years
because of the cost savings and the
group living opportunities they offer
students, members say.
They are a perfect compromise bet-
ween fraternities and sororities and
rental apartment living, says Rolf
Wucherer, one of the four full-time ICC
coordinators.
"Co-ops are similar to fraternities or
sororities except we're co-ed and we
operate the houses, he said.
"WE DON'T HAVE buckets in the
Diag, and ask people to vote for the
prettiest sorority sister," said
Wucherer. "We're people living
DalIy Photo by ELIZABETH SCOTT
Minnies Co-op, better known as the "purple house." Campus cooperatives
offer group living at cheaper prices than residence halls or sororities and
fraternities.
together as people."
Todd MacGregor, a co-op resident,
said co-op dwellers are "just like
anyone else, except we might eat more
tofu."
The largest campus co-ops, Xanadu
and Lenny Bruce, house 53 members,
while the smallest, Osterweil, houses
13. "It's friendly and easy to find
people that you like," said Clare
I
III
Cloutier, president of Xanadu house.
SAVING MONEY is probably the
biggest advantage of co-ops. Co-ops are
cheaper than most fraternities and
sororities, University residence halls;
and off-campus housing.
Because each house is responsible for
planning its own budget, the cost of
living varies between co-ops. But on
the average, residents pay about $235 a
month for room, board, and extras such
as cable television, free laundry, and
newspapers, Wucherer said.
University residence halls cost about
$315 per month for room and board;
while off-campus apartments and
houses can cost over $200 without in= 4
cluding food.
"WORK IS PART of the cooperative
secret of how we can cooperate for so
little money,"Wucherer said.
Residents are required to work at the
house for four to five hours each week.
Duties include bread baking, bathroom
cleaning, and dishwashing. Members
can also receive work credit for being
involved in ICC activities. Work is
scheduled around members' classes
and other activities.
ALTHOUGH SOME jobs can get
tedious, members say others are rather
interesting. "The cooks really get into
it, the food turns out really well," said
ICC President Marcel Salive.
In addition to helping keep costs
down, the work requirement creates a
sense of family among house residents,
co-op members said. "Co-ops have- a
great sense of community," Salive
4W ZIP% Iw' Wce" 11 ' i