Students participating in formal rush this week are experiencing new changes to the rush process.
Campus Life instituted the changes for this semester, hoping to give more students opportunities to be involved in Greek life on campus.
Sam Parnell, director of Greek life, said during the spring 2012 semester that 110 students received bids, and 37 did not. Three of those students who did not receive bids were ineligible due to “academic/institutional requirements.” Five hundred undergraduates make up Lipscomb’s 13 social clubs.
Parnell said campus life doesn’t “monitor the criteria the social clubs use to pick their members. We are changing the process to allow more students the opportunity to be in a social club.”
“The major change is having students list their top choices of social clubs in which they wish to rush,” Parnell said. “If a student doesn’t get sent a formal bid for their club of choice, then they still have other chances to make it in to an alternate choice.”
With the new system, students rank their top three choices of clubs, and then are placed in the highest ranking club that extends a bid to them.
According to posted eligibility requirements, all students must be in good academic standing and have completed one semester as a full-time student at Lipscomb to rush. Freshmen have to achieve a GPA of at least 2.5, and other undergraduates must earn a GPA of 2.0 or higher.
Other requirements include attending four open rush events, three club prospective events and all formal rush events for which you receive an invitation.
The men’s (Sigma Omega Sigma, Delta Nu, Tau Phi, Gamma Xi, Sigma Iota Delta) and women’s social clubs (Gamma Lambda, Pi Delta, Phi Sigma, Delta Xi, Delta Omega, Kappa Chi, Delta Sigma) have all hosted their open rushes and prospectives as of Sept. 9.
Formal rush invitations for all clubs will be mailed out Monday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. Formal rushes begin Tuesday, Sept. 11.
MEN’S FORMAL RUSH SCHEDULE
Tues., Sept. 11 – Sigma Omega Sigma
Wed., Sept. 12 – Gamma Xi
Thurs., Sept. 13 – Delta Nu
Sun., Sept. 16 – Sigma Iota Delta
Mon., Sept. 17 – Tau Phi
WOMEN’S FORMAL RUSH SCHEDULE
Tues., Sept. 11 – Kappa Chi
Wed., Sept. 12 – Phi Sigma
Thurs., Sept. 13 – Gamma Lambda
Fri., Sept. 14 – Pi Delta
Sat., Sept. 15 – Delta Omega
Sun., Sept. 16 – Delta Xi
Mon., Sept. 17 – Delta Sigma
When this story was published Sept. 10, the numbers of the social clubs and their pledge bids were inaccurately reported. Lumination apologizes for the errors and has since corrected the issue. The current version of the story now includes the accurate information.