University of Virginia Library

Rush Treatment

I am not especially conservative
in my thinking but I believe that
there is a lot to be said for Virginia's
traditions. One of these,
which is often taken for granted,
is the tradition of Virginia fraternities
to open their parties to
each other and to the rest of the
student body on the big weekends.
Not only does this make the party
weekends much more enjoyable for
non-fraternity students, but also
it speaks very highly of the friendly
and hospitable atmosphere which
characterizes Virginia's fraternity
system.

I am a counselor in the first-year
dorms and this past week one
of the guys on the hall told me
that he had not received party
invitations from two of the houses
which had sent him smoker invitations.
He wanted to know if he
and his date could go to the parties
without invitations. I told him that
he should certainly go to the house
from which he did receive an
invitation, but since all parties were
open, there would be nothing
wrong in going to any of the
other houses if he wanted to.

Apparently, though, I was mistaken,
for at some of the houses
this tradition of open parties and
hospitality seems to have been
thrown out the window in the
"interests of rush." During the
course of the evening this boy did
go by the two houses which did
not send him invitations and
at both houses (in front of his
date) he was told by an alert
and conscientious brother that he
had been balled, and was asked
to leave the house. Needless to
say this was rather an upsetting
experience for both the boy and
is date.

I realize the pressure on fraternities
to put on a good rush
and I also realized that this boy
would not be given the "red-carpet"
treatment at these two
houses, but on the other hand I
certainly did not expect him to be
thrown out. I find it hard to believe
that such action is really
necessary in serving a fraternity's
best interests.