Rush goes from late September till the first week of February. This means that rushees have a significantly long time to get to know sorority women and decide if being Greek is something that they would really like to be. During rush you'll be invited to formalized parties (1st rounds, date parties and holiday parties**) and informal events like dinner at different restaurants or clubbing. Once you sign the master rush list you should receive invitations from each sorority to these events. You may also be contacted for a "one-on-one", in which a sorority member will ask to meet with you for lunch or coffee.
**Please note that if you do not receive an invitation to one of these parties, you will need to contact the rush chair of the particular sorority and let them know. Also, the Zeta Chi "date party" on October 24 is actually a "second round" and their date party will in fact be on December 5.
What is dirty rush? Dirty rush is when a rushee is pressured by a sorority member to rush/pref a certain sorority above all others. It also occurs when a rushee is alluded/promised a bid or a big sister. And finally, dirty rush occurs if a sorority member breaks silence. Silence is a time designated 1 hour before and 1 hour after each sorority's party, in which only members of the hosting party can speak to rushees. This allows fair rush and makes sure that rushees aren't being pressured to hang out with another club on another sorority's party date.
The sororities at Trinity encourage rushees to rush every sorority and attend at least one of everyone's events. You'll never know who you like until you rush everyone. Rush may seem like a stressful thing, so please don't feel that you have to attend EVERYTHING. Go to what you want/have time for. Sorority members understand that you have other clubs/interests and of course academics. In fact, in order to accept a bid in the spring you will need a 2.0 cumulative GPA (2.5 for student athletes), and need to have taken 12 hours in the fall and be registered for 12 hours in the spring. Because of these stipulations for bid acceptance, we encourage all rushees to keep academics at a high priority.
In January, rushees will be asked to "RSVP" to at least 2 sororities that they would like to continue rushing. At that time, the sororities will decide if they would like you to continue rushing them, which they will indicate by extending you an invitation to their formal party. After formal parties, rushees will be asked to "Pref": rushees will be asked to rank in preferential order which sorority they would like to receive a bid from. We encourage you to pref more than one club, but if one is all you want, you are free to do that as well - this is referred to as a "suicide pref". We ask that rushees think over what it means to pref a sorority before actually doing so. One should not pref a sorority if they are not fully intending to accept a bid and become a member. At bid acceptance, you will become a full member of that sorority (sorority's at Trinity do not believe that you need to earn your membership), and we expect that if you accept a bid that you are willing to go through orientation and become a member.
Orientation lasts 4-6 weeks and is a time when new classes will bond with each other and their clubs. New members will learn the history, traditions and values of their sorority and participate in sisterhood bonding activities. A generic orientation schedule may include: mon-thurs dinners, study hours and then activities, and then over-nights on weekends. Study hours exist so that new members have time to study for thier classes and keep up with their academics. Trinity is very strict against hazing and all of the sorority's are well aware of both Trinity and Texas State Law against it. We have a nine hours hands-off policy where new members will receive nine-hours each school night in which orientation activities will not occur.
Please do not believe any stereotypes that you hear about Trinity's sororities. A lot of people will sadly try to categorize our women and call the actions of an individual to be the characteristic of an entire group. You may hear rumors about different sororities or their orientations, but please don't let these discourage you from meeting with a certain group. All of our sorority's have wonderful women who are proud of their clubs and each other.
