STEP ONE -- RUSH IS AN ATTITUDE

You must be positive about your organizational abilities, rush plans and ability to compete successfully with other fraternities for the top men on campus. Much of this guide will be devoted to mapping out your plans for good rush organization, pre-rush planning and accentuation of your chapter's advantages in rush. Without the right rush attitude, enthusiasm, drive, and positive leadership from your rush chairman and his committee, even the best rush plans will fall short of the mark.

The Personal Approach:

Why did you join Delta Tau Delta? Strip away all the trappings, themes, and parties; rush will continue to be the process of making new friends. Everything you do in rush should be geared toward making informal conversation the main activity. Take a personal interest in every man you meet; get to know him and his interests. You cannot merely impress a man or treat him well and expect him to pledge. You mush show genuine interest in him as a person.

Rush is the lifeblood of your chapter and of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. Without rush success, your chapter will wither away. A strong, well planned rush will keep your chapter healthy and vibrant as a leader on your campus. Your chapter's rush goal should be to achieve consistent rush success and leadership on your campus.

Remember What It Was Like?:

During rush, you were looking for a taste of what fraternity membership was really like. You had a desire to belong to a group and for the opportunities it offered, but it took someone who was really interested in you to take time to explain all the details. This will be even more important in the future.

Many of the rush prospects you will be actively pursuing may have no interest in joining fraternities or may even be moderately opposed to the concept. Your ability to articulate the concepts of membership must become sharpened to a point that they are second nature to you in conversation. At the same time, you should be taking a special interest in the individual with whom you are talking while letting him know how he can contribute to the chapter, and how the chapter will benefit his college career and life after graduation.

One More Time!:

The most important fact you must always remember: THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR PERSONAL CONTACT. Every chapter is unique in Delta Tau Delta and every individual member contributes to that uniqueness. Each potential member you encounter is an individual with his own abilities and talents. Even though you may meet a hundred rush guests, you must treat each one as an individual. Few things impress rush guests more than a personal invitation to a party, a phone call, a visit to his home during the summer or even the use of his first name.

It is easy to cultivate friendships with freshmen and if you will remember, there is no more awkward feeling than being the new kid on the block. Someone taking an interest in you made you feel important and a bit more comfortable with your surroundings. That, in its purest form, is rush.

What Does True Fraternity Mean?:

In developing your rush philosophy, you should strive to give a real taste of what Greek life is like; not just parties, but close friendships, academic achievement, hard work and campus and community service. Show your rush guests all the responsibilities and privileges of being a member. Otherwise, you will have men joining for the wrong reasons. Get your rush guests involved in chapter activities beyond the social functions so he can experience, in his own way, what it is like to be a Delt.

We will talk about rush strategies, philosophy, marketing principles, budgets, master plans and a variety of other organizational elements in this manual. Do not let that overshadow the simple fact that rush is simply a process of making new friends. If you are successful as a rush chairman and as a rush committee, you will provide your members with as many opportunities as possible for new friendships to take place.

The personal approach is the most effective way of having true success in rush. The rest of this guide will provide building blocks for the organization and execution of the successful rush program for the many situations that face your chapter.