Greek Life @ UMich

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

Hey guys!! Does anyone know how the rush process works at UMich (for sororities)? Is it competitive? Is there hazing?? Thank you!!!

2

@twoinanddone described it very well on another thread and seems similar to UMich’s method. I copied and pasted their reply.

Do they haze? I haven’t heard of any hazing, at least recently.

3

UM’s greek system is kind of a mess right now- I believe if they are a sanctioned by UM rush cannot start now until Winter term.

4

Rush for all Greek life at UMich is performed in the Winter term. The 2019-2020 academic year is the 1st year for the switch, since in prior years Greek rush was done in the Fall term.

Rush has been done for a couple weeks now.

5

But to be clear, that is for those that chose to stay officially with the UM Greek system. Others who left did their own rushing in the fall from what I understand… I would suggest you read up on what is going on.

6

Instead of me reading up, post a link to any current problems for everyone to see here. Greek life having issues at any university isn’t really a new news item. And UMich advises all students to stay away from unsanctioned events and unsanctioned frats.

Also, only 12% of males join a frat and 25% of females join a sorority, according to the CDS. So, those are some pretty small numbers.

And to be clear, my kid belongs to the Greek system and reported NO problems to me (I specifically asked) both as a freshman pledge last year and as a pledge coordinator this year.

7

https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2018/10/fraternities_in_flux_at_univer.html
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2018/09/university_of_michigan_fratern_7.html
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2017/11/report_university_of_michigan_12.html
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2018/09/university_of_michigan_fratern_7.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/hazing-in-america/university-michigan-fraternity-council-cancels-all-greek-life-activities-n819746
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/us/michigan-fraternities-suspension.html
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/campus-life/%E2%80%98u%E2%80%99-officials-fraternity-hq-disagree-allegations-chapter-closure

8

Incoming students need to know what has been going on and why there are inconsistencies between different frats and sororities. Even Michigan’s own school newspaper had plenty of articles about it. You seriously would want your child going into this blindly without understanding what is going on?

9

Also, here is the greek life link from their panhellenic counsel. It lists the ones who are part of the official process as well as giving lists of the disaffiliated and those that were kicked out.
https://fsl.umich.edu/
It also explains Rush in detail etc. I think it is helpful for a student to be fully informed, but I have heard of several UM students who rush because they met a few people they liked and just go off their word. Greek life is controversial everywhere, some huge supporters, some huge detractors. So the more information an individual can get the better.

10

DBY2017 - it is only fraternities that have disaffiliated or tried to disaffiliate. They are in a snit about not being able to rush in the Fall semester. Some of those fraternities did “illegally” rush freshmen. However, the Panhellenic sororities have not disaffiliated. There was some legal informal recruitment by sororities in the fall for sophomores only and limited to those sororities that wished to participate. That is the same kind of informal recruitment that used to occur in the Winter term when formal recruitment was in the Fall.

Sororities do not haze. Fraternities, however, seem to continue to believe that you can’t have fun without abusing people. I would not encourage a son to join a fraternity at Michigan. My daughter, however, is a member of a sorority and it has been a great experience for her. She has been on Panhellenic Exec board so I hear everything about the Greek system at Michigan; some of the fraternities’ behavior has been troubling to say the least.

OP - as another poster noted, formal recruitment for this academic year is over. Some houses have Continuous Open Bidding because they did not fill quota. You can look into those. Or try as in the fall with informal recruitment as a sophomore if there are openings in houses. Formal recruitment is definitely competitive and it is best to go in with an open mind.

11

If you are interested in the NPC (26 sororities that are considered the ‘traditional’ sororities, and 18 have chapters at Michigan), they are competitive but there should be a spot for you (see post #1 above for the complicated system they use).

Those 26 sororities have an agreement as to what sororities are allowed to do and to offer, no matter what campus they are on. No hazing, no alcohol (ever, not even alums) in the house, rush rules, discrimination, etc. Of course there are going to be differences. My niece belongs to the same national organization as I do, and when I asked her about them signing songs she said “Oh no, that’s hazing.” I couldn’t believe it. What some consider hazing others consider fun (singing, doing skits, doing ‘safe ride’ duty on Friday nights).

Sign up for recruitment and just see where it takes you. If you like it, join. If not, find another campus activity you like. It’s just a few days out of your life (usually 2 weekends) to see if it is for you.

12

So a few years ago, some stuff happened. Great, thanks for the 411. Is Michigan the only college with Greek problems?

It’s the year 2020. In my mind, kids who are able to investigate their college choices should be able to investigate their Greek choices, if they so choose.

I told my kid before going off to college two things. One, that I showed her the path, but she will have to walk the path. And two, don’t be a dumb***.

That my $0.02.

13

Hazing exists within the system - there is no person at Michigan who can reasonably and honestly deny it. Obviously, it does not exist in every group, there are some groups that are much, much worse than others. In terms of physical hazing, it is almost certainly much more prevalent in fraternities than sororities.

It can vary from “low-risk” like just pressured medium-heavy drinking, doing a lot of embarrassing odd stuff (like make sure you wear this specific pair of shoes and do not ever be seen without them) to much more “high risk”. Michigan Greek Life is certainly not as toxic as a school like Penn State’s however. I had plenty of Greek and non-Greek friends in school.