Soze:
Like many other commenters, I feel a great deal of sympathy for your friend’s son. But are you sure he was rejected by every fraternity on campus? Syracuse has a huge Greek system, and it would be virtually impossible to rush all of the houses in a single semester. Is it possible that your friend’s son set his sights too high and chose not to rush some of the smaller, less prestigious, fraternities where he might have had a better chance of getting a bid?
If this young man got shut out even at the weaker fraternities, he may still have a chance to participate in Greek life. The officially recognized IFC fraternities aren’t the only social fraternities on campus. At a university the size of Syracuse, there are usually several unrecognized social fraternities. These are NIFC fraternities that want to establish a colony on the campus but have not been invited to do so by the university. They aren’t recognized by the university, so they can’t participate in formal rush, but they hold their own unsanctioned rush events, and they often rely on “informal rush” which means they add new pledges as the find them.
These fraternities are usually smaller and desperately trying to increase membership. If this young man is a nice guy who is just shy and a little socially awkward, there’s a good chance he would be offered a bid by one of these unrecognized fraternities. He’d probably miss out on the sorority mixers (at most schools, PanHellenic Sororities will only hold mixers with fraternities that are recognized by the university), but he’d be able to participate in all the other positive aspects of Greek life - the tradition, the brotherhood, etc…
There is also the possibility your friend’s son may be able to join a new fraternity that is forming a colony with the university’s blessing. When a fraternity’s national headquarters establishes a new (and recognized) colony, it sends several members of its headquarters staff and several local alumni to campus to interview interested students. The decision on membership isn’t made by 20 year old college students, and the criteria isn’t whether the applicants are “cool,” but rather, whether the applicants are dedicated to building a quality chapter. The usual selling point NIFC fraternities make when colonizing is that this is an opportunity for people who don’t like what they see in the Greek system to create a better fraternity, one with values they believe in. People who were shut out of formal rush are often specifically targeted during the colonizing process because they’ve expressed interest in the Greek system.
If this young man is truly interested in the Greek system as a way to meet new people and make friends, he should really consider one of the unrecognized fraternities or see if any NIFC fraternities are forming a new colony on campus.