Fraternity recruitment, colloquially known as “rush,” is the time during which students engage socially with brothers of many different fraternities in order to decide which organization they would like to join. Fraternities need new recruits each year to carry on their traditions, so recruitment is an important time of the year for everyone. At Lafayette, fraternity recruitment (as opposed to sorority recruitment) has no formal structure. The College instead has a few simple rules:
- Build our positive image and brand
- Fulfill IAGGL requirements
- Attract recruits.
If you decide you’d like to find out what DKE recruitment is all about, and you definitely should, you can be sure you’ll meet a friendly bunch of guys. As Edward Griffin Bartlett, a founding member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, once said, “the candidate most favored was he who combined in the most equal proportions the gentleman, the scholar, and the jolly good-fellow.” DKE recruitment at Lafayette is a time to let students know what to expect when you join the fraternity, so if you’re interested, you can stop by the chapter house, with some friends perhaps, and hang out with us anytime. Unlike other houses, we don’t do many things specifically during recruitment that we wouldn’t normally do on our own. All we do is include prospective members in our everyday lives to give them an idea of whether they’d like to join DKE or not.
Becoming a part of the DKE recruitment process is so simple! Just stop by the house, it’s the big brick house on the left side of March Field. Mention to one of the brothers (many of us wear DKE hats or shirts) that you’re interested in becoming a Deke. There’s always someone around and you’re sure to be welcomed! If after meeting some brothers and hanging out in the house you realize that you’d like to continue in the process of becoming a member, tell our current Recruitment Chair, Brother Fletcher Faden. If the brotherhood thinks you’re worthy, and by that point it probably does, it will extend a bid to you in the fall of your sophomore year. If you choose to accept your bid, you and the other accepted recruits, as well as the current brothers in the DKE, will become friends for life. As with most other fraternities our rituals are secret, but it is certainly during the new member education period that these bonds are created. After three weeks, you will go through the initiation rituals and become a full member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. At this point, being a brother is as simple as paying your dues, living in the house, and having fun!
Joining a fraternity is more than just a social decision, however. It’s no coincidence that Dekes have always been some of the most successful graduates from Lafayette (ever notice that nearly half the buildings on campus are named after Dekes?). Our alumni network is extensive, with hundreds of Rho Chapter Dekes in hiring positions with successful companies. In order to ensure that brothers flourish into this type of worthy alumni, it is important that new members have at least a 2.5 GPA and that they aren’t on restrictive probation. Joining a fraternity is an important life decision, which we stress in DKE. Have fun, be yourself, and if DKE is right for you, we look forward to you becoming a part of our house.
Here’s a video on what some DKE alumni brothers believe it means to be a Deke: