Recruitment week activities affect faculty and students

Posted on Sep 17 2014 - 8:44am by Kyle Whohleber
rush

FILE PHOTO: KATIE WILLIAMSON Ole Miss students participate in Bid Day as part of sorority recruitment last year.

While many students are spending this week juggling fraternity and sorority recruitment and schoolwork, teachers aren’t letting up on the amount of work they are assigning.

Beth Spencer, a professor with the English department, said she is not a fan of recruitment since it promotes elitism and does not truly build diversity and community among all of the university’s students. Professor Spencer sees the negative effects in her students through poorer academic performances and lower attendance. She has even had to counsel students in past years not to leave the university because they have been “cut” during recruitment.

Spencer said that despite her dislike for the recruitment process, changes could be made to better the process.

“I’d like to see rush moved to wintersession after students have had a chance to know a little bit more of who they are and what they want to accomplish at this university,” she said. “It would be easier on students and faculty to have rush as a separate event from a full semester.”

Not all teachers are opposed to the recruitment process, however. Professor Barbara Combs of the sociology department said she sees the importance of recruitment week.

“As a sociologist, I understand the need for involvement and the positive draw for new friendships in a school of 20,000 people,” she said. “However, there is also a constraint on one’s individuality.”

She also noted that attendance and grades have noticeably been poorer during this week in particular in past years as well as events going on around the campus that are not Greek related.

Combs said there is little reason to change anything about recruitment specifically, but she believes the university shouldn’t revolve so much around something that less than half the students are involved in.

Journalism professor Mark Dolan said he’s generally indifferent about recruitment, but the effects on the students are noticeable. Though he doesn’t change his lesson plan to accommodate the demands of the week, he notices that attendance during this week is lower than others, and that some of the students who are present appear exhausted and distracted.

Gatlin Luckett, a freshman Spanish major who is currently going through formal rounds for the fraternities, missed some time Monday and will miss some time Friday due to a class conflict. In his classes he has noticed an increase in workload with quizzes and tests this week, and while this may not be due to faculty disapproval in recruitment week, he still finds it difficult to balance his time and sees it as a reminder that students are here for education and not just socializing.

“The balancing act I’ve had to perform as of late between social and academic activities has been quite difficult,” Luckett said. “In the end though, it’s just one week we’ve got to suffer through, and after it’s over, we’ll be back to our normal course load.”

Recruitment activities will continue this week and finish with Bid Day on Sunday.

Kyle Wholeber