The first is Thanksgiving, when many fraternities throw alcohol, drugs, and strippers at prospective members to impress them and make sure they decide to rush their house.
The second is rush week, and the third is Slope Day.
Slope Day has actually been relatively incident-free in recent years, and so has rush week, with the occasional exception of citations for hard alcohol and things like that. Thanksgiving has been somewhat quiet since the Sigma Pi incident in 2007.
This year's rush week at Cornell, unfortunately, did a lot to set back the Greek system.
First there were the now-infamous dress code instructions sent to members of Pi Beta Phi at Cornell. The instructions said things like this:
On Clothes
— Denim leggings are appropriate as long as it’s done right: aka, not from American Apparel and worn with chic, cool, chunky boots over them and a longer top.
— No satin dresses. No one looks good in satin dresses unless it’s from Betsey Johnson or Dolce & Gabbana, you weigh less than 130 pounds, have three pairs of Spanx on and it’s New Years Eve.
To be honest, I didn't think the Pi Phi stuff was particularly bad. Every house wants its members to look good, especially for rush. The person writing these instructions (recruitment chair?) seems a little more maniacal than most sorority officers, but is this really any different from a fraternity which might make its house exceptionally clean for rush, or position its more awkward brothers away from the door? During sorority recruitment, prospective members hear similar messages of sisterhood, philanthropy, etc., at each house, so appearances often play a large role in their decision of which houses to rush. Moreover, different days of sorority rush have different requirements for dress, so it can be difficult for new members to understand exactly what they're supposed to wear.
Still, the arrogant tone and impressive detail of these instructions earned it a story on the Huffington Post, and some negative PR for the Cornell Greek system.
The more serious incident during rush week was the hospitalization of three potential members after they had been drinking at Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike). Rumor is that the rushees were playing a game known as bounce, in which participants drop a wine bottle on a table, and then take a drink. The idea is to finish the wine bottle before it cracks open. You can see the potential for disaster.
The Sun article discusses hazing, but I don't think that was the issue. It seems that the rushees were drinking of their own volition, but that none of the Pike brothers cut them off or put an end to the game. The brothers also decided to drive the rushees to the hospital, instead of calling for an ambulance as part of the medical amnesty policy. This was a poor decision by the chapter leadership (who may have also been very drunk, for what we know), and might land them in additional trouble.
It isn't clear what will come of these incidents. Pike's recognition has been suspended, and they'll probably lose a year of recruitment and be forced to reorganize. There will certainly be seminars on alcohol use and safe practices for its brothers.
As for Pi Phi, the chapter did nothing wrong, although I'm not sure if the incident had a negative impact on their rush numbers. Regardless, sororities will probably be more careful about how they phrase instructions for rush week dress code.
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