The Middlebury Campus

Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Angela Evancie

Glass shattered and metal crumbled. No, Public Safety isn't impounding your car for the mass amounts of parking tickets you have acquired for leaving it behind Proctor overnight for the twentieth time, but a car is getting smashed. It's Saturday, and Kappa Delta Rho (KDR) is hosting a car-smash as a part of Rush week.

"Rush is like summer camp. It's so much fun!" exclaimed Tavern member Caroline Wade '09.5. Last week was Rush week and the social houses on campus hosted a variety of events in order to meet prospective pledges. Although the necessity of sobriety seems obvious to those hosting bat-wheeling college kids, some are surprised to learn that Middlebury's Rush week is nothing like the crazy drunken run-arounds depicted in movies.

"It's rather low-key compared to what Greeks do at other schools, but that kind of just fits the Middlebury mold," said Tavern Rush Chair Dave Birr '09.

In fact, Middlebury Rush events are sub-free.

"Guidelines for Rush are set by the Inter-House Council and specifies a 12-day period over which the houses are invited to host at least five sub-free events to promote the socialization between members and nonmembers," said IHC President and KDR President Jess Weiss '07. "We hope that the period of Rush creates excitement among the student body and displays the positive characteristics that social houses can provide the Middlebury community."

The social house members seem to support these guidelines.

"It's really important to get to know these people when you're sober," emphasized KDR Rush Chair Celey Schumer '09.

Birr agreed that rushing a social house is all about making connections with your fellow pledges and the current members of the house.

"It really isn't about the events at all. They are really more a context in which to meet people and find a new social group," he said.

KDR member Jason Jude '08 attested that his primary reason for rushing was the people and the relationships that he formed with them.

"I rushed because when I was a freshman one of the senior [members] showed me around, and once I started hanging out down here I realized there were lots of cool people," he said.

Rush events, though, are more than simply hanging out with members and touring houses.

"Middlebury's not a big Greek school, so we wanted to make our Rush events fun and different," explained Schumer.

Continued...

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