For most Greek organizations, formal recruitment won’t begin until Winter Quarter. But two groups have already started welcoming potential members – and it’s a musical affair.
“If you don’t like music,” said Tim Peterson, fraternity education officer for Phi Mu Alpha, “we’re going to butt heads.”
Phi Mu Alpha and Sigma Alpha Iota, a fraternity for women, are the two music-oriented Greek groups on campus. Both have been holding rush events this week.
Rushees who attended Phi Mu Alpha’s pirate-themed bash played video games while those who went to SAI’s Musical Fall Rush got their faces painted.
The organizations showed off barbershop quartets, jazz bands and other musical groups. Such chances are hard to come by in a musically competitive school like NU, said Jamie Green, vice president of recruitment for SAI.
“(SAI) has provided me with a plethora of opportunities to be in music,” said Green, a Weinberg senior.
Members of both groups also emphasized other facets of their organizations. While everyone shares a passion for music, not all members are clarinet players and pianists. Some come from pre-medical or engineering backgrounds as well, said Green, who is a religion major.
And no one has to be a good singer to join.
“You can be a horrible singer and we’ll help you out,” Green said.
Members come from all over the “musical spectrum,” said Phi Mu Alpha’s Peterson, a Weinberg junior.
“Some people have played piano for 10 years,” he said. “Some people have never sang a note in their life.”
Rushees at both fraternities will get a taste of Chicago tonight. SAI members will serenade the rushees with songs from the musical that shares the city’s name, while Phi Mu Alpha will take potential members to Chicago for a night of miniature golf.
Phi Mu Alpha, the largest music fraternity in the world, became a national fraternity in 1900. Three years later SAI was instituted in Michigan, and in 1904, the Beta chapter of the group was founded at NU. The Iota chapter of Phi Mu Alpha followed in 1910 and is now one of the fraternity’s largest and oldest chapters.
Both organizations fall under the jurisdiction of the Residence Hall Association and are not affiliated with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. Members can concurrently join a traditional sorority or fraternity.
SAI won’t initiate their freshmen until Winter Quarter, but freshmen can join Phi Mu Alpha this quarter.
Once initiated, new members of both groups must perform a concert for the chapters.
Until last year, Phi Mu Alpha was one of the few chapters in the country to have dedicated housing. It lost its exclusive housing rights to the building at 626 Emerson St. when the Office of Student Affairs learned that members were soliciting non-members to live in the house.
About 10 members still live in the house, and a few rush events were held there after the chapter received approval. Many of the displaced members still live together in clusters around campus.
While this arrangement challenges the fraternity, it also forces members to “branch out a bit,” said Joseph Hoover, assistant fraternity education officer and a Weinberg junior.
Although 15 people are rushing Phi Mu Alpha this fall, down from 20 last year, Peterson described rush efforts as successful because many of the students coming to events are far from the chapter’s stereotype.
“We’ve had a really good mix,” he said.
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