University of Kansas - Jayhawker Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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OCTOBER 1940 19 r T AS SWEET AS ITS P I N K TEAS RUSH WEEK IS BITTER, BUT MM r f HE forced buzz of conversation, the painted smile, the welter of emotions could only mean one thing Rush Week had come again. On the day of the teas the sorority active dug her six stock rushing questions out of the moth balls, and rejuvenated them with 1940 touches. Automatically she quoted the ques- tions to any rushee that was unlucky enough to fall into her hands. Secretly she hoped that none of the sisters would be around when she told her one good story for the tenth time. Despite her robot-like action, a few novelties of the Week made an impression on her toughened brain. In the first place, it was cool. The sororities felt like the Great Spirit had smiled on them, and for once comfortably displayed their winter duds. To the rushees it was a different story. Seeing no reason why this Rush Week should be any different from any other, they inconveniently left at home their winter even- ing wraps and fur coats. However, they did manage to get better acquainted with each other while hunting for blankets in the El- dridge Hotel. And a new topic was added to the conversation when the girls could look dreamily at the burning log in the fireplace, and tell about the campfires they used to have at good old Camp Minnehaha. The second change: There were fewer girls this year that wanted to join the promise to make or break you houses known as soror- ities. The scarcity in number brought about the happy situation of usually having two girls to entertain one lone rushee. This made the rushee feel very popular and caused the sorority girls to effervesce only half as hard. Another advantage for the sorority girls in their effort to manufacture conversation was that they could always talk to each other about the time they put fish in the president ' s bed, or the night they fell from the fourth step of the fire escape, or the morning that actives locked them in the fraternity room. In its hidden meaning the lack of girls made competition among the rushees less, and rivalry among the sororities greater. Lean and thin, the year brought on a frustrated inner feeling among the Greeks. Everywhere

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SHE SAYS Will by MARY LOU RANDALL OCTOBE lill T On t tin? he: moth 1 ing

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20 felt, it was marked by half-sick grins and cheery words, Oh, we ' re getting along fine, to any inquiring outsider. Dramatic, but hardly sincere. No Grecian, especially a Grecian woman, is anxious to admit this point. It is definitely not a sales plug but rather leads up to the third change. Such quaint practices as spiking and hot boxes were perfected to a greater degree this year. In fact, the F.B.I, men have nothing on the K.U. girls when it comes to making the guilty person say the right thing. Immod- erately, the sugar-coated third degree hit an all-time high. Benefits probably accrue from such action since it causes both parties to think fast and furiously for at least fifteen minutes. Ironic indeed are Pan Hell rushing rules which prohibit any kind of pressure being put on a girl. Inadequate, too, was the release list plan. How do we know who we ' ll want to take by the end of the week? is the pin- wearer ' s defense. Leave every one at all ' possible ' on the list. We may get bumped. THE JAYHA.WKER And so they did get bumped, every one of them in varying degrees. Another startling incident occurred which was new to the author. For obvious reasons neither she nor her sorority sisters had perused that well-known but little-read pamphlet, the Rushing Rules. They leisurely prepared for a rushing date an hour later than the correct time. The visitors were therefore greeted by the housemother and houseman. This broke the monotony for the rushees, however, and enabled them to remember the house better. Knowing women, this senior has always con- sidered Rush Week an Eternal Miracle. In her wildest imagination she can hardly imagine thirty or more feminine minds agreeing on one individual of the same sex, let alone fifteen or twenty. Yet she has seen this phenomenon occur for four years and promise to continue for at least another four. The methods and the means are not always so miraculous as the re- sults especially when strong-minded and well- intentioned persons called alums are present. (AH Photos by Maurice Jackson] I lie v All Prepare