Rush What’s the
? by Rev. Marcus Zill
of Pittsburgh & Other Pittsburgh Area Colleges ✠ University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee ✠ University of Wisconsin - Superior ✠ University of Wyoming ✠ Vanderbilt University (TN) ✠ Wright State University (OH) ✠
Ball State University (IN) ✠ Central Michigan University ✠ Chico State University (CA) ✠ Colorado State University ✠ Dickinson State University (ND) ✠ Harvard University & Oth
Showing up on a college campus as a freshman is both
exciting and a bit scary. Having left behind parents, siblings, friends, and familiar faces at church, the first few weeks can be lonely when you know next to no one, if anyone at all.
H I G H E R
T H I N G S __
There’s also no shortage of communities on campus, both good and bad, out to recruit you.They include religious organizations, clubs and interest groups, and all manner of fraternities and sororities.They will be lined up for you at various orientation fairs, as well as the common meeting places in the quad and student union alike. As a full-time campus pastor for over a decade, I have a bit of very simple advice for you: don’t join anything for at least your first month or two on campus! Why? First of all, you’ve got enough to do already. Get familiar with your newfound freedom, develop a good study routine, and take time to get to know the people you’ll be seeing a lot—those in your dorm, your classes, and, hopefully, those at your church. Second, the workload may be much greater than you have previously experienced.There’s no sense overloading yourself with too many commitments that will take away from your primary vocation of being a student. Moreover, you need the time to faithfully receive Christ’s gifts of Word and Sacrament. Third, while there are a lot of good organizations on campus, you can’t be familiar with all of them the second you arrive. It’s better to wait until you’ve gotten settled.
Finally, we don’t want to see you get involved in organizations where you might find yourself unexpectedly having to compromise your faith.That’s obviously a concern with various campus ministry organizations, but it can also be the case with fraternities and sororities on campus. When we think of Greek-letter fraternities and sororities, we perhaps first think of the Animal House-type parties and antics; but it’s not always so, and many chapters do participate in a lot of good social activities and community programs. No two are the same, and there are also many fine Greek-letter organizations (such as national academic honor societies) that are worth supporting. However, many of these incorporate traditions and rituals of a religious or quasi-religious nature as part of their initiation ceremonies.These may include vows made in the name of a generic god. Often the specifics are not disclosed ahead of time and cannot be discussed outside the organization without the formal approval of the entire chapter. Many incoming freshman are naïve to such things and the spiritual implications since they are often rushed into pledging. This becomes a serious Second Commandment issue.
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a – Morris ✠ University of Minnesota – Twin Cities ✠ University of Northern Colorado ✠ University of Northern Iowa ✠ University of Oklahoma ✠ University of Tennessee ✠ University
