Rush Rules

1. Auditions
   
1. No groups may schedule callbacks after 6:00 p.m. on nights when there is a singing dessert.
   
2. No alcohol in or around audition space.
2. Singing Desserts
   
   1. All rushees must be extended an invitation.
      
   2. Singing Desserts are not open to members of other singing groups unless invited. See 6. Parties for rules governing singing dessert after parties.
      
3. Rush Meals
   
1. All rushees must be invited to at least one rush meal.
   
2. All rush meals must be held in a Yale dining hall or Residential College common room (includes 12 residential colleges, Commons, Kline, the Kosher Kitchen, and SOM. Not Durfee's! Not Fellows lounges!)
   
3. No more than three seated group members will attend each rush meal per rushee, and you may not substitute seated members at any point after the meal has started. Passers-by may acknowledge the group members and the rushee but cannot participate in the meal.
   
4. The one instance when you can have more than three group members on a rush meal is when two rushees’ meals have been combined (2 rushees, 6 group members, one meal used out of each rushee’s four).
   
5. Sitting down at a table with a Rushee at any eating establishment or bar constitutes an illegal rush meal.
   
6. Respect the privacy of all rush meals.
   
7. Groups may have only four rush meals with any rushee. This does not include the tap night dinner.
   
8. Groups are encouraged to invite rushees to an additional meal open to members of their group and any rushees of the group’s choosing on tap night.
4. Alcohol: The singing groups have agreed to comply with the Yale College Policy on Alcoholic Beverages (Undergraduate Regulations, Chapter XII).
   
1. All rush events and meetings between singing group members and rushees will be free of alcohol and drugs. This includes but is not limited to post-dessert parties, rush meals, and chance encounters.
   
5. Visits
   
   1. Except for freshman counselors, no singing group members may visit rushees' rooms except to deliver invitations to that group’s singing dessert. At no time may a singing group member enter the room, however.
      
   2. There shall be no scheduled meetings on or off campus between rushees and singing group members except rush meals.
      
6. Parties
   
   1. Each group may host one party after and on the same night as the singing dessert. Groups may petition the council if they wish to host a different event with their rushees in place of the singing dessert party.
      
   2. Parties are open to all members of the Yale Community. However, in keeping with the Spirit of Rush, members of other singing groups should only attend if they are invited and their presence is approved by the group or groups hosting.
      
   3. For the duration of Rush, groups shall not invite, either explicitly or surreptitiously, rushees to any party or other events outside of the singing dessert party.
      
   4. Walking rushees home from post-dessert parties is prohibited.
      
   5. Joint parties (all-male group and all-female group, co-hosts) may occur, but invitees other than freshmen need to have both groups’ approval.
      
7. Gifts
   
   1. Gifts are absolutely forbidden. This includes dinner, drinks, term papers, etc.
      
   2. A copy of the group's album, while a gift, is only given with the express intent of exposing the rushee to the group's repertoire, and is therefore allowable.
      
   3. CDs will not be given out at either the Bulldog Days Bazaar or the Freshmen Bazaar. CD’s can only be distributed after a rushee has signed up to audition at Dwight Hall Jam.
      
8. Tap Night
   
   1. No singing group member may tell a rushee explicitly or implicitly that s/he is going to be tapped by that group at any point during rush.
      
   2. Tap begins at 10:00 p.m. and ends at 12:30 a.m.
      
   3. No singing group member may have contact with a rushee after 8:00 p.m. on tap night, unless he or she is notifying the rushee that he or she will not be tapped. A singing group member may not be in any tappee's room before 10:00 p.m.
      
   4. After a group has finished tapping the rushee, all members of the group must exit the entryway regardless of the rushee's response. No member may be left behind in the rushee's room or entryway.
      
   5. All groups must call their definite non-tappees (those who are not on any of a group’s tap lists) before 9:00 p.m.; all rushees must have been contacted by 12:30 am.
      
   6. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors may be tapped at any time after auditioning. All other rules apply until they are tapped. After they are tapped, they may not act as a liaison between the group and rushees.
      
   7. Groups must not encourage rushees to act as liaison between the group and other rushees (i.e. “all of the good people are going to be in my future group”).
      
   8. Rush is a finite process. No group may actively pursue a tappee (a rushee who has agreed to go with a group). All post-tap issues involving rushees shall be governed by the Singing Group Council.
      
9. Post-Tap
   
   1. Undecided tappees must commit by midnight on Sunday following tap.
      
10. Indirect Violations: Spirit of Rush
    
    1. Certain egregious actions which fall outside of the specific parameters outlined in the aforementioned rules may still warrant disciplinary action by the Singing Group Council.
       
    2. Spirit of Rush infractions include, but are not limited to, showing up at another group’s singing dessert party without an invitation or dressed in one’s own group’s paraphernalia, loitering around another group’s table at sign-up jam, waiting outside a singing dessert to “walk freshmen where they need to go,” and generally pressuring a rushee to drop another group’s rush or not attend their dessert/party or to give your own group an indication of his or her preference.
       
11. Additional Amendments (2001, 2005)
    
    1. No group may encourage explicitly or implicitly that any rushee derush a group for any reason.
       
    2. No group may explicitly or implicitly inform a rushee that s/he will not be tapped on the basis of his or her rushing other singing groups.
       
    3. Rush rules take effect when freshmen get to campus.
       
    4. Group members other than rush managers, music directors and business managers may not contact rushees in any way. This includes but is not limited to AIM, phone calls, facebook.com, and text messages.
       
    5. No email list may be compiled at the “Bulldog Days Bazaar.”
       
    6. Email lists may be compiled at the “Freshperson Bazaar” or its equivalent but only for use in verifying that freshmen (or upperclassmen) who signed up during the bazaar do not want to audition.
       
    7. You cannot actively advertise or solicit for your group, including but not limited to wearing group T-shirts, posters, email, etc., from the day freshmen arrive on campus until the day of the Freshmen Bazaar or its equivalent and all day following.
       
    8. There will be no impromptu concerts.
       
12. Additional Amendments (2001)
    
    1. An infraction of Rush Rules will, upon first offense, incur a warning, and upon any subsequent offense will be penalized at the discretion of the Co-Chairs.
       
    2. Singing group members are welcome to report any infractions to the SGC co-chairs in the form of a detailed report that will be corroborated by at least one person not affiliated with a cappella. SGC co-chairs will then rule on the alleged infraction and impose an appropriate penalty.
       
    3. Potential penalties (ultimately, the co-chairs and Betty T will decide the penalty that suits the situation):
       
       • 1st offense: Warning
       • 2nd offense: elimination of tap night dinner in current rush
       • 3rd offense: wait 1 minute to start tapping in current rush
       • 4th offense: wait 5 minutes to start tapping in current rush
       • 5th offense: wait 10 minutes to start tapping in current rush
       • 6th offense: wait 20 minutes to start tapping in current rush
       • 7th offense: wait 30 minutes to start tapping in current rush
       • 8th offense: last or least desired pick in number draw for Woolsey/Dwight/singing dessert in next year’s rush.
       • 9th offense: elimination of tap night dinner in next year’s rush
       • 10th offense: elimination of participation in next year’s singing group council rush
       
    4. Any offenses that transpire after a penalty would normally go into effect will be imposed on the group the following year, or the co-chairs will impose an alternate penalty.