The Singing Group Council Official Website

The rush rules are the rules set forth and governed by the Singing Group Council during the rush process. To make rush run as smoothly and fairly as possible, all SGC affiliated groups are obliged to follow these rules. Groups are also obliged to distribute these rules and a rush calendar with audition materials, as well as post them on their websites.

As a rushee, it is important for you to familiarize yourself with these rules so that you are more fully aware of how the rush process works and what behavior is allowable. Rush 2010 saw the introduction of "Tap Notifications" into the Rush Rules-- be sure to check out section 9 for these changes. Should a group violate a rush rule, please contact the SGC.

Beginning of Rush
1. The official start of rush is 12:00am on Sunday, August 26.
2. Groups must also refrain from wearing their group t-shirts before the official start of rush, with the exception of performances at freshmen events, such as Freshmen Dinners.
3. No email list may be compiled at the "Bulldog Days Bazaar" or its equivalent.
4. The SGC will send an email outlining rush and briefly explaining the rush rules to every rushee after auditions. Each a cappella group must supply a list of rushees, including their email addresses and phone numbers (if applicable) to the SGC by noon on Monday, September 3th (the day after auditions). This list will be used by the SGC to contact the rushees, but the information in the master list will not be used or seen by anyone but the SGC chairs.
5. There will be no impromptu concerts. Written approval from the SGC co-chairs is required for any on-campus singing engagements beyond those normally associated with rush.
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. Singing at all freshperson functions, including the Fresh Person Conference, FOOT, Harvest, Cultural Connections, the Orientation for International Students, and Freshman Dinners and Picnics will be regulated by the Council. Groups may give a maximum of two performances at freshman picnics and or dinners. There is no rule against two groups singing at the same dinner or same picnic, provided the college Master's Office permits it. All performances at freshman events will be posted on the SGC website, but only with accompanying proof of confirmation from the event organizers or college Master's Office.
Auditions
1. No groups may schedule callbacks after 6:00 on a night when there is a singing dessert.
2. No alcohol in or around audition space.
3. In the event that auditions or callbacks occur during a religious holiday, groups must have slots available on the Friday preceding or the Monday following the holiday weekend so that practicing rushees may also participate.
Singing Desserts
1. All rushees must be extended an invitation. While any member of this singing group may deliver a Singing Group invitation, they must follow the Rush Rule 6a and not enter a rushee's room.
2. Singing Desserts are not open to members of other singing groups unless invited. If members of other groups behave inappropriately while at a Dessert or attend without an invitation, they may be asked to leave.
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, the Law School, and SOM. Not Durfee's! Not Fellows lounges!)
3. No more than three group members (seated or otherwise) will attend each rush meal per rushee, and you may not substitute seated members at any point during the meal. Passers-by may acknowledge the group members and the rushee but cannot participate in the meal.
4. Group members that pass by a rush meal in progress and begin a prolonged conversation with the rushee and group members but simply do not sit down will be considered to be taking part in an illegal rush meal.
5. There will be no large, combined rush meals consisting of multiple rushees and/or more than three group members unless it is the group's tap night dinner. Rush meals can still be scheduled simultaneously and even in the same dining hall, but the meals must remain at separate tables.
6. Sitting down at a table with a rushee at any eating establishment or bar constitutes an illegal rush meal.
7. Respect the privacy of all rush meals.
8. Groups may not have more than four rush meals with any rushee.
9. In addition to the four rush meals, groups may invite the rushees of their choosing to a Tap Night Dinner with current group members during dining hall hours on Tap Night.
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.
Rushee Visits and Communication
1. Except for freshman counselors, no singing group members (including group alumni) may visit rushees' rooms except to deliver that group's singing dessert or callbacks ivitations ONLY (groups may not visit rooms to deliver Tap Night Dinner Invitations). At no time may a singing group member enter the room, however. At no point, however, should these freshmen counselor group members use their access to the rushees to sway their rush decisions.
2. There shall be no scheduled meetings on or off campus between rushees and singing group members (including group alumni) except rush meals.
3. No group may encourage explicitly or implicitly that any rushee derush a group for any reason.
4. 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.
5. Groups must not encourage rushees to act as liason between the group and other rushees (i.e. "all of the good people are going to be in my future group").
6. 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, Twitter, and text messages.
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 may occur, but invitees other than rushees need to have both groups' approval.
Gifts
1. Gifts are absolutely forbidden. This includes dinner, drinks, term papers, invitations to supplementary parties, 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 Bulldog Days Bazaar or its equivalent or the Freshmen Bazaar or its equivalent. They can only be distributed after a rushee has signed up to audition at Dwight Hall Jam.
Tap Notifications:
1. After callback audtions are complete (for Rush 2011, after 3pm on Monday, September 19th) groups may elect, at their discretion, to give a rushee or rushees Tap Notifications. Groups are not required to give Tap Notifications to any of their rushees; however, if a group elects to give a rushee a Tap Notification, then the group is bound to their desicion to tap that rushee on Tap Night.
2. Rushees are under no obligation or expectation to respond in any way to the receival of a Tap Notification. Rushees retain the right to say "yes, no, or maybe" to any group that comes to their door on Tap Night, regardless of receipt of a Tap Notification.
3. Tap Notifications may only be given on a legal rush meal (occuring after 3pm on Monday, September 19th), or over the phone or in an email from the group's Rush Managers, Musical Director or Business Manager (see Rule 6f). If a Tap Notification is given on a rush meal or over the phone, an additional email-form Notification must be sent to the Rushee.
4. Groups are required to alert the SGC of all Tap Notifications they deliver. This will be done in the form of a list of Tap Notifications, submitted by 3pm on Monday September 19th, and may be supplemented in the intervening days prior to Tap Night.
  - The names of all male rushees receiving Tap Notifications (from either men's or mixed groups) will be submitted to a pre-determined SGC Designee. The Designee for Rush 2011 is Sam Sanders (samantha.sanders@yale.edu).
  - The names of all female rushees receiving Tap Notifications (from either women's or mixed groups) will be submitted to a pre-determined SGC Co-Chair. The designated Co-Chair for Rush 2011 is Tom James (tom.james@yale.edu).
Tap Night
1. No singing group may involve a rushee/or rushees in ceremonial pre-tapping events or conversations beyond the scope of legal rush meals and Section 6. This includes but is not limited to parties other than the one sanctioned by the SGC, night-time walks, or formal ceremonies. In addition, singing groups may not give out any Tap Notifications prior to 3pm on Monday, September 19th or after 9pm on Tap Night, as stipulated in 10c.
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 9:00 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 (including group alumni) 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 anytime after auditioning. All other rules apply until they are tapped. After they are tapped, they may not act as a liason between the group and rushees.
7. Rush is a finite process. No group may actively pursue an undecided Tappee after 12:30 AM. All post-tap issues involving rushees shall be governed by the Singing Group Council.
Post-Tap
1. Undecided tappees must commit by midnight on Sunday following tap.
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 around on old campus or 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.
3. No group member may have extended contact with a rushee outside of the scheduled Rush events. This includes but is not limited to long conversations, games/sports, cookouts, impromptu concerts, and homework parties. The term "extended contact" is subject to the discretion of the Singing Group Council and will be imposed within reason, after discussing with all parties involved.
Penalties
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. Freshmen and singing group members are encouraged to report any infractions to the SGC co-chairs in the form of a detailed e-mail that can be corroborated by at least one other witness. SGC co-chairs will then rule on the alleged infraction and impose an appropriate penalty.
3. Potential penalties (ultimately, the co-chairs and/or The Dean of Student Affairs will decide the penalty that suits the situation):
  - 1st offense: a two minute wait at the gate on Tap Night
  - 2nd offense: elimination of tap night dinner in current rush
  - 3rd offense: removal from Woolsey set in the next rush
  - 4th offense: removal from both the Woolsey and Dwight sets in the next rush. Groups may still have a table at Dwight for signups
  - 5th offense: inability to participate in rush in the following year
  - Special offense for violating Rule 5 (alcohol) or extreme permutations of Rule 6b (unauthorized rituals or off-campus meetings): a two minute wait at the gate on Tap Night AND removal from Woolsey set in the next 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.
5. If a group disagrees with the punishment imposed, the group may submit a written argument by email to the co-chairs within a day of being notified of the punishment. The co-chairs will then send it out to the full SGC panlist, accompanied by an explanation of the reasoning behind the punishment. The SGC will then collect a response from each group as to the validity of the punishment. If fewer than two-thirds of the underclassmen groups agree with the punishment, then at least one co-chair and at least one member of the protesting group will meet with the Dean of Student Affairs to discuss. The punishment will stand until and unless the Dean of Student Affairs sides with the protesting group.

*** WOOLSEY JAM - 10:30 PM ***
Sunday, August 26, 2012

*** SGC A CAPPELLA INFORMATIONAL MEETING- 4:30 PM ***
Monday, August 27, 2012

*** DWIGHT HALL SIGN UP JAM - 10:00 PM ***
Friday, August 31, 2012

Auditions
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Sunday, September 2, 2012

Mixed Company singing dessert
Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Living Water singing dessert
Wednesday, September 5, 2012

The Society of Orpheus and Bacchus and
the New Blue singing desserts
Thursday, September 6, 2012

Redhot & Blue singing dessert
Friday, September 7, 2012

Spizzwinks singing dessert
Saturday, September 8, 2012

Out of the Blue singing dessert
Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Duke's Men singing dessert
Monday, September 10, 2012

Shades singing dessert
Tuesday, September 11, 2012

The Alley Cats and
Something Extra singing desserts
Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Baker's Dozen and
Proof of the Pudding singing dessert
Thursday, September 13, 2012

Callbacks
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Sunday, September 16, 2012

*** TAP NIGHT ***
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Monday, September 17, 2012 – Friday, September 21, 2012