Recruitment Rules

The Recruitment Rules define and explain exactly what actions are allowed and not allowed by student groups regarding recruitment of incoming undergraduate and graduate students. The rules are pertinent from Campus Preview Weekend in April until the Activities Midway during Orientation in late August / early September. Additionally, clarifications on these rules that have been requested and answers to questions that ASA Exec has been asked are listed here.

ASA Recruitment Rules

Approved by the ASA Executive Board, August 2011

Contents

• Introduction
• Spring through Summer
• Advertisements Moratorium Period
• Events Moratorium Period
• Enforcement

Introduction

The following "Recruitment Rules" have been established by the Association of Student Activities (ASA). In establishing these rules, we have two primary goals:

• To balance the demands of new academics, new living environment, student groups, and other components of the MIT experience on new students, and avoid conflicting with other stakeholders in the extended Orientation process.
• To preserve fairness between student groups, taking into account both variation in on-campus availability of members and variation in groups' own resources.

All ASA-recognized groups (except dormitories), and any subsidiaries of ASA-recognized groups (such as fraternity chapters under the Interfraternity Council) are mandated to follow these rules.

Exemptions to the below rules may be sought by e-mailing the ASA Executive Board at asa-exec@mit.edu at least two weeks before the date for which the exception is needed.

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Spring through Summer

Between Campus Preview Weekend (CPW) and the Activities Midway (during Orientation), new students may only be contacted if they have previously provided their contact information (such as at the CPW Activities Midway) or if they initiate contact with a group.

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Advertisements Moratorium Period

The following advertisement rules take effect as of 12:01AM on the day three weeks prior to the ASA Activities Midway, and continue until the Activities Midway begins during Orientation. This period will henceforth be referred to as the "Advertisement Moratorium Period" within this document.

As a general guideline, no advertising is allowed to new students who did not specifically request advertising from the group, nor are advertising methods permitted that only a few groups have the ability to use.

Permitted advertising methods include:

• Group website (group.mit.edu, web.mit.edu/group/, etc.)
• Facebook groups
• ASA First Year Summer Mailing (for eligible groups)
• Postering
  • On public boards - one per group per board, no larger than 8.5"x11", and not in violation of any other postering rules. NOTE: This is different from regular postering rules.
  • On group's private boards
• Advertising using Infinite Display
• Contacting individuals who...
  • were known to group members before the start of the summer, or
  • who have signed up to be contacted (e.g., on a group website, joining the Facebook group, by emailing the group, etc.)

Disallowed advertising methods include:

• Inviting incoming students to join Facebook groups (excepting those who can be contacted under the terms above)
• Mass emails (excepting those who can be contacted under the terms above)
• Handing out flyers on campus (before the ASA Midway)
• Advertising in The Tech
• Extremely limited reserved advertising spaces:
  • Lobby 7 kiosks
  • Student Center reserved drop poster spaces
  • Infinite Corridor reserved display cases
  Note: exemptions for non-recruitment purposes may be requested by email to asa-exec@mit.edu at least two weeks in advance
• Otherwise actively collecting or soliciting any information from new students

Groups must not evade these restrictions by encouraging others to do this sort of advertising on their behalf.

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Events Moratorium Period

The following event rules take effect as of 12:01AM on the day three weeks prior to the ASA Activities Midway, and continue until the end of the ASA Activities Midway. This period will henceforth be referred to as the "Events Moratorium Period" within this document.

During the Events Moratorium Period:

• Groups may not hold events that include a recruiting component.
• Groups may not hold open events that they would not ordinarily hold during the rest of the year. Groups may hold "regular" events such as meetings, practices, and rehearsals, but such events may not include any recruitment and must follow the advertisement rules above.
• Advertising for events that take place during the Events Moratorium Period may only include methods in which recipients have opted-in to receiving news about your group.

Determining whether an event has a "recruiting component" is a holistic process, rather than evaluation of a particular definition. Groups are encouraged to contact the Executive Board if they have questions about whether or not some event has a recruiting component. In general, the following are a sign that your event has a recruiting component and is therefore not allowed:

• Advertising for your event is substantially more extensive than for events during the rest of the year, or includes more language encouraging newcomers. We encourage limiting advertising to emailing your membership list.
• Your event is designed to be more newcomer-focused.
• You are putting substantially more effort into planning it than you would a similar event during the rest of the year. (Note that if there is not a similar event during the rest of the year, you are not allowed to hold the event at all.)
• You intend to take sign-ups for your group or mailing list at the event.

This Moratorium also applies to events not organized by individual groups. Groups are not allowed to recruit at Orientation events, including events organized by the Undergraduate Orientation SLOPE Committee and Freshmen Pre-Orientation Programs. Two automatic exemptions to this are the ASA Activities Midway and the Athletics Gateway event. However, groups that participate in the Athletics Gateway may be given lower priority for booth space and/or performance time at the ASA Activities Midway (see: Comparing Privileges).

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Enforcement

The ASA Executive Board shall have discretion in interpreting these rules. For clarifications or exceptions, contact asa-exec@mit.edu.

Violations may come to the attention of the Board via regular ASA oversight activities or through formal complaints e-mailed to asa-exec@mit.edu by MIT community members. The Board will consider each case, and if necessary, impose upon the group found to be in violation of the Recruitment Rules the appropriate penalty or set of penalties from the following list of punishments:

• Warning
• Monetary fine
• Mandatory community service
• Barring from participation in the First Year Summer Mailing (FYSM)
• Loss of ASA activities midway space
• Loss of bulletin board space
• Loss of office/locker space
• Suspension from event/room registration privileges for specified duration
• Group suspension
• Group derecognition

During the Recruitment Moratorium, all Publicity Guideline violations will be fined at triple the normal rate (see: Publicity Guidelines). ASA may also choose to fine even for a first offense or to assess additional fines for egregious violations.

If more serious punishments than those listed are required, the ASA Executive Board reserves the right to involve the Undergraduate Association, Graduate Student Council, the Division of Student Life, and/or other relevant MIT entities.

Decisions by the ASA Executive Board affecting time-sensitive privileges are final. Decisions that are not time-sensitive may be appealed through the regular ASA appeals process. For more information, please refer to the ASA Bylaws.

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