Gavin Guerrette

The a cappella rush process officially came to a close last week. On a tap night filled with tradition last Wednesday, group members raced to celebrate their new taps.

This year, 264 students auditioned for the 15 eligible groups in a competitive process. Typically, four to seven people are tapped for each group. But this rush cycle, Out of the Blue tapped eight new singers and Pitches and Tones tapped 11, according to their Instagram pages.

“Everybody’s always super full of anticipation those last few hours,” Peighton Lotwis ’27, a member of the Whiffenpoofs and the Singing Group Council that oversees the rush process, said. 

The two weeks preceding tap night are taxing for both rushees and active members. Lotwis estimated that a quarter of rushees chose to drop out of rush this year for various reasons.

According to Anika Rodriguez ’27, a second-year member of Proof of the Pudding, active members of the group are deeply involved with numerous events and auditions throughout the process, such as the Extracurricular Bazaar and Woolsey and Marsh Jams.

The Singing Group Council is included on all communication between groups and rushees, and a rushee is not officially tapped until the SGC is formally notified via email that the rushee has confirmed their decision.

“We’re here to just make sure things are fair and equitable, so that groups don’t take advantage of each other,” Lotwis said.

Each group is supposed to follow the rules set by the SGC’s rush handbook.

“There are violations every year, but they’re not generally publicized because they don’t need to be. They’re handled internally,” Lotwis said.

She added that the SGC is currently investigating a group for violations, though she declined to provide specifics.

Joseph Kayne ’27, who is in his second year as business manager for Redhot and Blue of Yale, said that animosity between a cappella groups is rare.

“During rush, it is the one time when the groups are pretty much competing for the same people,” Kayne said.

He explained that groups want their taps to accept their invitation, which can create competition if two groups are vying for the same person. Members participate in extensive deliberations following callback auditions. Many groups create “tap trees,” a ranking system unique to each group that is used to order the rushees that they are considering, Kayne said.

He said the tap process is complicated by various shifting factors.

The Monday before tap night, select rushees received offers of acceptance when pre-tap notices were sent out at 8 a.m. The potential admits had until midnight on Thursday to respond, even after the conclusion of tap night the night prior.

The four days that rushees are allotted to make their decision leaves time for them to carefully consider their choice. That leaves groups in a tense state, as they can only move on to tap another rushee once an offer has officially been rejected.

“Maybe their top choice group hasn’t offered them a spot yet, and so they’re waiting to see if their top choice group will offer them a spot until Wednesday,” Kayne said, explaining that the rushees’ decision time can prolong the process for both sides.

Kayne thinks the pre-tap process should be more streamlined so groups de-rush people faster.

“That is something specifically that the SGC could definitely push groups to do,” Kayne said.

He explained that once a group has filled its tap class, he thinks they should immediately “kill-call,” or reject, everyone else. Rushees could then make a more informed decision, which would in turn make the process more efficient for groups waiting on a response from the rushee, Kayne said.

According to Lotwis, the SGC will stress the importance of timely communication between rush managers and the SGC before and during next year’s rush cycle.

Lotwis said that when groups “hold off” on informing the SGC about a member accepting or declining a tap, the rush process is unnecessarily delayed for other groups and rushees.

The Singing Group Council is made up of five a cappella members.