What is pref night?
 

I'm a tad confused at the moment. So apparently there are underground fraternities at my school in addition to the recognized IFC fraternities. However, all the fraternities, both recognized and underground were tabling together on campus so I didn't know there was a difference except now I know the underground ones rushed last week and recognized ones are rushing this week.

My initial thought was the rush as many fraternities as I can and see which ones give me a bid. So having been through rush week last week with a underground fraternity, I received a bid.

However, this following week is the official rush week for IFC recognized fraternities on my campus and they all seem to have events scheduled at the same times, so how do I go to all of them? Am I suppose to make up my mind and just rush one? All of them also have something called a "Pref Night" at the end going from 6-10PM.

I was hoping to rush at least two of the IFC fraternities. But since all their events happen at the same time, would it be rude of me to leave one and go to another one late? Would I be able to attend multiple fraternities' pref night as well?

Sorry I'm just a bit confused, hopefully you don't find this silly.

That's odd -- I've never heard of fraternities having a "pref night" -- it might be something particular to your campus.

The usual idea is that you pick and choose an assortment of events from different chapters to attend.

As for recognized vs unrecognized: recognized fraternities have the support and backing of the school, which can make your life much better. On my campus, this means the ability to recruit on campus, being able to participate in all-Greek events, having access to Greek Life advisers, and being allowed to schedule events with the recognized organizations.

Pref Night
 

On my campus pref night for the fraternities is essentially a semi-formal dance. It's at the end of rush week, and it's after the bids have been extended and accepted. Kind of a way for the fraternities to show off their pledges, I guess? Guys all have dates and usually go to a somewhat nice place for dinner, followed by a dance at a hotel or somewhere similar. Often, it's more of a "Greek mixer"; lots of blind dates where the older brothers and sorority women find dates for their new members.

OK, to clear something up.

If fraternities are tabling in plain sight with other organizations, they CANNOT be called "underground." They may not be recognized by the IFC/the school, but they most likely are recognized by their national headquarters. Real underground fraternities are not recognized by the school OR their HQ and recruit and operate in secret (hence the name).

Sometimes groups aren't recognized by the school for stupid and bogus reasons. I wouldn't rule them out. I would ask if they are working toward becoming re-recognized. Although...if they're allowed to table at a school event, that kind of doesn't make any sense.

I have never heard of a fraternity pref night.

I've heard of fraternity pref, but I haven't actually seen it in action.

I attend UC Riverside and I guess things are a tad different around here. Pref night is before the give you bids, they say it's to show how serious you are about joining them.

To show I'm not lying: http://www.pikeucr.com/home (look at their rush events)

And another thing is, the underground fraternities table in broad daylight with all the other fraternities but they don't have a national HQ or anything. I guess someone created the letters themselves.

To show I'm not lying: http://www.betaupsilondelta.com/

Not having a national HQ means that they are either a local or a regional (in the case of this group Beta Upsilon Delta). It doesn't mean that they are underground.

edited to add:

Pref night for fraternities is usually a nice dinner or get together where the members get one last chance to talk to the rushees before voting to hand out bids.

To be clear, nobody is questioning your honesty. We're just trying to get everyone on the same page using the same terms. Believe me, if people thought you were making stuff up, the replies would be very different.

A fraternity named BUD... oh my.

Well, if you want to get technical ... it would be BYD lol. But yeah, BUD is pretty funny too.