Two hundred sixty-five men received bids to 16 Interfraternity Council fraternities Friday night, approximately 67 percent of the men that registered, according to Director of Greek Life Kristin Torrey.
The retention rate was a small increase from last year, Torrey added.
Lambda Chi Alpha welcomed 26 new members, the most of any fraternity. It was increase of 10 men from a year ago.
“Our rush chair did a great job and a lot more of the house got behind rush,” said Kristian Stensland, president of Lambda Chi Alpha. “I’m very excited about the new guys we’re bringing in.”
Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi and Zeta Beta Tau brought in 23 new members, while Sigma Phi Epsilon welcomed 22.
“We basically got all of the guys we wanted, which is an amazing feat,” said Joseph Yates, president of Sigma Chi.
Brian Hasselfeld, president of Zeta Beta Tau, was also thrilled with the new members.
“We’re definitely pleased with the class,” he said. “They’re all going to be great additions to the Greek community.”
Sigma Nu and Phi Delta Theta welcomed their first traditional spring classes and brought in 16 and six new members, respectively.
Beta Theta Pi and Alpha Epsilon Pi both recruited 19 new members, while Kappa Alpha Order took in 18 and Phi Kappa Psi 17. Pi Kappa Alpha brought in 14 new members, Alpha Tau Omega 13 and Beta Chi Theta six.
All IFC presidents seemed to prefer their semester-long rush process to the intense, one-week process of Panhellenic sororities.
“Guys have a whole semester to go out and experience different houses and meet the brothers, which allows them to make an informed decision and is much less stressful than sorority recruitment,” said Prashant Kher, president of Beta Chi Theta.
Pete Madden, recruitment chair of Phi Kappa Psi, agreed.
“It’s a lot easier to get to know the guys over the course of three to four months than it would be if you had just five to six days,” Madden said.
At the same time, there are also some disadvantages to the drawn out, informal rush process.
“You’ve really got to keep your game going all semester,” said Chris Papa, recruitment chair of Sigma Nu.
Brian Hasselfeld, president of Zeta Beta Tau, added that the less organized rush process could be more problematic next year when the entire freshman class lives on The Commons, far away from Greek Row.
Cole Seaton, president of Alpha Tau Omega, said he believed that adding a week or two of formal recruitment at the end of the fall semester would be beneficial for IFC fraternities.
“I think fraternity recruitment would be more effective if we could combine the two,” Seaton said, referring to Pan Hellenic recruitment. “It’s almost too informal that some guys don’t know what to do.”
Torrey agreed.
“If I could take the best things from both processes, that would be great because there are pros and cons to both sides, and a whole different set of pros and cons for the way NPHC groups conduct things,” Torrey said.
“It’s so much more informal that for some students who don’t know as many people, it’s more challenging to decide,” Torrey added. “If they’re spending a lot of time rushing one or two chapters and then are released from the process, they’re stuck. With Panhellenic, you still have choices.”
While the IFC recruitment process may not be perfect, Greg Marino, president of Pi Kappa Alpha, still prefers it to sorority recruitment, which he called “superficial.”
“I guess you can look at the amount of time we spend with these guys,” Marino said. “I know all 14 of them on a personal basis.”
