Spring fraternity rush kicked off Sunday, as roughly 400 perspective members became the first group to participate in a new formal rush system.

The Interfraternity Council held their mandatory informational meeting at 5 p.m. in the North Ballroom of the Student Union Memorial Center.

This spring, the UA IFC will host its first formal fraternity rush process. This new formal process will be similar to the formal fall sorority recruitment that the IFC has done in the past.

“”IFC is doing things differently this year,”” Vice President of Programming Nick Macchiaroli said. “”It’s more of a formal rush process.””

Zachary Nicolazzo, coordinator for UA Fraternity and Sorority Programs said this is the first semester that IFC has reorganized rush week as a formal event, ensuring that all 400 men participating in rush visit all 22 fraternity houses.

“”Larger houses will still get the exposure that they want, but it will help out smaller chapters at the same time,”” Macchiaroli said.

Prior to this semester, “”rush week”” consisted of rush participants visiting only houses that they were interested in, rather than them making a visit to every house.

Mike Howard, a finance junior and member of Zeta Beta Tau said that in years past, smaller fraternities or those without houses were the underdogs of IFC recruitment.

Macchiaroli said this semester potential new members would be required to visit each participating chapter.

Each recruitment group will consist of 20 potential new members and will be lead by IFC delegates, Macchiaroli said. While the new format will be more formal, it will not be identical to sorority recruitment.

“”When a PNM (potential new member) goes to the front door, the members inside won’t be bouncing and chanting like sorority recruitment,”” Macchiaroli said. “”It will still be very lax.””

Chapters that are farther off campus, or those without houses, will be placed in designated spots on campus, for convenience purposes as well as more publicity, Macchiaroli said.

“”This will hopefully bring new members to smaller fraternities and increase IFC membership as a whole.”” said Jordan Searles, IFC vice president of membership.

Tyler Michalowski, vice president of recruitment for Phi Kappa Tau, said the new process will really benefit his fraternity, which is considered one of the smallest on campus.

“”We get to see a lot more faces, which will help us out in the long run,”” Michalowski said. “”The more guys that see the smaller fraternities, the more guys will want to join them.””

Michael Riley, a nutritional sciences freshman said he thought it was a good idea to make everyone go to every house.

“”I’m excited because I just wanted to look at two fraternities but now we have to look at all of them,”” Riley said.

Jacob Kahle, an engineering management freshman said this was his second time rushing and he thought the new process would give him a better shot at finding a house that fit him.

“”That gives us more open-mindedness and more variety,”” Kahle said. “”We might find something we weren’t looking for, so it will be a lot better for us.””