The spring recruitment process, which gives students an opportunity to learn more about greek chapters and potentially join through a less formal process, started Jan. 25 and concluded Saturday.
“It was an extremely successful week on both the Interfraternity Council side as well as the different chapters,” said Brian Kewin, president of the Interfraternity Council and pre-business sophomore. He added that registration numbers were high this semester with 594 men registered for the 2015 IFC spring recruitment.
Kewin explained that the spring recruitment process is more informal compared to the fall. In the fall, potential new members must visit all 17 chapters during the recruitment process.
“The potential new members have the option to go to whatever house they would like to visit,” Kewin said. “They are not mandated to visit every single house and hear a presentation from each chapter.”
Daniel Rojas, Delta Sigma Phi president and a junior studying molecular and cellular biology, said he prefers the formal fall recruitment process to the more casual spring rush.
“I was a much bigger fan of the way rush was ran in the fall, not only because we are a more recent fraternity but also because I feel like it eliminates the common practice of ‘suicide rushing’ or just picking one house for rush week and ignoring all the others,” Rojas said. “Maybe the house you are a legacy of isn’t truly the best for you as an individual, and as a young freshman, that might not be something you consider going into rush week.”
Zack Erlick, a pre-business sophomore, said he is not a member of Greek Life, because his parents wanted him to focus on his studies during the fall semester of his freshman year.
“I found other clubs I became involved in by the time spring rush came around,” Erlick said.
Kayla Beck, vice president of recruitment for Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and a marketing junior, said Alpha Epsilon Phi gained five sisters during 2015 spring recruitment.
The chapter held two events for their spring recruitment process. Potential new members were invited to a “decorate your own pizookie” night on Tuesday and an Alpha Epsilon Phi and UA themed pictionary game night on Wednesday.
“Spring recruitment is an amazing opportunity for not only women at the UA who are looking to become a part of Greek Life but also for the chapters looking for new members,” Beck said. “The formality of fall recruitment can be difficult, because with over 1,500 women participating, getting to know every single one of them is impossible. With informal spring recruitment, we are able to spend time with the potential new members and are really able to get to know them.”
Betsy Kaplan, an active member of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority and a pre-journalism freshman, said she really enjoyed experiencing the other side of the recruitment process for the first time.
“Meeting the new girls who were in the same position as I was last semester was very exciting, because these girls could be huge assets to our chapter and could potentially become some of my closest friends,” Kaplan said.
Jack Emery, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and a sophomore studying finance and entrepreneurship, said Sigma Phi Epsilon was very satisfied with the quality of potential new members that showed an interest in the chapter.
“With a very diverse pool of potential new members and a developed values-based recruitment process,” Emery said, “we’re very excited to see the new members integrate and bring our chapter to new heights.”
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