This spring’s reorganized recruitment and bid seasons have started a new, longer process of reform to the fraternity system.

‘It was rather dramatic and rather controversial, but it was a long time coming as well,’ said Joshua McIntosh, senior associate director for the Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning.

The reorganized recruitment process, led by the Interfraternity Council rather than the individual chapters, was just the beginning in a long series of changes to help increase membership.

‘Some people are satisfied with 10 new members, but that to me is not the definition of a successful class,’ McIntosh said. He said he would prefer to see at least 20 men in each spring pledge class, and 10 to 15 in the fall.

Two hundred and eighty-seven men signed up for recruitment. Of these, 220 went through the recruitment process, and all but 13 received bids to chapters.

‘(This recruitment) was quite a bit larger,’ McIntosh said, ‘but it’s still not there. We cannot settle for 220 people going through the process in the spring.’

Two chapters, Acacia and Phi Kappa Theta, got no new members, McIntosh said.

Both fraternities are chapters that do not have a traditional fraternity house. Having the recruitment in classrooms rather than the houses was supposed to even the playing field between chapters with houses and those without.

The move achieved this, said Phi Kappa Theta president David Biggins, whose Livingston Avenue house is recognized as their chapter’s residence by the IFC.

‘I don’t know what else (the IFC) could do,’ Biggins said. ‘They were out recruiting in fall.’

Some brothers regretted the switch from house to classroom.

‘I liked the rush process better he way it was … when kids would come and tour the house for a few minutes and meet the brothers there,’ said Kelly Brewster, president of Sigma Nu, which received four pledges.

A small part in decreasing pledge numbers was the less-relaxed atmosphere in the classroom compared to the house, he said.

‘The selling point for potential new members is not ‘do you have a snazzy video,” said McIntosh, who visited all of the in-classroom presentations. ‘It’s ‘what do you have to offer me for the next three-and-one-half years?”

Another problem, Biggins said, was the rule that forbids brothers from contacting potential new members outside the IFC-sponsored activities.

‘It restricted us from our type of rush,’ he said. ‘We couldn’t do what we’ve done in the past to interest the kids in our house, and the allure of having a house on Comstock or Walnut just overwhelmed them.’

OGLEL and the IFC are already working on refining the process for next year. Changes include breaking Saturday’s 12-hour marathon classroom tour into two days, taking more time to make sure each chapter has rooms with hi-tech equipment, and trying to hold recruitment on a weekend that does not force it to compete with two home basketball games and the Super Bowl.

Interfraternity Council president Chris VanDeWeert said some houses were very disappointed with the numbers they had.

‘We’re definitely going to work with them to see what we can do to help them out … they just have to come to us first,’ VanDeWeert said.

To this end, OGLEL is offering continuous open bidding as an option to both chapters that want to increase their pledge class and men who did not participate in the first recruitment round, McIntosh said.

Phi Kappa Theta hopes to get five or six pledges by next week through the open bidding, Biggins said.

The fundamental problem prompting the open bid period is simply not enough men are joining the greek system, he said.

‘Until the fraternities themselves change how they do business, it’s going to be hard to get people attracted it,’ McIntosh said.

Improvements need to be made in following risk management policies and developing and publicizing leadership, philanthropy and community service activities, McIntosh said. Some fraternities are already doing this, including Sigma Phi Epsilon with its dogdgeball tournament last fall.

Most first-year students only know the greek system they see on weekends, McIntosh said.

McIntosh is in no way seeking to change the nature of social fraternities, but said that being social does not have to mean engaging in high risk behavior.

‘It’s got to be more than just a place to hang out,’ McIntosh said.

Published on February 19, 2005 at 12:00 pm