David BrodyFraternities saw an increase in new pledges this semester, disproving fears that last semester’s alcohol ban would lower Rush numbers.
The fraternities boasted a combined total of 223 pledges, an increase of 10 people from last year, said Interfraternity Council President Alex Curcuru. He also noted that 330 students attended Rush, also an increase from the last Rush period.
“Many freshmen and sophomores wanted to see what the house was about and what they had to say,” said Curcuru.
Curcuru said that not only did numbers increase, but that they rose in spite of some houses’ decisions to accept fewer pledges. One fraternity, Kappa Sigma, only took 19 pledges this year as compared to last year’s total of 29.
Curcuru attributed these higher pledge numbers to an increased effort from the fraternity houses to woo new brothers.
Earlier this semester fraternities had expressed concern that the alcohol ban could negatively impact recruitment efforts. Junior Sam Fitz, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said the ban affected the image freshmen had of Greek life.
“This year, the freshmen haven’t seen the way the campus usually is,” said Fitz. “We’re spending a lot more money on Rush this year. Usually we just rely on guys to show up at the house. This year we’re really making Rush bigger and better than ever.”
Fraternity efforts to improve rush seem to have paid off. Sophomore Alex Waters, Sigma Nu’s co-Rush chair, organized his fraternity’s Rush events with his sophomore co-chair Hari Amar. Waters said that he and Amar had taken last semester’s alcohol ban in stride and planned a strong series of Rush events.
“The regulations really didn’t have as big as an effect as everyone thought they would,” said Waters.
While Sigma Nu’s pledge class was smaller this fall than it had been in previous semesters, Waters explained that it was not due to problems with the alcohol ban. Sigma Nu was looking not for quantity but for pledges who fit well with the fraternity brothers.
“We’re very excited about the pledge class, and Ben [Kornfeld, Fraternity Marshall] is ecstatic,” said Waters.
Sophomore Joey Spinner, Rush chairman for Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), said that the alcohol ban did not lower the number of students rushing but did push the houses to put more effort into their rush events.
“We were getting to meet kids at the Rush events. In the past, we got to meet the kids first semester,” said Spinner. “We didn’t make our Rush events bigger-we just made a greater effort to meet people. I think there was more overall effort from the entire community. I think everyone really put in effort to meet kids. It was really overall throughout the whole chapter. Everyone was rushing, it wasn’t just me and my co[-chair].”
Since many of the students rushing had not been exposed to the party side of Greek life, Spinner thinks that it may have created an even stronger pledge class. Although he does not see the alcohol ban as beneficial, he found that AEPi pledges were more interested in brotherhood than alcohol.
“It really helped get quality guys interested not just in alcohol but in a fraternity,” said Spinner. “We had guys join the fraternity for the fraternity brothers.”
Freshman Barry Dan expressed the same sentiment. In rushing this year, Dan wanted to expand his social circle and found that the alcohol ban actually made it easier to get to know people.
“It was easier to meet people who were in fraternities and to see who friends for life will be,” said Dan.
Freshmen Dave Wolpert echoed Dan’s experience in saying that he liked the guys he ended up meeting during rush.
“I liked the guys in SAE and thought Greek life would be fun,” said Wolpert. “Also, being in a fraternity will add to my social life.”
Earlier this semester, Women’s Panhellenic Association President Nicole Soussan reported that sorority Rush also went well, with every potential member that turned in a preference card on the last night of activities receiving a bid to a sorority the next morning-something that did not happen last year. This success, combined with every chapter meeting its quota (a specific number of new members needed in relation to the size of this year’s pledge class), made for a successful Rush.
“If you look at the numbers, they’re pretty much the same as last year,” she said of the approximately 280 women who rushed. “The potential new members were just as enthusiastic about Greek life, and the community was just as excited to have them. This is good evidence that this is not a community based on or that highly values alcohol consumption, but instead values sisterhood, philanthropy and a strong commitment to academics.”