Fraternity spring rush less expensive than fall
Guys looking for a quicker, more low-key way to join a fraternity, take note.
Spring fraternity recruitment begins Jan. 17, and its less structured process translates to a cheaper cost than fall recruitment.
“The recruitment and the new member education process costs a lot of money, so some fraternities can’t financially afford to do it for the fall and spring,” said Robert Satcher, vice president of recruitment for the Interfraternity Council. “It differs from year to year – some fraternities might not get as large a new member class as they wanted to in the fall, so they feel like they need to compensate. So they’ll maybe do spring one year and not the next.”
In contrast to spring, fall recruitment includes two days of formal house tours as well as two days of unstructured rush events. Claudia Shamp, director of the Greek Life Office, said this difference in format reflects in the cost. Fall recruitment costs $50 to $100 depending on when a student registers, while spring recruitment is free – since the men don’t attend house tours, no meals are provided that would need funding from registration fees.
On that Jan.17 , interested students will meet in Tate Grand Hall, where they’ll gather and talk with members of participating fraternities. During the next five days, the potential new members will be invited to fraternity houses for cookouts, dinners and other events. Six days later, new members will return to Tate Grand Hall to sign bid cards.
So far, 18 out of 25 IFC fraternities have signed up to participate in spring recruitment, but Satcher said he expects that number will rise. He said usually about 20 out of the 25 fraternities participate.
He said besides the cost difference, students participate in spring recruitment for several reasons. Students who transferred to the University or were admitted for spring have a chance to join a fraternity without waiting until fall. Also, potential new members who rushed in the fall but for whatever reason did not join a fraternity have a second chance to join.
“A lot of guys are kind of unsure as to what fraternity they want to do, so they wait until spring,” he said. “Over the course of the fall semester, they can judge what a fraternity is like and find a particular one they like.”
Spring rush for the fraternity houses is a less costly way to join the Greek community. ROBYN JOHNSON/Staff
Griffin Reynolds, a sophomore chemistry major from Bainbridge, said that having spent three semesters on campus, he feels certain of his decision to rush. He could not participate in fall recruitment because of practices with the Redcoat marching band and said seeing the strong friendship fraternity members have made him decide to rush this spring.
“Even around campus, if you see a group of guys that you know are in a fraternity together, you can see those guys are really close,” he said. “You can see they’ll be friends for the rest of their lives.”
Unlike panhellenic sororities, Shamp said the fraternities don’t go by a quota system during recruitment – they take as many or as few new members as they want.
“Their recruitment process is a little more continuous. If a fraternity meets a guy that they like, they can ask him to join,” she said. “There’s no restriction on numbers; there’s no restriction on when you join.”
Still, Satcher said in general fraternities take four to 10 new members during spring recruitment, as opposed to about 15 to 30 in the fall. But students shouldn’t be worried about the smaller numbers, he said.
“Receiving a bid is a mutual selection process. The fraternity has to extend a bid and the kid in turn has to accept the bid,” he said. “I would say if you’re going through spring recruitment, you will receive a bid from one fraternity.”
Shamp said so far, around 110 students have registered for fraternity recruitment, but she expects around 140 participants. Students can register from now until Jan. 17 on the IFC Website.
