Seven fraternities extended bids during men’s winter recruitment last weekend, one more fraternity than last year when six fraternities extended 26 bids.
Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity each saw two men sink bids; Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity and Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity each saw three and Zeta Psi fraternity saw seven. The number of new members is generally consistent with those from last year’s winter rush process.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and Sigma Nu fraternity both participated in winter rush as well, but representatives did not respond to requests for comment by press time. SAE has not historically held rush during the winter, but did so in 2013.
In the past four years, the number of fraternities that participate in recruitment during the winter term has fluctuated between five and seven. Recruitment numbers in the winter tend to be significantly lower than in the fall.
“Some houses choose not to participate in winter rush because they choose to completely fill their new member classes in the fall,” Interfraternity Council vice president Ian Woon ’15 said.
The total number of men who participated in recruitment was not available by press time, Interfraternity Council president Wil Chockley ’15 said. He declined to comment further.
The majority of men that rush during the winter term either are returning from a fall off-term or were dissatisfied with fall rush results, Sig Ep president Eli Derrow ’15 said.
After 35 men accepted bids from Sig Ep in the fall, an unusually high number, winter recruitment numbers were lower than normal, Derrow said. This winter Sig Ep saw 11 men, nine of whom shook out. The fraternity’s sophomore class now consists of 37 members, the largest it has been in the past three years.
Ashneil Jain ’15, the president of Zete, said that some of the men that rushed this weekend were unsure about rushing in the fall and either wanted to get “a better sense of the scene” or were not interested in joining a fraternity until becoming friends with members.
This year’s numbers are slightly higher than in past years, Jain said. Zete extended eight bids to the 14 men who rushed, compared to last winter when the fraternity extended seven bids to the nine men that rushed.
Noah Reichblum ’15, the president of Alpha Chi, said the number of extended bids this winter is in line with those of previous years. Last year, the fraternity gained one new member.
Tri-Kap president Anka Tezcan ’15 confirmed that three men accepted bids, the same number that joined the fraternity last winter.
Alpha Delta fraternity, Beta Alpha Omega fraternity, Bones Gate fraternity, Chi Heorot fraternity, Gamma Delta Chi fraternity, Phi Delta Alpha fraternity, Psi Upsilon fraternity and Theta Delta Chi fraternity did not participate in winter recruitment.
Though rush occurred on both Friday and Saturday, Chi Gam, SigEp, Tri-Kap and Zete were only open for rush on Friday, while Alpha Chi was only open on Saturday. SAE and Sigma Nu were open on both nights.
The number of bids extended in winter fraternity recruitment tends to be smaller than winter sorority recruitment, when last year 95 women were extended bids.
Nathan Busam ’17, who accepted a bid from Zete this weekend, said that though he rushed in the fall and was called back for a second night, he dropped out. He decided to rush again in the winter because he was more prepared for the process and felt more comfortable in the types of social situations that come with recruitment.
“After reflecting, I realized the whole rush process was about developing social skills and it helped me meet a lot of new people,” Busam said.
He said recruitment was largely what he expected and was a good experience. He chose Zete partially because the fraternity recruited some of his friends in the fall.
This recruitment season follows the first fall rush that saw men becoming full-fledged fraternity members after accepting bids, a change from previous IFC recruitment periods when new members completed pledge terms before being officially inducted into a house. On Sept. 21, the IFC voted unanimously to eliminate pledge terms.
