Fall fraternity recruitment, which this year was more informal and less structured, boasted high turnout — with participation nearly double that of last fall.
Nine of Tufts' 10 fraternities participated this semester, with a total of 56 bids extended to sophomores and transfer students with sophomore standing, according to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Su McGlone. Recruitment lasted from mid-September to Oct. 5, she said.
Alpha Epsilon Pi was the only fraternity that did not participate in fall recruitment, which Interfraternity Council (IFC) President Tommy Castle confirmed in an email.
This fall's recruitment implemented a more relaxed and less structured process than has been in place in past years, according to McGlone.
"In the past, it has been that strict one week where all the rush events take place," Castle, a junior, said.
Organizers this year questioned the need for a highly structured fall rush, which tends to take place on a smaller scale than the spring rush.
"Historically, spring recruitment tends to be larger than fall because freshmen do not join in the fall," Su McGlone said in an email.
The new, more informal process that organizers elected to pursue is better suited to the smaller numbers typical of fall recruitment, Castle said.
"We decided to have the chapters decide for themselves when they wanted their events, and we made the deadlines for all their bid lists to be in," Castle said. "We thought to have it be pretty informal worked out for smaller numbers."
In line with the new procedure, recruitment this semester was extended from its usual span of one week to three weeks, McGlone said.
"Fraternities had the opportunity to hold as many or as few events as they wanted to in that time," McGlone said. "A longer, more relaxed recruitment style allows for chapters to get to know potential new members and find individuals who fit with the values of their organizations over a longer period of time, which can be very positive."
Although recruitment differed structurally from that of past years, the rules of the process and rush events did not change.
"All the events are still dry, all the normal rules of rush apply," Castle said.
Several fraternities agreed that the new process not only went smoothly, but was a nice change of pace as well.
"It was a little different than the past few years … It gave us a lot more flexibility to do events when we wanted," Delta Tau Delta (DTD) president Nathan Beaton, a senior, said. DTD gave out seven bids this year, he noted.
"Because fall rush is typically less intense [than spring rush], it was appropriate," Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) President Matthew Sanda, a junior, said, adding that ATO gave out five bids.
Brothers doubted whether such a lenient process would work during spring recruitment, however.
"I don't know if it would be as effective in the spring," Beaton said. He pointed to the fact that most fall recruits have a better idea of what fraternity they would like to join, which makes an informal process easier to implement.
DTD Rush Chair Aaron Bartel, a senior, agreed, adding that a more structured process works well for the spring because it allows freshmen to experience a wide variety of fraternities.
"In the spring, people don't know necessarily where they want to go," Bartel said.
The new process did, however, run into some issues, Sanda noted. The Fraternity and Sorority Judiciary (FSJ) Board this year did not respond to the fraternities with bid approvals by the predetermined date, he said.
Castle explained that the FSJ Board, reinstated in 2010, is in charge of approving fraternity's bid choices by evaluating the students' GPAs and probation records. Until this is done, students cannot officially be cleared to begin the pledging process.
"We're going to have to plan ahead better in the future … because it can take a while to plug in everyone's numbers and get them cleared," Castle said. "I guess we still have a lot to learn … but it's kind of a fresh start with Su, and we're looking to do good things."
Organizers were pleased overall with the results of the new process this semester, and they are considering continuing to use the same procedure next fall.
"Some people really like the more structured recruitment, and others really like the more relaxed method … We may continue to have two different types of recruitment in the year — more relaxed in the fall and more structured in the spring," McGlone said.
