Photo: Kappa Sigma Pledges chant together at Fraternity Bid Day Aug. 19 at the Kappa Sigma House. The house welcomed 28 new pledges. (Courtney Zanetti/ The Campus)
By Farris Willingham, Editor-in-Chief
Interfraternity Council officials plan to reschedule their annual campuswide parties because of a decision to cancel IFC Week.
Kappa Sigma’s Margaritaville will be Sept. 18. Lambda Chi Alpha and Phi Gamma Delta are discussing dates for their events, Toga Foam and Fiji Islander, respectively.
IFC Week, scheduled Sept. 3-7, would have consolidated all three parties into one week, but IFC officials halted plans because the fraternities exhausted their resources during Rush Week.
Fraternity officials expended funds and time during Orientation Week to recruit new members, which left many wary about hosting parties two weeks later, said Ryan Schwartzman, acting senior and Kappa Sigma president. Fraternities finance the parties, not IFC.
“With the resources that we had, we decided it wasn’t in the houses’ best interest to do it,” he said. “If we wanted to host an IFC Week, we wanted to do it effectively.”
IFC Week events usually are part of fraternity rush, but IFC members decided last year to move rush to Orientation Week.
IFC members changed rush because recruitment methods became stagnant, Schwartzman said.
“We were not picking up as much slack as we were expected to,” he said. “If we’re not actively recruiting new members, then our organizations will die out.”
Rush Week’s move could improve the fraternal Greek system and maintain its growth, Schwartzman said.
“The amount of people who signed up at Stars 101 was a lot more than in years past,” he said. “There were less people who went through, but it opens up for more year-round recruitment.”
Fraternity rush week concluded with:
• Lambda Chi Alpha receiving 22 associates,
• Phi Gamma Delta gaining seven recruits, and
• Kappa Sigma obtaining 28 recruits.
IFC members decided Spring 2012 to create IFC Week as a promotion campaign for the fraternities, said Nic Evans, business senior and IFC vice president.
“We wanted to try to invite the campus to see the houses and who we are,” he said. “IFC would have just been facilitating—giving the week and promoting it.”
They instead chose to give each fraternity more time to plan the event on their own, Evans said.
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