Greek life officials saw increases in recruitment participants this semester.
The four sororities and three fraternities represented on campus concluded formal recruitment for the fall, which took place Aug. 15-19. Bid day was Sunday.
Unlike previous years, sororities and fraternities ran recruitment concurrently, as opposed to the usual two-week gap between events.
For sororities, the recruitment process had three rounds, the first being open house, the second being philanthropy night and the third being preference night.
The fraternity rush process had major changes this year, all of which were overseen by the Interfraternity Council.
“We actually completely restructured the rush process,” said Trae Trousdale, mass communications sophomore and IFC president. “In the past, it’s been very informal and very lax. The two nights of formal recruitment were awkward, so we’re trying to bring that down and humanize it while expanding it at the same time.”
In lieu of two nights of formal recruitment and meeting in the Kramer School of Nursing, potential new members spent two hours and 15 minutes with each fraternity at the houses and various locations on campus for three nights, Trousdale said.
These changes were an initiative planned last semester by former IFC President Blake Lemmons.
“It’s a good mix of his ideas and my ideas, and a willing adviser, Levi,” Trousdale said.
Preparation for the week’s events have taken place all summer, said Levi Harrel, associate director of student development.
“Fraternities have been contacting potential members, and our sororities have been having conversation practice,” Harrel said. “They have been prepping T-shirts, making schedules and working hard to present the best versions of themselves that they can to our potential new members.”
Fraternity rush had double the amount of involvement this year, with the number of potential new members reaching 46, compared to the 23 seen last year.
The number of new members for each organization were:
-Alpha Chi Omega, Phi Mu and Gamma Phi Beta sororities each received 30 new members,
-Alpha Phi received 31,
-Kappa Sigma received 15,
-Lambda Chi Alpha received 19,
-and FIJI received one.
Though the number of incoming freshmen as a whole increased, Trousdale said the increase in rush numbers was due to the efforts of IFC.
Throughout the summer, Trousdale and Jace Jordan, vice president of logistics, contacted every incoming male freshman via text, phone or email.
“This is really the first year we’ve had this personalized contact and they’ve had someone they can truly go to,” Trousdale said. “We got many to sign up before even stepping foot on campus.”
Alex Reida, music theater freshman, said he was interested in the formal recruitment process and what the Greek organizations had to offer.
“I wasn’t really interested in Greek life until my friend Tanner Pflueger told me that he participated,” Reida said. “Since then, I have been looking into the fraternities.”
Anna Luczynski, theater performance sophomore, participated in formal recruitment last year.
“I loved going through recruitment because I was able to meet so many new people,” Luczynski said. “Bid day was by far the best day of the process, though, because everyone was excited to welcome their new sisters.”
Joseph DeShazo, business freshman, said he enjoyed acquainting himself with others no matter what bid he took.
“My favorite part of the fraternity rush was getting to know the guys and making friendships that would last regardless of the fraternity I chose,” DeShazo said.
Trousdale said he hopes that, whether or not the potential new members joined a fraternity, that they made friendships through recruitment alone.
“There’s not a lot of guys on OCU’s campus, so I think this is truly the largest gathering of men that we have all year,” Trousdale said. “I hope they take away relationships.”
Students who were unable to participate in the recruitment ceremonies can participate in continuous open bidding, practiced by every Greek organization except Alpha Phi and Phi Mu.
For more information about Greek life and the formal recruitment process, visit www.okcu.edu/students/greeklife.
Contributing: Staff Writer Jessica Vanek
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