Syracuse University’s fraternities have completed the newly revamped recruitment process and are now moving into the pledge period, some with a growing brotherhood, while others are still hoping for pledges during the new extended bid period.

Due to the new recruitment process, some fraternities have had trouble finding new pledges.

‘Some chapters expressed concerns because their Friday night bid night didn’t turn out the way they wanted,’ said Interfraternity Council president Chris VanDeWeert.

Despite this, the process went very smoothly and made the recruitment process easier for IFC, the chapters, and the rushees, VanDeWeert said.

More rushees had the opportunity to get to know more houses, said Fiji president Pat Haig.

‘(Recruitment) may have seemed longer, but it was really beneficial to the rushees,’ VanDeWeert said.

The added length came, in part, from a change in the bidding process, when fraternities select which rushees they want to pledge. The bidding process, like all of the recruitment, was taken out of the houses and into neutral ground. Bids were handed out in Stolkin Auditorium in the physics building, where potential pledges were given the opportunity to choose their house away from the brothers.

‘It gave the kids a chance to decide where they wanted to go without the intimidation from the brothers,’ VanDeWeert said. ‘It was less intimidating to make sure the kids were making an educated choice and not just a spontaneous choice.’

While the added time reduced the rushees’ stress levels, it also reduced the numbers of pledges at some fraternities. Not as many rushees took bids as in past years, said Steve Hass, president of Kappa Delta Rho.

Hass said the new recruitment procedures take away the fun of having brothers showing up at a pledge’s dorm room.

KDR, which got four pledges, hopes to take advantage of an extended bidding period, Hass said.

Two or three rushees who did not receive bids met last night with VanDeWeert and Josh McIntosh, senior administrator in the Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning, to discuss a second chance at bidding.

‘It’s a possibility for houses to have another crack at them,’ said VanDeWeert.

The second bid period, although open to all houses, is optional. Some fraternities, such as Tau Kappa Epsilon, which got more pledges than expected, don’t plan to add students to their pledge class, said TKE rush chair Nick Brenno.

While the changed bid process didn’t affect TKE, the relocation was a challenge for the more social fraternities that might not be known by their letters, but rather by the location or appearance of the house, Brenno said.

‘We had no problems with what they did, it just took us off our guard,’ Brenno said.

Brenno added that some houses may have had problems with the room assignments. Some houses got hi-tech auditoriums, while others made do with classrooms and a TV-VCR.

Taking recruitment out of the houses was supposed to even the playing field and steer rushees away from thinking the best-looking house was the best house. Instead, the rooms made it seem as if the most hi-tech room was the best house, Brenno said.

VanDeWeert acknowledged the new process wasn’t perfect. The IFC is taking suggestions from members about ways to improve the new recruitment, VanDeWeert said.

‘Some (fraternities) cashed in pretty big, but some got the short end of the stick. Some didn’t get any pledges,’ said Haig.

Published on February 15, 2005 at 12:00 pm