Fraternity recruitment at Boston University is traditionally less structured than sorority recruitment, but that is quickly changing, and as a result, more men are going out for recruitment, Greek life officials said.
Fraternities are now required to submit their recruitment activity schedules to the Inter-Fraternity Council President Seth Stern said. Each fraternity is also required to have at least one recruitment marshal, a brother from another chapter, attend its activities.’
‘In the past second-semester recruitments, the men have been a little bit below par,’ Stern, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, said. ‘In the past two years or so, we’ve reformed how we do second semester, and it’s become stronger.’
The new regulations also mean no parties during recruitment, Sigma Chi recruitment chairman Glenn Harris said.
‘Last semester there was no legislation against parties. Now, we can’t have parties during the whole week, and no sorority girls can be involved,’ Harris, a College of General Studies sophomore, said.’ ‘
‘We just want to make sure they are following the rules and the guidelines,’ Bartlett said. ‘Recruitment time is meant to be a time that does not involve any alcohol at all.’
After recruitment, the accepted brothers must submit forms about how they found out about Greek life as well as a $10 fee to the IFC.’
Fraternities undergo recruitment once every semester, but Stern said the new regulations bring more variety to the two events hosted by each fraternity during this time.
‘It’s getting to the point where it’s almost like a cry for change, because everyone is doing the same event,’ Stern said.
Although the fraternity recruitment is adapting to become structured, sorority recruitment has always been rigorously organized.
Last year’s sorority recruitment, which only happens during the spring, saw a 57 percent retention rate, which is in line with the national average and includes the women who were not matched with a sorority, Bartlett said.’
This year, more than 300 women are registered for recruitment. Though fraternities require no fee to go through the recruitment process, women must pay $35.
The nine members of the Panhellenic Council organize the recruitment process, while 26 women called Rho Gammas run the process and usher groups of potential new members from room to room throughout recruitment nights. They also guide the voting process and note rule infractions within sororities’ individual party rooms. Both the women in the Panhellenic Council, whose officers include members from different BU sororities, and the Rho Gammas, are disaffiliated from their particular sorority during the process.
On Friday, each potential sister will meet with all eight sororities. On Saturday, they will meet with six chapters for longer periods of time, followed by four chapters on Sunday and two chapters on Monday.
Women participating in recruitment must follow a strict dress code and are not allowed to bring cell phones or purses to any recruitment event. In addition, no meals are served.’
‘To make it fair, the chapters can’t give out any favors,’ Lindsey Trione, Panhellenic Council vice president of chapter development, said. ‘They can’t give out a little card, they can’t take out any little memento and they aren’t allowed to give the girls hugs because they don’t want the girls to feel that that might be an automatic bid into the chapter.”
Other than the members of the Panhellenic Council and the Rho Gammas, sorority sisters are not allowed to speak about Greek life to girls going up for recruitment outside of recruitment parties.
‘It might be kind of awkward if you have a class with one of them,’ Panhellenic Council Beta Recruitment Chairwoman Haley Johnson said at a pre-recruitment event Thursday night. ‘But it doesn’t mean that you have a bid.’
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