By Lili Martinez
More female students than male students chose to rush Greek organizations this year, a departure from past trends. Of the 160 students registered for rush this year, 88 were female, according to Christina Mastrangelo, director of Student Activities and Greek Life.
The Archon Society has the largest number of current pledges, at 51, followed by Alpha Delta Phi and Peeps O’Kenyon with 16 pledges and 15 pledges, respectively.
Theta Delta Phi Rush Chair Lucy Phillips ’14 said that this year and last year, interest in pledging rose.
“We did have to turn away some people due to the large number of bids,” she said. “The same thing happened last year, but in previous years there hasn’t been [as] much interest in sorority life in general as there is now.” Thetas have 11 pledges this year, one more than in 2010. “Obviously the rush process is a difficult one; it is never easy to turn away amazing women, but it is harder to maintain a sense of camaraderie and sisterhood when there are a lot of members,” she said.
Kimberly Qualls ’12, Zeta Alpha Pi pledge chair, also mentioned increased interest in sorority pledging this year. “We would … love to see the creation of another sorority on campus so that more women interested in becoming Greek in the future would have the opportunity to find the organization that is right for them,” she said in an email. “There was an unusually large interest in sororities this spring during rush, which we were all very excited about. Unfortunately … it would have been too difficult for us to take on all the young women who showed interest in Zeta.”
The Delta Tau Delta fraternity actively sought more members this semester to increase its size and make up for members who will graduate this spring. “Rush week helped us meet this goal, although many of our pledges have been in contact with us since before the formal rush period began,” Rush Chair Kris Reslow ’13 said.
Reslow said interest in rush events has decreased compared to years past, however. “For example, this year [we] had around 80 men sign up for rush while there are six fraternities and two societies to compete with,” he said. “In the ’80s and ’90s, we had 50-60 members in our organization alone, with similar numbers in other groups, which would require around 15 members per class. The expected outcome for this year was 10 pledges simply due to diminishing interest in Greek Life.”
Will Herrick ’14, Delta Kappa Epsilon pledge chair, said in an email that he hoped the DKEs will continue to grow as an organization and that he was optimistic about this year’s pledges. “I am happy to say we have found a nice number of guys who are willing to start the‘Fratapiller’ journey,” he said. “The journey is much like the maturing process of cheddar cheese. This journey will end with their beautiful bloom from their‘Fratacoon’into majestic ‘Frataflys.'”
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