The men of Baker University’s Zeta Chi fraternity are working on a strong plan for continuous open bidding after a slow formal recruitment period resulted in zero pledges.

Kevin Winn, recruitment co-chair for Zeta Chi, said he plans on working as hard for the continuous open bid process as he would for the week of formal recruitment. He said he has a goal of picking up 10 pledges throughout the year, or possibly even the semester.

“We know a lot of individuals that didn’t go through rush, and we know a lot of people who made the wrong decision,” Winn said.

Jason Mock, new member president for Zeta Chi, said this isn’t the first time the fraternity has gone without pledges after formal recruitment. He said the fraternity was able to survive because of a large pledge class in 2005.

“This time the brotherhood in the chapter has become stronger due to the challenge,” Mock said.

Winn said 10 men joined the fraternity last year. He said 14 men are living in the fraternity house, and one is studying abroad in Germany.

“There was always the threat or looming idea that if you get no pledges during formal rush, of going on probation or possibly shutting down,” Winn said.

Director of Greek Life Bryan VanOsdale said it isn’t the university’s place to step in and help, but the fraternity does have the university’s support.

“They’re an incredible group of young men, and they’re a valued part of the campus,” VanOsdale said.Winn said many problems arose with the way recruitment was carried out.

“Internally, within our house, there were minimal but specific problems,” Winn said. “Externally, there seemed to be major problems with how rush was organized.”

Winn said the fraternity is very optimistic about how it did and is going to continue its efforts in continuous open bidding while looking forward to a heavily improved recruitment program for 2007. He said two of the men in the fraternity attended a recruitment conference over the summer and brought back a lot of information.