<br/>Changes in the recruitment process may have played a role in the number of the new members joining greek chapters this year.Changes in the recruitment process may have played a role in the number of the new members joining greek chapters this year.
Changes in the recruitment process may have played a role in the number of the new members joining greek chapters this year.

Director of Student Life Brett Bruner said fraternity recruitment went way up this year with 65 new members and sororities were slightly lower with 51 new members.

The National Panhellenic Conference lowered the sororities’ quota from 19 to 16 this year, Bruner said. In contrast, the fraternities have no quota to meet and the recruitment process is a much more open system.

“For about a week, the different fraternity houses sponsored an event at their house every night,” Bruner said. “The guys could choose to go to events at different houses or if they really gravitated toward one house, they could hang out there all week.”

Senior Libby Kmiec, vice president of recruitment for Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, said one critical change to the practices this year was that recruitment was pushed back so it was during the first week of classes. She said there were upsides and downsides to this adjustment.

“Some of the girls said they dropped out of recruitment because they thought they wouldn’t be able to handle schoolwork and the house,” Kmiec said.

Kmiec said this year during recruitment, the sororities had an open house tour as opposed to the typical structured house tour.

“The girls were allowed to stay for as long as they wanted,” Kmiec said. “They were not rushed out the door like in past years.”

Senior Erin Falter is also a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and president of Panhellenic. She said the economy has had a huge effect on the recruitment numbers this year.

“A lot of the parents are not willing to pay for it (the house) and are forcing the students to pay for the house, which is not completely feasible,” Falter said.

Senior Hillary Farmer, vice president of recruitment for Alpha Chi Omega sorority, said it was the only sorority to meet quota plus one, which means it received 17 fresh faces. Farmer said she still thought pushing back recruitment hurt the process of getting new members.

"I know some girls were worried about getting their homework done," Farmer said. "And, there were some issues with night classes."<br/>