Fraternity recruitment is undergoing changes to become more relaxed.
President of the Interfraternity Council Allen Goebl said there will be two main changes to fall recruitment.
He said the current rules of recruitment emphasize the disaffiliation of recruitment counselors and resident advisers, but IFC is hoping to change that.
Goebl said fraternity members who fall into those groups will be able to wear their letters and say which house they belong to.
“[The current rules] are more strict,” he said. “These guys can’t walk through the doors of their own house when people are watching.”
But the new rules will still include restrictions.
“We’re working out the basics,” Goebl said. “They won’t be able to advertise their events or invite freshmen to dinner. There will be restrictions on pushing houses onto people.”
Goebl said another change IFC is making is to allow freshmen free access to fraternity houses between the first and second rounds of recruitment before 7 p.m. Currently freshmen going through fraternity recruitment are not allowed to enter the houses unless it is during rounds.
“It will help make recruitment allow for more interaction between members and freshmen outside of the structure,” Goebl said. “We’re hoping to potentially increase members and create more meaningful relationships by giving attention and making members feel comfortable right away and making sure the houses know freshmen and that freshmen know the houses. It will be more efficient recruitment, people will join the right house, and information will be freely exchanged.”
Director of Recruitment for IFC Kris Nickolas said the idea for change came after talking to greek houses on other campuses.
“We went to a conference this semester and talked to other chapters,” he said. “In comparison, we were much more formal. We want the incoming freshmen to get to know houses better.”
Goebl said recruitment consultants will be brought in the day before freshmen move in.
“They’re from an organization called Fired Up that works with a lot of national fraternities from many campuses,” he said. “They help train men to focus on making friends with people and relationships as opposed to a formal recruitment.”
Goebl said these may not be the only changes fraternity recruitment will see.
“It’s kind of a step to moving the system into a more relaxed system,” he said. “We’ll see what results come from this.”
Nickolas said he agrees.
“This is a start, we’re testing the waters with this,” he said. “Depending on how this goes we could make more changes down the road.”
Goebl said IFC voted on these changes but have yet to discuss more specific implementations. Once the council has worked out specifics, they will put it to a vote again.
He said the changes have sparked mostly positive attitudes.
“I know anytime you want to change recruitment it’s a contentious issue,” Goebl said. “But people are excited about these changes. It’s hard because people are nervous and used to how it was. But overall people are positive and optimistic about its potential.”
