The numbers are in, and Greek Life is growing. Fraternity and sorority membership increased by 2 percent since last fall. “The community has gone up in percentage from 14 to 16 percent overall,” said Angela Guillory, director of Greek Life. “To go up 2 percent in one year is incredible.” The total Greek population in 2005 was 3,856, which was about 14 percent of all undergraduate students because total enrollement was higher than later years. Though this number is larger than fall 2006 and 2007, the percentage of undergraduate students in the Greek community continues to increase with more than 3,500 members this fall out of 22,989 undergradute students enrolled.  During fall 2005, 650 women pledged to sororities, which was about 24 percent of the women in the freshman class. This semester’s recruitment yielded 745 new female pledges. “There were about 200 more [potential] members to come through sorority recruitment this year,” said Jessica Sita, Phi Mu president. Greek Life sets a bid quota — the number of people who receive bids — for each sorority, Guillory said.”This year the quota for each sorority was 76,” Sita said. “Last year, the quota was 60, and the year before that it was 65, so it’s a good bit more.” The highest quota was 80 in 2004, Guillory said.Though sorority life is larger than fraternity life, fraternities on campus are growing each year, too. In fall 2005, 311 men pledged to fraternities, and 400 pledged this semester.  “I anticipate that we will have about 450 men join a fraternity this fall after the informal recruitment process ends,” said assistant director of Greek Life and Interfraternity Council adviser Johnathan Sanders in an e-mail.The number of men and women admitted to the University as freshmen for this semester is not yet known, according to the Office of Budget and Planning. Overall, sorority membership increased by about 0.87 percent since 2005, and fraternity membership increased by about 0.78 percent. Some students on campus noticed the increase. “To me, it always seems like there are more and more girls dressed alike on campus, but maybe I just notice them more because they are wearing the same thing,” said Jessica Lewis, mass communication senior. Other students seem indifferent.”I don’t really pay attention to Greek stuff,” said Neil Hebert, construction management senior. “It never interested me.”Recruitment in the fall is larger than spring recruitment because it’s a more formal process, Guillory said. “Not all organizations have informal recruitment in the spring, so potential members want to give themselves more options in the fall,” Guillory said. Four of 11 Panhellenic sororities hold recruitment during the spring, and about half of the 18 Interfraternity Council fraternities held recruitment last spring, Guillory and Sanders said. Statistics from past years show women are more involved in Greek Life than men. “More women go through the recruitment process, but in terms of the process, we are doing better with the [Interfraternity Council] to market the product,” Guillory said. “It could be a matter of men not wanting that experience because there are a set of values you have to live by and that might not be as enticing to a freshman male as it is to a woman.”Guillory also said the women’s rush process is more structured. “The women’s rush is more structured,” Guillory said.For example, sororities release a potential member for not attending a recruitment party, a rule that does not exist in fraternity recruitment, Guillory said. “The biggest similarity is that once initiated in an organization, Greek members are not allowed to join another national organization anywhere, not even on another campus,” Guillory said. Guillory said sororities and fraternities also distribute bids differently. Unlike sororities, the men don’t have a bid quota to meet. Several fraternity members declined comment on the recruitment process. “Greek women are becoming a lot more involved and loving being a member of their organization,” Sita said. “It’s increased, and it’s only getting better.”—-Contact Aimee Effler at [email protected]