While many students still were shopping for school supplies and dorm furniture, more than 1,300 men and women arrived on campus a week early to participate in fraternity and sorority recruitment weeks.
While sorority recruitment traditionally has taken place the week before the beginning of the fall semester, the Interfraternity Council decided to move the dates of its fraternity recruitment up one week this year.
Brad Golson, IFC vice president of recruitment, said IFC decided to move the dates of recruitment because of the conflicts with school obligations.
This year fraternity recruitment began Aug. 20 and ended Aug. 24.
The IFC began considering the date change after the Faculty Senate complained about rush participants missing classes during the first week of school, Golson said.
Victor Felts, director of Greek Affairs, said many of the rush parties conflicted with evening classes, and the teachers were looking for a solution to the problem.
“Freshmen were forced to choose between fraternity parties and evening classes,” Felts said.
Though earlier dates solved faculty concerns, it brought on new concerns from rush participants.
Golson said many fraternity members encourage freshmen to participate in recruitment during the first week of classes. In the past, the extra week has allowed Greeks an opportunity to spread the word and recruit more participants.
IFC worked this summer to correct this problem by sending a copy of the Greek Tiger, the annual guide to Greek recruitment, e-mails and postcards to every incoming male freshman, Golson said. The 457 men who signed up to participate in recruitment will have the opportunity to visit and consider joining one of 17 fraternities.
Although this year’s total count of participants was about 30 less than last year’s number, Golson said this may not greatly affect the number of pledges chosen by each fraternity because there are two fewer fraternities on campus this year.
Delta Chi will not be returning to campus because the University suspended its charter spring 2003. Delta Kappa Epsilon also will not be returning to campus because its alumni removed its charter this summer for two years.
Despite the concerns about dwindling numbers, many Greeks said there are benefits of hosting recruitment a week earlier.
“I think that having rush early is a positive step for the fraternity system here at LSU,” said Pi Kappa Phi President Jonathan Stevenson. “In the past, rush, for men, was during the first week of school, making it a hassle to get the members to the house on time. This year has been a breeze organizing our efforts, because of such an early rush.”
Although recruitment week ended Sunday, it was not the last chance for interested students to join a fraternity.
Golson said the Office of Greek Affairs and the IFC allow fraternity chapters who are “under average size” to recruit more members throughout the year.
This allows students who may not have known about the early recruitment week to still participate, Golson said.
Interested students should contact the Office of Greek Affairs at 578-2171.