OU fraternities recruit new members and hold many events.
With fraternity recruitment in full force, Ohio University’s Greeks are continuing their conquest to seek potential new members and extend invitations to join their ranks.
From Sept. 1 through Sept. 15, 15 of the Inter Fraternity Council’s 16 chapters — Sigma Chi is temporarily ineligible due to their lack of campus presence — campus fraternities’ are doing their annual semi-structured rush events, looking to recruit new members in a lead up to Bid Day in a week.
Last week, IFC highlighted the different active chapters in the area as a buildup to this week in which several houses throw events.
The events vary from Phi Kappa Theta's Monday Night Football party to Sigma Alpha Epsilon's Cigar Night, to some invitation-only events such as Acacia's Swimming and Beach Volleyball event on Saturday.
"These events are immensely successful, because people join people not organizations,” said Andrew Kroeze, president of IFC. “You can look at a fraternity's letters, read its creed, and hear about its reputation, but you do not truly know a fraternity until you know the character of its gentleman.”
As of Sunday, 403 candidates have registered, and each can receive multiple bids from different chapters. Then, recruits can pick which fraternity they want to join.
Nearly 800 men are currently in Greek Life, part of the roughly 12 percent of students on campus in fraternities and sororities, according to Dom Donofrio, vice president of recruitment for IFC.
Joining a fraternity costs money in the form of chapter and international dues. Members can live in a chapter house off-campus their sophomore year, an exemption to the university’s on-campus living policy which requires living on campus for two years.
In accordance with university regulations, fraternity houses are alcohol-free.
Specific costs of joining Greek Life are not made available by the university. But Ryan Duffey, chair of recruitment for Phi Gamma Delta, said his fraternity costs $420 a semester, with one-time dues of $70 to the international chapter.
Last Thursday and Friday, men interested in earning their letters flooded a lecture hall in Walter Hall to get an earful of the IFC's mandatory values presentation.
“So many people showed up the first night that we had standing room only,” said Kristen Kardas, assistant director of Greek Life.
IFC presented the various standards needed to remain in a fraternity, including maintaining a 2.5 GPA. Attendees were also instructed to rate which values meant the most to them.
Once those values were determined, the group was instructed to match their values with fraternity chapter’s values, as they were read aloud.
“I'm scoping it out,” said Matt Bolden, a freshman who is undecided. “I've heard a lot of great things about fraternities like help with finding job connections and opportunities.”
From Sept. 7 to 14, the recruitment process narrows considerably as individual fraternity chapters host an array of events as a mutual familiarization between fraternity members who will submit bids and pledges who will accept them.
“A lot of my friends are in Acacia and I would hang out with them when I would come here,” said Alex Doblerit, a junior transfer student looking to study exercise physiology.
Bid Collection is on Sept. 14, when fraternities submit bids for the members they would like recruit, and Bid Distribution is on Sept. 15, when each candidate can go to 356 Baker University Center to receive his bid and select which fraternity he wants to join.
“This may be the best year ever,” said Alex Howell, a junior studying international business and a Phi Kappa Psi member. “Everyone joins fraternities for their own reasons from professional networking, a brotherhood that has your back and the social (parts). It's fun to live with some people you call your best friends that you'll have for the rest of your life.”
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