Next year’s formal recruitment is now set to occur in the fall, according to Quinnipiac’s Greek recruitment process’s announcement.
“The whole process of moving started in 2011,” said Courtney McKenna, associate director of Student Center & Campus Life. “There was a lot of research coming out in the field of fraternity and sorority life in terms of looking at, specifically when students join, and the effects of the membership on their experience in college.”
The fall recruitment process received its praises from those with an insight on the Greek community.
“It’s the preferred method for the Panhellenic and National Fraternity councils, there’s so much logic behind it, it makes sense and it works for the community, so why aren’t we following it?” said Greg Fink, assistant director of Student Center & Campus Life. “By allowing for the opportunity to have younger people, it allows them to get leadership positions earlier and have better leadership experiences by senior year.”
Members of the Greek community also voiced their excitement for the change.
“It’s really exciting how Greek Life has moved their recruitment process to the fall,” added Rachael Cox, a new member of Pi Beta Phi. “It makes it a lot easier because the spring semester is always so much busier.”
This change to the recruitment process for both sororities and fraternities now allow for freshmen to “Go Greek” first semester, and with no first-semester GPA to base their standards by. This requires the chapters to connect with the potential new members on an entirely different level – asking intellectual questions rather than looking solely at the new members’ grades.
Allowing freshmen to join in their first semester also boasts more benefits, according to Fink and McKenna. Joining in an organization their first semester helps freshmen transition to the university and encourage them to get involved on campus.
“I think it’s an excellent opportunity,” echoed Cox. “I’ve already met so many people that have touched my life. There are a lot of opportunities that are going to come out of Greek Life, and the friendships and bonds that I have already formed definitely confirm my decision.”
The move to fall is not the only change that sororities are facing. Along with the addition of a new sorority, recruitment is now being spread out over two weekends, in order to ease the stress on both the potential members as well as those encouraging the recruitment process.
“The actual process for formal recruitment does not change,” added Fink. “We’re moving to two weekends because having a full day of classes plus a full day of recruitment was starting to cause stress.”
“I’m really happy about formal recruitment changing to the fall,” freshman Jessica Hernandez said. “I wasn’t very sure if I wanted to go through recruitment this semester, but now I’m really excited for the fall. Now I can’t wait to find my home on campus.”
Yet, freshman Julia Leeds, a new member of Alpha Chi Omega feels that fall recruitment is too stressful for freshmen.
“I would prefer it in the spring because as a freshman I wanted to get adjusted to my classes and get to know my roommates before I had to make the decision,” Leeds said. “I feel like having it in the fall is a big slap in the face with stuff to do.”
The changes to recruitment and Greek life on campus promise to expand and better our social fraternities and sororities on campus, according to Fink.
“These organizations are not social in the sense of a party, but rather because they promote social excellence, better scholars, academic citizens of the world and socially excellent people,” Fink said.
