Formal Greek recruitment ended about a week earlier this year in order to give Greeks the chance to attend orientation events that began Thursday.
Dean of Students Blaine Eckles said the hope was to get all the students involved with orientation.
“While it may be disappointing for a house, overall from a system-wide (view), it was an incredible success,” Eckles said.
Fraternity recruitment was mainly affected by the changes. The recruitment process was more structured, said assistant Greek life adviser Leyalle Harris, and at a glance resembled sorority recruitment more.
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Dean of Students Blaine Eckles said the changes to recruitment were a “resounding success” and he thought that students made informed decisions on a choice that will affect the rest of their life.
All students participating in recruitment stayed in the dorms with a curfew of 10 p.m. during the four days spent recruiting. Young men and women were taken out for 15-minute house tours on the first day, Aug. 13, giving them the opportunity to see all of the fraternities and sororities, Harris said.
In past years, fraternity members would approach a house or a few houses and elect to stay in those houses for the time that they wanted, Harris said.
Some fraternity members mentioned a decrease in rushes, but overall recruitment was up this year from previous years, Eckles said.
There will always be an ebb and flow when it comes to the students recruited into each house, Eckles said. He said overall there was a higher placement percent than previous years.
Eckles also said he believed the change in fraternity recruitment allowed for students to make informed decisions, whether deciding to live in a Greek house or opting to live in the residence halls.Harris said the new approach was more holistic, and was a great way to not be pressured into making a lifelong decision.
The only Greek organizations that did not participate in the event were Pi Kappa Alpha, Theta Xi and the multicultural Greek organizations.
Eckles said the changes were a “resounding success” and he thought that students made informed decisions on a choice that will affect the rest of their life.
“We”re really happy about it and are extremely positive going forward,” Harris said.
Claire Whitley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Cewhitley24