Fraternity member hopefuls accepted 232 bids from Interfraternity Council organizations Monday, as this year's five-week rush process drew to a close.
For most fraternities, the number of bids is comparable to those of previous years, and presidents expressed satisfaction that several residential changes this year had minimal impact on rushees' decisions to pledge. Rushees received their bids Sunday evening, and turned them in during the day Monday in preparation for the beginning of pledging.
As they do every year, the number of bids accepted varied widely among the 14 IFC fraternities, from a high of 26 acceptances in Sigma Nu to lows of four in Delta Kappa Epsilon and zero in Phi Delta Theta. In total, 15 rushees submitted deferrals--essentially delaying the decision for up to a year--including four deferrals to Phi Delt and one to Deke.
There were two fewer fraternities to offer bids than last year, before Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon were dissolved.
"Take out the two groups that are no longer in IFC, and we're in the same ballpark," said IFC President Michael Wick, who said he did not know how many bids each group offered. "As usual, some went up and some went down."
Phi Delt leaders could not be reached for comment Monday evening, but one Deke official said the group will speak with rushees soon to discuss other options, including offering snap bids to students who did not receive initial bids.
"I'm only a sophomore so I don't know how the numbers should look. I'm not sure what yield to expect," said Evan Gordon, Deke rush chair.
Fraternity members and rushees had previously expressed concern that residential changes would decrease interest in greek life, although high initial rush numbers in January had helped dispel such fears. Almost all selective living groups will change locations next year, and for the first time all sophomores will be guaranteed housing somewhere on West Campus.
Gordon said the changes might have made a difference to some rushees. "I'm thinking some freshmen are smart, thinking they'll defer and then see how they'll do in the housing lottery," he said.
However, other fraternity members said the bid numbers show the changes had a minimal effect, if any, on rushees' decisions.
"I think a couple guys chose to go independent instead of taking a bid, and that's the first time I've seen that," said junior Jonathan Ferris, president of Alpha Tau Omega, adding, "I think most guys like that had decided that pretty early."
Colin Kelly, a junior and president of Delta Sigma Phi, said the housing changes may have actually helped some fraternities attract members. Eight of his group's pledges are varsity athletes, he said, who might not have rushed if they did not have to live on West.
"In the past, they might have opted to live off campus, but now that they have to live on campus they might as well," Kelly said.
The residential changes are part of a broader plan to build community, particularly among students from minority backgrounds. Wick, a senior, said IFC groups took no formal action to increase internal diversity but encouraged it verbally.
"During some of the presentations on East and some of the informal discussions with rushees, we worked to make sure it was known that IFC fraternities were welcome to all students, including minorities, and we hope that came across," Wick said. He said he did not have figures on the results of those efforts.
SAE members dissolved their chapter earlier this semester, citing difficulties in complying with added scrutiny from both the University and their national headquarters. The group is hoping to attract freshman members, however, even outside of the IFC rush process.
"We're still hoping to continue our group, and we're hoping to include freshmen in that, but we don't have numbers yet on how many," said junior Will Brown, former SAE president.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.