Members of Gamma Phi Beta table on main campus for spring recruitment. Many organizations participated in spring recruitment to bring in new members. Photo courtesy of Alexa Neagle
The new semester is underway and spring recruitment is too.
Active members of Greek organizations, businesses and science fraternities said they are excited to welcome new members into their chapters.
Spring recruitment is more relaxed in comparison to the fall which is what makes it so easy to get to know everyone on a more personal level, Delta Delta Delta President Olivia James said.
“I think spring recruitment is a great opportunity for girls that maybe are a little bit more intimidated or nervous by sorority recruitment to give them a different outlet to maybe join and find their community in a way that’s maybe not so stress inducing or so anxiety driven,” James said.
Fraternity and Sorority Life
Fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon and sororities Tri Delta and Gamma Phi Beta welcomed new members this spring.
During spring recruitment, chapters have the chance to personalize their schedule, instead of following specific rules that fall recruitment entails, said Alex Consentino, vice president of recruitment for Sigma Phi Epsilon. The process varies for each chapter. This is what makes it so relaxed for the people participating, Consentino said.
“We are planning on starting our spring rush tentatively the second week of February,” Consentino said. “One of the things that we also have the luxury of having is since we are the only fraternity doing a spring rush this semester, we will kind of set our rush dates whenever we want to, so that kind of gives us more options in terms of scheduling.”
Tri Delta sent out invitations Jan. 23, to the girls that who have shown interest in the organization beforehand, James said.
“When we send invitations out to the girls, we encourage them to come to at least one of those events, and we welcome them to come to all of them if they can, but if their schedule doesn’t permit, they can at least attend one,” James said.
Gamma Phi Beta has participated in spring recruitment for many years, which is why they think it is their “strong suit,” said Alexa Neagle, membership vice president for Gamma Phi Beta.
“Ours is an open invitation,” Neagle said. “For us, we let anyone come and you know, there’s no pressure. It’s just fun.”
For some chapters, this is their first time participating in spring recruitment in many years. On the other hand, some have been participating in it consecutively. Tri Delta brought spring recruitment back since this year has been so unprecedented and said they want to give every girl a chance.
Business and Science Fraternities
Not only are Fraternity and Sorority Life organizations participating in spring recruitment but business fraternities, DSP Rho Upsilon and Alpha Kappa Psi, and natural science fraternity, Beta Psi Omega, are too. They want to give everyone a chance to rush an opportunity, said Lauren Liu, Beta Phi Omega president.
“We do it just so that more people could have an opportunity to do it,” Liu said. “Like if for some reason, they weren’t able to rush in the fall, or if they did rush in the fall, and they weren’t able to get in. We just want to give them another chance.”
In contrast to Greek organizations, these fraternities’ spring recruitment does not differ from the fall recruitment process as much.
“Not many differences,” DSP President Vincy Chiou said. “It’s overall the same thing. We have the same events. It’s just like a second opportunity.”
Many said they look forward to the opportunity of spring recruitment, like first-year spring admit Jayden Hanson who is rushing DSP. Because DSP and Alpha Kappa Psi are both professional fraternities, Hanson had to choose between them.
“I was very eager to embrace myself in the Pepperdine community,” Hanson said.
Hanson said he wanted to put himself out there and reach his main goal of joining this fraternity where he could network.
“They’ll want to see your character, they’ll want to get to know you,” Hanson said. “So that’s why there’s a high emphasis on networking. So you pretty much want to talk to almost every single brother in the room and make a good impression and have them remember you.”
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Email Anezka Liskova: anezka.liskova@pepperdine.edu
