With the end of formal fraternity recruitment, the number of pledges who joined Greek chapters remains unclear as of Monday night.
About 289 students have pledged 16 of Interfraternity Council’s 17 fraternities, The Daily learned after speaking with presidents or recruitment chairmen for each fraternity.
Delta Upsilon President Joe Schwartz declined to provide any information.
Kyle Pendleton, director of fraternity and sorority life, said Monday night that 298 men have pledged 12 fraternities. Five houses had yet to report their numbers, he said.
IFC President Jay Ward said The Daily’s count was probably more accurate because chapters sometimes do not provide information to IFC immediately.
He also said the discrepancy could be due to a tabulation error by Greek officials.
Most fraternity officials reported that their number of pledges either remained the same or decreased compared to this time last year.
Brandon Bodager, recruitment chairman of Phi Delta Theta and a Weinberg sophomore, said his chapter’s numbers were lower than its members expected.
“We think we’re going to spring rush to try to get the number a little higher,” Bodager said.
Pi Kappa Alpha claimed the largest pledge class. Recruitment chairman Aleksas Barauskas said he thinks Pike’s success led to the decrease in other fraternities’ numbers.
The Weinberg senior said Pike’s 33 pledges were drawn to its newly renovated house and the chapter’s improved handling of the rush process.
“I think we also stood out because of the passion our members had toward (recruitment),” he said.
But recruitment isn’t over yet. Fraternities have the option to continue recruiting freshmen for the remainder of the school year, even though the official rush week has ended.
“One thing that’s encouraging is that this week, guys have more opportunities to recruit,” Pendleton said.
Lambda Chi Alpha will take advantage of this week by giving more time to some students who haven’t decided whether they will pledge, said Weinberg senior Rick Johnson, the group’s recruitment chairman.
“We have 12 pledgers after this weekend,” Johnson said. “We were really pleased. We’re still waiting on some lingering results from rush week.”
For Chi Psi, its intention during recruitment was to accept a smaller class than in previous years.
“We’re trying to cut down (on members) but we gave out more (bids) than we thought,” said Weinberg sophomore Bryan Crowe, a member of the fraternity.
Crowe said members were able to dedicate more time to giving bids during the week instead of getting to know prospective members, most of whom they had met during Fall Quarter dinners.
Morgan Van Ness, a Weinberg senior and member of Phi Gamma Delta, said his fraternity had 12 new pledges, 10 fewer than last year.
“We decided to have a smaller house,” Van Ness said. “We want to make the group more close-knit.”
Although Phi Kappa Psi recruited fewer members than in previous years, chapter officials said they are content with the turnout.
“We’re set for winter and happy with the quality of guys we got,” said recruitment chairman Drew Gentner, a McCormick junior.
Reach Jasett Chatham at [email protected].
