Greeks Add over 100 Pledges

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Author: Kara McVey

Occidental Greek Life gained 113 new members in the Formal Spring Recruitment last week. Starting with introductory events on Monday and finishing with Bid Day on Friday, the week was filled with events organized by the college’s various Greek organizations. With each event, members of Greek Life hoped to introduce students to their organizations and attract new members.
This semester’s pool of potential new members was larger than usual; over 80 women and about 40 men signed up for recruitment. First-years made up a large part of the pool, but upperclassmen were also involved.
”This year Greek Council has worked especially hard to put on a number of pre-recruitment events in the hopes of growing Greek Life at Occidental College. These events have proven to be successful resulting in one of the largest turnouts for Formal Recruitment in Oxy history,” Alpha Lambda Phi Alpha’s Co-Recruitment Chair Sarah Henderson (senior) said.
Because of the increased interest in Greek Life, Occidental’s Greek Council and the school’s individual Greek organizations had to work hard to ensure that the week was a success.
”Although accommodating such large numbers was a challenge, with the help of Greek Council’s VP’s of Recruitment, the week ran quite smoothly,” Henderson said.The organizations split Recruitment Week preparation into committees, delegating different assignments to different groups.

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“We all have to help out and do things ourself,” Zeta Tau Zeta member Jonathon Gartrelle (senior) said.

Kappa Alpha Theta’s Recruitment Chair Jocelyn Coffin (sophomore) is very impressed by the students who rushed this year.

“This year’s group seems really enthusiastic about Greek life. They all seem really involved on campus already,” Coffin said.

Recruitment Week started out with organizations hosting introductory receptions to meet potential new members. Students rotated between the different  groups, learned about their guiding principles and met the actives. Throughout the week, the prospective members had the chance to acquaint themselves with all of the Greek organizations’ interests, including the groups’ tenets, values and philanthropic efforts.

“It’s been really fun. It’s nice to meet a bunch of new people,” Kendra Postell (sophomore) said.

The differences between the different Greek organizations on campus make the choice for potential new members difficult. Some groups, like sorority Delta Omicron Tau, are larger and have an open bid process, extending a bid to all women who attend their recruitment events. Other groups, such as fraternities Sigma Alpha Epsilon and  Phi Kappa Psi, are national and more selective. On Thursday night, potential new members attended the “Pref Dinners” of their two top-choice sororities or fraternities in order to demonstrate their interest in the organizations.

“Everyone’s really nice … When choosing I don’t want to end up hurting people’s feelings,” Danielle Schwartz (first-year) said.

On Friday potential new members found out which organizations offered them bids and chose which bids to accept. Some bids were extended in person by members of the Greek Organizations, while others were extended by an outside party. The sororities then held a traditional ceremony in the quad entitled Coming out the Door, during which new pledges run to join their respective organizations. Later that night, many organizations held their first pledge events and outings. According to Recreational Chair for the sororities Katherine Carey, the sororities gained a total of 72 new pledges and the fraternities welcomed 41 new pledges, becoming one of the most substantial pledge classes in Occidental’s recent history.

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