Fall recruitment for Syracuse University’s Interfraternity Council will feature changes intended to expose more men to a greater number of fraternities.

The recruitment process, which begins two weeks earlier than in years past, will kick off with an expo in Schine Student Center on Wednesday, said Darren Cole, IFC’s vice president of recruitment and senior political science and psychology major. Potential fraternity members will have an opportunity to survey all the fraternities’ tables and have conversations with members from each chapter.

The changes to fall recruitment are ‘representations of what the presidents and council wanted,’ as chapter presidents and IFC worked together to make the decision, Cole said.

Among the changes, men with a 3.7 GPA or higher who choose to participate in recruitment festivities will have their $35 recruitment registration fee waived, Cole said. As of Tuesday afternoon, 11 of the 50 men registered for recruitment qualify for the waiver, Cole said. Men who would like to register for the expo may do so at the event, he said.

The decision to implement the waiver was put in place to attract men who might not otherwise participate in the recruitment process, said David Lurie, president of IFC and senior public relations major.

‘We, in the community, want to make sure we’re getting the best and brightest men on campus,’ Lurie said

Matthew Wolfe, a senior accounting major and member of Sigma Alpha Mu, said the decision to waive the recruitment fee for those with 3.7 GPAs or above ‘elevates the standard for rush.’

He also said recruits that are strong academically might be able to cope with the stress of rush and school more effectively.

‘If you’re at that high level, it’s not that much of a hit if you have a bad semester,’ he said.

IFC’s $35 recruitment fee is up from last year’s $15. Because the waiver is being offered, more capital is needed, Cole said. Money from the fees will also go toward projects such as establishing a scholarship for freshmen.

In addition to offering the waivers, IFC has tweaked the recruitment system to host rotations on a single day, meaning recruits will visit every chapter in one day. Rotations, which were implemented last semester, require all recruits to rotate from chapter to chapter in 20-minute intervals, Cole said.

‘The recruitment process we have now is just a more tailored version of what we had in the past,’ he said.

Cole also said the rotations give smaller chapters more visibility while allowing recruits to learn about each fraternity firsthand.

‘With anything, new members come in with preconceived notions and stereotypes of houses,’ he said. ‘So we have the rotations so all potential new members can go to each house and see for themselves.’

Formal recruitment is scheduled to begin Sept. 18. The men will spend the day visiting each chapter. On Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, the recruits will be allowed to mingle with brothers from any house between 6-10 p.m. Invites will be issued online Thursday and bid night will follow Friday, Cole said.

Despite hosting recruitment earlier in the academic year, Cole said publicizing the process hasn’t been an issue.

‘One guy will talk to his friend and so on and so on. It hasn’t really affected the registration numbers,’ he said. ‘The numbers are right on line with how they usually are.’

dbtruong@syr.edu 

Published on September 6, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Debbie: dbtruong@syr.edu | @debbietruong