Year-long recruitment contributing factor to higher numbers
This fall, 400 male students participated in fall rush at CU fraternities, a 25 percent increase from fall 2005. Of those, 258 became pledge members after fall rush week ended on Oct. 4. Greek Advocate Marc Stine projected the number of accepted students was a 22-percent increase from fall 2005.
Fraternities attribute an increase in membership to improved programming, increased brotherhood and ongoing cultural change.
“The fraternities are no longer married to (the guidelines) of formal rush,” said Gannon Frain, president of Theta Xi fraternity and senior political science and history major. “This gives the chapters a license to break out on their own.”
This is the second year that fraternities have not been associated with the university. With the death of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr. in 2004, CU fraternities were mandated to delay fall rush and have a live-in house director. In April 2005 fraternities decided to sever ties with the university and have since been an independent function of the Boulder campus, according to John Henderson, CU’s director of Greek affairs.
Without being held to guidelines set by the university, the Inter-Fraternity Council has opened up year-round or continuous recruitment, Frain said.
The IFC fraternities see this type of year-long recruitment as just one of several factors in higher membership. Stine also said there has been more emphasis on core values such as leadership, service, scholarship and brotherhood.
Many have developed their own set of standards such as the BALANCE acronym of the Theta Xi fraternity. Members who are unable to abide by certain guidelines are not always allowed to remain members, Stine said.
“The fraternities had a very good year last year because as a whole there was no big negative,” Stine said. “(In this case) the lack of negative equals a positive.”
Not only have the IFC fraternities experienced an increase in new members, returning membership is up as well. According to Stine, total IFC fraternity membership is at 913, a 5-percent increase over last year.
“The recent increase is a result of us effectively combating the university and their attempt to discredit us and encourage kids not to join,” said Ryan Lynch, IFC president and senior integrative physiology and psychology major. “We’re being successful (because) we have a good product and we are effectively marketing our product.”