For the leaders of Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) at Drake, the hustle keeps going when it comes to recruitment. With a new semester rolling, the opportunities to get involved in FSL are bountiful. Assistant Dean of Students Rudy Trejo, who also directs FSL at Drake, said this spring is about making up ground.
“Without new members, we can not have a robust fraternity and sorority life,” Trejo said. “This past fall’s Formal Fall Recruitment was not as successful as years past, and so Spring Recruitment is important to make gains that were lost, not just this past fall but from the past couple of years.”
For each of the three divisions of FSL, this process looks a little different. Trejo said that it’s up to the sororities to plan their own Spring Recruitment.
“Our Panhellenic chapters each host Spring Recruitment differently,” Trejo said. “They participate in something they call continuous open bidding [COB]. This means that each of our five chapters can continuously recruit, and there isn’t a hard week and each chapter recruits in a manner that fits them best. At Drake, a chapter’s membership cannot exceed 100, so the number of bids each sorority can extend depends on what their current membership count is.”
For Alpha Delta Pi (ADPi]), one of the five sororities on Drake’s campus, this semester’s goal is to continue to connect with the women on Drake’s campus.
For Vice President of Recruitment Katherine Bruening, it’s also about continuing to diversify her sorority’s membership.
“At ADPi, we pride ourselves on having a mix of members from different backgrounds, life experiences, and majors,” Bruening said. “COB is a great opportunity for us to gain more members and increase our diversity even more.”
Bruening said for Alpha Delta Pi, this process consists of group events as well as one-on-one meetings between potential new members and existing members.
“Our recruitment team has been working hard to plan fun and unique events for potential new members, including a Galantines event and a Bob Ross painting party,” Bruening said. “We are also setting up coffee dates where anyone interested can have a one-on-one conversation with one of our members. These are a great way to really get to know us as a chapter and talk about our values and what our chapter means to us.”
For the men, recruitment this spring will look a little different than it has in the past. According to Trejo, this is due to the Interfraternity Council stepping up to help its chapters plan.
“This year, the Interfraternity Council is really taking the lead in coordinating a Spring Recruitment. Council leadership has stressed the importance of recruitment to the chapters and wants to extend as much help as possible,” Trejo said.” I’m glad the council is taking the lead in this, but, as the saying goes, “you can lead a horse to water, but, you cannot make it drink” … IFC can do all it can, but recruitment and its success ultimately lies with our chapters.”
For Colin Rodine, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon, recruitment is about the fraternity extending their reach on campus and continuing to make an impact in men’s lives.
“This is a time where we are able to reach out to the Drake community and expand our brotherhood,” Rodine said. “Drake’s campus is filled with exceptional people, and recruitment is our way of reaching those people. SigEp is nothing without the people within it, and every year, we look for the next group to build SigEp’s future, a future guided on becoming the best version of one’s self.”
Vice President of Recruitment Jason May said that recruitment is not only about the chapter, but also about the potential new members.
“Recruitment is not just about growing our chapter, but it’s also about giving young men the opportunity to grow and develop in social and professional settings,” May said.
Trejo said Drake’s National Panhellenic Conference, also known as the Divine Nine historically African American chapters, will also be recruiting early this semester.
“[These] chapters are completely autonomous and conduct what they call “intake” independently,” Trejo said.
Ultimately, Trejo wants to see effort and success from Drake FSL this spring.
“All our chapters have to understand that they need to put effort and energy into Spring Recruitment and not put all their eggs in the Formal Fall Recruitment basket,” Trejo said.
