Dry AEPi sees largest pledge class in years

The fraternity, which is facing a two year ban on in-house alcohol, registered 24 rushes this week. The brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi say they have succeeded in attracting a large pledge class after beginning spring rush as what InterFraternity Council President Mark Metzl called a "test case" for alcohol-free fraternities. Twenty-four rushees signed bids for AEPi, making the fraternity's new pledge class "twice the size" of last year's class, according to AEPi President Dan Tehrani, a Wharton junior. "The rushes that decided to sign bids at AEPi [did so] for the right reasons, the strength of their brotherhood and the ideals that their house represents," added Metzl, a College junior and Tau Epsilon Phi brother. In November, the fraternity was forced to go dry for two years because of its role in September's non-fatal alcohol poisoning of a female freshman who had at least 12 drinks at an AEPi "hotel party." The chapter headed into this year's rush as the only fraternity in the IFC with an alcohol-free house. Tehrani said that the pledges came to his house without the "stereotype of the Greek system" that brothers "drink all day." "[The rushees] may have felt more at ease coming to our house" since they knew the fraternity was dry, he added. Although College freshman and AEPi pledge Nat Bach was "slightly" skeptical about rushing a dry fraternity, he said "the quality of the guys made up for any lack of alcohol." Last year's AEPi Rush Chairperson Charles Moskowitz, a College junior, stressed that rush statistics were up for fraternities throughout the campus. As of Tuesday, rushees had signed a record 361 bid cards. Phi Kappa Sigma's pledge class increased from 15 to 17, for example, although Tau Epsilon Phi's pledge class of 24 was the same size as last year's. "I didn't really field many questions [about the dry policy]," Moskowitz added. Moskowitz also credited the increased pledge class size to the "harder work" put into AEPi's rush. "When something bad happens to a fraternity, either it crumbles and disbands or becomes stronger," said this year's AEPi Executive Rush Chairperson Jordan Bliss. "There were points last semester when I wasn't sure if my house was going to be a brotherhood that could go through adversity." The Wharton junior attributed his chapter's success to the fact that he and his rush chairs were "hyped up" during the rush process. "A lot of [rushees] didn't care about dry or not dry," he said. "They saw a lot of guys energized." On Tuesday afternoon, Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Scott Reikofski said AEPi brothers had been "surprised at the number of people expressing interest" in their house. AEPi is not the only fraternity that faces a dry future. Other fraternities, including Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta and Sigma Nu, are part of national organizations that have volunteered to go dry permanently by July 1 of next year.