Spring rush ends as IFC fraternities deliver bids

Three hundred sixty-one students signed their bids at a ceremony Tuesday night. Ending two weeks of difficult choices and extravagant parties, the InterFraternity Council offered 543 bids to 468 students Tuesday night at a ceremony in Meyerson Hall. As of Tuesday, rushees had signed a record 361 bid cards, but they have until Friday to choose a fraternity, according to outgoing IFC Vice President of Rush Jeff Snyder. The Wharton senior and Phi Kappa Sigma brother added that "more people successfully rushed than last year," when 544 bids were delivered to 455 people. The IFC Executive Board, representatives from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and prospective pledges attended the bid ceremony. The ceremony began with speeches by Snyder; outgoing IFC President and College senior Josh Belinfante, an Alpha Chi Rho brother; and incoming IFC President Mark Metzl, a College junior and Tau Epsilon Phi brother. IFC officials then divided the rushees into alphabetical groups and gave them their respective bid cards to sign. While 468 people received at least one bid, some were offered two or as many as three bids, Snyder said. College freshman Ross Fieldston received bids from TEP, Sigma Alpha Mu and Zeta Beta Tau. "I liked ZBT the best in the end," Fieldston said. "It was really a hard decision." OFSA Director Scott Reikofski said most fraternities informed prospective pledges of their bids over the weekend and on Monday. "[Although] guys don't have to decide [Tuesday night], generally, in 24 hours, they do," he added. Reikofski said he was wondering how the college house system would affect the bid-signing process. Since community-building is "one of the goals of the college house system," Reikofski continued, "students may not be turning to the Greek system as quickly as they would have in the past." Yesterday, however, Metzl said this year's rush set a "record as far as how many bids were signed on the first date." Those students who signed cards will proceed with pledging until April. In addition to tasks thought necessary before initiation, pledges will attend mandatory workshops next month on drug and alcohol abuse, among other topics. Snyder said that rolling recruitment throughout the semester will allow rushees and non-rushees who did not receive bids on Tuesday to join the Greek system. This year's IFC rush was marred by a few setbacks. The Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity was placed on one semester of social probation and two years of standard probation after it violated the dry rush policy by allegedly bringing five kegs to a New Jersey bowling alley. And some rushees also complained that too many fraternities held their rush events on the same nights. "It didn't really give everyone an opportunity to see all the houses," said College freshman Alex Crisses, who received a bid from Alpha Epsilon Pi. "A lot of the events were the same night." Metzl said that over the next year "[the IFC is] going to evaluate the current rush structure in response to apparent flaws."

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