Six Greek houses still recruiting pledges

Despite the conclusion of the spring rush period, five fraternities and one sorority are still looking for new members as part of a continuous recruitment process. Greek chapters that are unsatisfied with the size of their pledge class after the official two-week rush period in January are permitted to recruit throughout the spring and fall semesters, according to Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Assistant Director Tom Carroll. The Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Nu, Alpha Phi Delta, Acacia and Delta Tau Delta fraternities and the Pi Beta Phi sorority are still offering bids this semester. To help, OFSA is providing a list of students who expressed interest in joining a Greek organizations but did not receive a bid. Though Carroll said the list took longer to get compiled than he had hoped, he said it will make it easier for the organizations to find prospective pledges. Alpha Phi Delta -- who did not even offer bids during the official IFC rush period -- has already attracted three men from the list. But DTD President Robert Cuthrell, a Wharton sophomore, said that "OFSA hasn't been very forthcoming with the list," which Cuthrell said he wants to use during fall rush this year. OFSA and chapter presidents cited several advantages in offering continuous recruitment as opposed to strictly signing pledges during the official rush period. Continuous rush events usually have a more "low-key" atmosphere and are cheaper for the chapters to put on, Carroll noted. And the idea of continuous recruitment is becoming more popular nationwide, according to Carroll. He added that some IFC national organizations are urging their Penn affiliates to "move in the direction of [spring] rolling recruitment" so that a "good, quality person" does not lose interest in pledging between now and next January. For example, the DTD national stresses that "rush is 365 days a year" and Cuthrell said Penn's chapter -- though not actively recruiting this spring -- offered two bids after rush ended last year and is "not opposed" to signing qualified persons this spring. Alpha Phi Delta President James Lucania, a Wharton sophomore, said recruiting now instead of last month was necessary since the fraternity won't have a house until next semester, which made it difficult to compete with the more established fraternities. College freshman Vincenzo LaRuffa, though, said he would still rather wait until the fall upperclass rush than pledge one of the fraternities that are currently hunting for brothers. He added that there are other fraternities, "like the Castle [Psi Upsilon]," where he would pledge but that he will wait until next year when such fraternities are recruiting again. Continuous recruitment pledges do not attend all of the same new member programming -- like the Greek Life 101 program -- as formal rush pledges. However, OFSA is still offering three workshops designed to teach pledges about drugs, alcohol and acquaintance rape, as well as two cultural diversity workshops. Carroll said usually "anywhere from 15 to 30 guys" sign bid cards during continuous recruitment. Lambda Chi Alpha, which recolonized at Penn in 1996, had taken in 11 members after the formal rush period as of yesterday, according to President Alex Davie, a College junior. Numbers for Sigma Nu, Acacia and Pi Phi were unavailable last night.

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