Food, brothers kick off campus frats' open house

If any freshman men missed Halloween last October, the past two nights have been great opportunities to recreate the magic of trick-or-treating and gather free food from every house on the street. Every fraternity house, that is. The fraternity recruitment process, rush, began Monday night with events sponsored by all 29 recognized fraternities on campus. Students, initially attracted by the prospect of good food and company, were pleasantly surprised that they could gain access to rush events without paying the $5 rush registration fee, reinstated this year. When asked whether or not they had paid the new fee, many rushees all across campus confessed that they had not. "None of my friends registered, and we all rushed," College freshman Matt Weil said. "I certainly would've paid, but I had no idea when or where to register." Responding to the lack of freshmen who registered for rush, InterFraternity Council President Conor Daly noted that everyone who eventually joins a fraternity will have to register if they have not already done so. Daly, though disappointed that the initiative has not met with more success, views this year as just one step in the right direction. "I really just wanted to get the process [of a more formal registration] started, and as I've said, we've already had modest success, which I think will continue in the future," Daly said. Regardless of whether or not they registered, the rushees sampled fraternity life across campus and generally liked what they saw. "It was kind of like orientation," College freshman Nick Bobys said. "It was cool to meet some new people, and it was just a lot of fun." Daly was pleased with the start of rush. "It seemed like [we had] a very good turnout," he said. "So far, it has gone really well -- there were no problems. Let's hope that the next 12 days are like that." All along Locust Walk, rushees returning from fraternities testified that they will be returning to the frats all week -- some already enamored with the scene, others simply wanting to get to know the brothers better. Many students could not yet distinguish between fraternities. "It was just the first night so you couldn't really get a gauge on anything," College freshman Michael Diana said. "You did not get to know the brothers at all, but it was still great." In fact, one student complained that one event was so great that it prevented him from getting acquainted with the members of the fraternity. "The most creative [event] I saw was Phi [Kappa] Psi's 'Vegas Night,' but unfortunately, it was so crowded, so popular, that it was hard to get to know the brothers," College freshman Charlie Dan said. Not every event was as exciting. "It was, at times, slow, just the usual chitchat. Where are you from, what's your major," Engineering freshman Vinod Anantharaman said. "I had the same conversation in four houses, so I started changing my story," Weil said. "I started the night as a PPE major, and by the end, I was considering this and that different program...." But whether or not they got acquainted with the brothers or had genuine conversation, nobody went back to the dorms hungry. The fraternities offered the full gamut of local food, ranging from Pat's and Geno's, Koch's and the Creperie to Taco Bell, pizza and wings. More than any other factor, it seemed to be the food that truly energized the crowds. "The food was just amazing.... It got me rockin' and rollin' to the music. I think I'm drunk on Hemo's," College freshman Brett Carlson joked. "It was all about the food," Diana added, bragging that he had eaten nearly everything the fraternities had to offer. "Actually, I felt like a food slut." Open rush events will continue through Thursday.