Re-implemented last year for the first time in approximately 20 years at Iowa State, fraternity rush came back this year with bigger numbers and more structure to its program.

Fall Fraternity Rush took place Wednesday to Friday during evening hours. Various activities included a presentation that gave an overview of greek life and what to expect, a social event called Watermelon Fest and a formal-attired celebration banquet with guest speaker ISU Alumni Association President Jeff Johnson.

Participants had the opportunity to preference and tour 8 of the 24 fraternity houses involved, and narrowed them down to their top two choices. They were then able to attend an open house with the members of each of the houses they selected. Invitations to join the chapter, also known as bids, from the various fraternity houses were extended Saturday to those who took part in the recruitment process.

“It was interesting to see how all the houses did tours and get a chance to show the potential new members around, introducing them to the greek system and our methodology,” said Max Boose, senior in philosophy and 1 of the 20 Rho Gammas, or recruitment counselors who led participants in the formal recruitment process.

This year, there were 70 potential new members registered for the fall fraternity rush, and approximately 45 attended each day — double last year’s attendance, when 35 men signed up, and 18 attended.

Although the Interfraternity Council vice presidents of recruitment were shooting for 100 men registered and 70 attending, they still fared well with attendance, especially compared to last year.

“I feel the event was very successful in that we grew attendance by more than 200 percent and restructured the process so that next year they have a schedule to build on and improve,” said Lucas D., one of the two Interfraternity Council vice presidents of recruitment.

The initiator who brought back the formal recruitment process last year, Dan Renner, junior in marketing and current Interfraternity Council president, did so because he “wanted to open up the opportunity to ‘go greek’ to more men.”

“One of the most general questions we get is, ‘With so many fraternities, how is it possible to see them all?'” Renner said. “With 28 fraternities, it is very difficult to see all unique aspects of each chapter. So, this event helps highlight each chapter and gives potential new members the opportunity to explore all of the options that are out there.”

There are 28 chapters involved with IFC, but involvement in fall fraternity rush was not mandatory, so not all chapters participated.

Unlike sororities, fraternities have small, medium and large chapters — sororities only allow a certain number of women in each of their chapters to make it fair. Fraternity house size is the only limit to the number of members per chapter.

While one chapter had 19 potential new members return to their house on the last night, some houses didn’t have any. If it wanted, that chapter could have extended bids out to each of the nearly 20 members that visited, house size permitting.

Brian Bednarek, Theta Delta Chi’s international director of expansion, said he is happy to see ISU greek life is trying to revive fraternity formal recruitment. Bednarek was visiting Iowa State to help recruit for the fraternity.

“Though [Theta Delta Chi] didn’t get strong numbers this semester through formal rush, I am very optimistic that this process will aid us during recruitment in the years to come,” Bednarek said.

In the past, fraternity recruitment has been mostly based on informal recruitment, a mass calling system and Greek Getaway exposure.

“Having informal recruitment gives us the chance to meet and sign great guys throughout the year, but formal recruitment allows the potentials and us to get to know each other in a greek-promoting environment,” said Dana Brown, senior in anthropology and Theta Delta Chi recruitment chairwoman.

This year, various marketing tactics were used, including posters, a small calling process, table tents in the Memorial Union, mass e-mails, word of mouth and even promoting Fall Fraternity Rush to incoming male students at Late Night at the MU during Destination Iowa State.

Although only five people had signed up the Monday before classes started, more were recruited once Interfraternity Council put its marketing plan into place.

Men chose to participate in formal recruitment for various reasons.

“I decided to do the fall fraternity rush to see other fraternities that I had not had the chance to see, and because I wanted to join the greek community to get involved and meet new people,” said Jeremy Strief, sophomore in agronomy.

Last year’s fraternity formal recruitment was more of a trial run that helped make this year’s process more successful. Some key things those in charge of the event realized needed to be worked on this year were the structure of the event, the marketing and the timing.

Structuring it better would make the process more organized and smooth, marketing more efficiently would help get higher numbers and having the event earlier in the school year all benefited the program this year.

“Our goals were to restructure and hold [Fall Fraternity Rush] at a time where students are looking for something to be involved in and be a part of an organization,” Lucas D. said.

“It was good to have it the first week of school because there weren’t any tests, school work is minimal and people are really looking for multiple ways to get involved,” Renner said. “Fall Fraternity Rush was held in October last year, which ended up not being an ideal time to go through any type of rush because classes were in full force and students were usually committed to other things by that time.”

Of those who attended, many seemed to really enjoy and appreciate the experience.

“I feel that rush gave me the opportunity to better understand the greek system and see if it was for me, because it gave me the chance to ask the members of that house all the questions that I had about going greek,” said Colton Nebel, freshman in open option.

Active members of some of the fraternity chapters saw Fall Fraternity Rush as a worthwhile endeavor.

“I think Fall Fraternity Rush this year was a great start in bringing back formal recruitment to Iowa State. Give it a few years of development, add in freedom for houses to hold more events and a longer recruitment week, and I know it will be successful for all the fraternities,” Brown said. “This year has been one of the best years for rushing in the greek community. Many of the houses were able to sign record-breaking pledge classes, and I think [Fall Fraternity Rush] definitely had something to do with that.”

The Interfraternity Council future goals include one day “having a name to it” like sorority rushing does. It wants to come up with a more organized scheduling system, find a way to have the potential new members meet more men in the fraternities and find a set time to have fall fraternity rush to take place, all while not taking away from summer recruitment.

“There are many areas that we can improve on to get the students to see even more fraternities and tailor the event to better work around school schedules,” Lucas D. said.

Recruitment for the greek community is an ongoing process, and recruitment personnel are always on the lookout for new and interested members.

“Even though Fall Fraternity Rush is over, that does not mean recruitment is over,” Lucas D. said. “Fraternities recruit year-round, and I encourage anyone that may be interested in greek life to be proactive and seek out those chapters of interest. The Greek Affairs office is a great resource to start that search and get more information.”