For its second year in ISU history, fraternity formal recruitment will commence this week as fraternity men exhibit their traditions and daily life to potential members.

Potential fraternity members met in the Memorial Union Sunday and today to meet members from the 28 different fraternities on campus. This is a change from last year, when the men went to each house, to cut down on the time it took to walk to each chapter house, said Craig Peterson, Interfraternity Council vice president of recruitment.

For the rest of the week, the potential members will visit the fraternity houses. On Friday, the match between man and house will be made.

Last year’s recruitment had three times as many men participating.

This is largely due to the increase in members recruited through informal recruitment this summer, which was more than 200 more than last year, said Peterson, senior in mechanical engineering.

Formal recruitment is a supplement to informal recruitment, Peterson said.

“The informal process is better to get to know the guys on their own level,” he said. “Formal recruitment is aimed at guys who couldn’t get up here this summer because they live too far away, but they are still interested in fraternities.”

Luke Fenner, freshman in sociology and recruitment chairman for Delta Upsilon, 117 Ash Ave., said his fraternity focuses more on summer recruitment, because they didn’t find formal recruitment to be very successful for them last year.

Formal recruitment was beneficial for Phi Kappa Theta, 2110 Lincoln Way, last year.

“We got some quality guys last year through formal recruitment,” said Ian Cory, sophomore in history and recruitment co-chair for Phi Kappa Theta. “We are hoping to get some this year too.”

Mark Snyder, recruitment chairman for Phi Gamma Delta, 325 Ash Ave., said they had a very successful summer recruitment with 31 new members.

“We aren’t putting a lot of stock into [formal recruitment], but it would be nice to get a few more guys,” said Snyder, sophomore in construction engineering.

Peterson said some houses that have a large number of members join informally may choose not to be part of formal recruitment in the future.

“Even if formal recruitment is small, it’s still beneficial because it is a way for some people to check out the greek community who didn’t have the opportunity before,” he said.

For questions or information about fraternity recruitment call the Interfraternity Council Office at 294-4943 or e-mail at [email protected].