Fraternity recruitment for undergraduate males at Hopkins began Feb. 5 with an information session and continued through Friday, Feb. 15, with each fraternity hosting events for new members. A total of approximately 230 students participated in formal recruitment for Hopkins’s 11 fraternities, hoping to receive invitations to join one.
Participation in fraternity recruitment has remained consistent with that of previous years, according to Director of Greek Life Rachel Drennen.
Freshmen make up the majority of the males participating in recruitment, although sophomores also can rush.
In the case of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), for instance, 19 prospective members received invitations to join the frater nity and fourteen accepted.
Between 30 and 40 individuals had expressed an official interest in joining, AEPi recruitment chair Stafford Enck said.
For the first time during recruitment, a “dry weekend” was instituted for the weekend of Feb. 8 for all of Greek Life, placing a moratorium on fraternity-sanctioned parties or drinking events. This did not impact the number of students participating in recruitment.
“I don’t think it had any sort of effect. It just made rush week more extensive because we had to have the dry events [in addition to the other events],” Enck said.
Many decided to join fraternities to become part of a large community.
“I joined because I feel that being part of a fraternity creates friends that you’re going to have for the rest of your life,” Cody Elias, a freshman joining the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity (WaWa), said.
Other students feel they don’t need to participate in Greek Life to have a fulfilling social experience on campus.
“I am close enough to the people around me that I don’t necessarily need to associate with Greek life to have close friends,” freshman Elliot Troutner said. “Also it’s encouraged that you live in the houses and I don’t necessary want to be a part of that atmosphere.”
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