Issue date: 9/17/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Derrick Hawkins Members of the Alpha Kappa Lambda and Sigma Pi set up rush tables in the cafeteria for rush week. Other fraternities and soroities had tables in various locations

The SIUE campus' sororities and fraternities have spent the week recruiting new members for 2009. By the end of the weekend, SIUE's three Collegiate Pan-Hellenic Council sororities and four Interfraternity Council fraternities as well as two other fraternities will have welcomed their new recruits.

SIUE's sororities and fraternities take differing approaches to the new member selection process. The CPC sororities Alpha Phi, Alpha Sigma Tau and Delta Phi Epsilon hold a formal recruitment. Interested women register for the recruitment process at the beginning of the week and will spend the rest of the week meeting all three organizations at joint events held each night of recruitment week. At the end of the week the potential members and the sororities partake in a mutual selection process. Potential members rank the sororities based on their interest in joining, and the sororities create a similar ranking of these women. A computer program then takes over to match each sorority with an equal number of new members.

"I am looking forward to recruitment week, and we are expecting many women to come out this year," Delta Phi Epsilon President Samantha Nelson said.

Fraternity rush is a less structured process. Each of the IFC fraternities (Alpha Kappa Lambda, Sigma Pi, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Phi Kappa Psi) along with Delta Lambda Phi and Phi Mu Alpha will hold their own set of rush events this week. Men choose which organizations and which activities they want to attend. At the end of the process each fraternity selects whom they will invite to join.

Not all of SIUE's Greek organizations hold activities during rush week. SIUE's National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternities and sororities and Gamma Phi Omega hold informational meetings throughout the year for interested students. SIUE also has many non-Greek honorary fraternities and a service fraternity. Informational meetings are held for some of these groups and invitations are sent to join others. These alternative organizations have their own benefits. Vice President of Service of Alpha Phi Omega Zach Sanderson explained that service fraternities make the volunteering process easy and enjoyable.

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