Simpson’s sororities and fraternities were busy during the first few weeks of the fall semester, prepping for fall recruitment.  

Simpson Panhellenic has a lot to do with fall recruitment and is a group of different sorority members. Every house’s members have a chance to be on the executive board through an application process. 

“Last year it just so happened that all members on the board were Pi Phi other than one individual. This occurred due to many Pi Phi members applying for these positions. There is no bias, and it is welcoming to all sorority houses,” Pi Phi senior, Kylie Portraz, said. Once on the Panhellenic board, members also help with recruitment, such as advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. 

Numbers for the fall recruitment were overall deficient compared to past years. 

“Freshmen are majority student-athletes, and with sororities being a big commitment, I feel as if freshmen do not want to fully commit to Greek life at the beginning of the year,” Potratz said.  

With low recruitment numbers becoming increasingly apparent for fall recruitment, a few changes were made this year. Simpson sororities tried out a new structure after figuring out that fully formal recruitment was not best for a small college. 

Junior Hadleigh Markun, the vice president of membership experience and director of recruitment for Delta Delta Delta, explained the informal fall recruitment structure. “We changed to semi-formal recruitment, so each house has three events and then women looking to go through recruitment had to go to at least one event per house.”

Potratz explained how there are two more rounds before bid day. “Philanthropy round is where each sorority showcases their philanthropy. Then the preference round has to do with values,” she said. The last day is bid day where members got a bid to join the sororities. Pi Beta Phi got two members, Kappa Kappa Gamma got four members, and Tri Delta got two.   

Both Potratz and Markun were happy with how smoothly fall recruitment went this year. However, the next stage, continuous open bidding (COB), has begun. “We always get more recruits in COB due to it being more relaxed,” Portraz said.

With high expectations for more potential members through COB, Markun said, “I am very excited to see what the rest of the semester looks like with recruitment.” 

On the other side of Greek Life, we have the fraternities. Junior and member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Treye Teske, helped explain the annual Walk Night Simpson fraternity’s host.

“Every fall, the fraternities and sororities have a formal recruitment process. They differ immensely,” Teske said. 

The fraternity recruitment process includes events such as a Greek bonfire and an ice cream social within the first three weeks of school. 

Each fraternity holds events at their respective houses within the same period. Then each fraternity comes together to see who they would like to give a bid to. A bid is a formal invitation to the specific brotherhood. Once the bids are given out, there is a no contact period. 

“During this time, no one is allowed to talk about the fraternity with the recruits they gave bids to unless they first approach you,” Teske said. Finally, Walk Night is where the gentlemen who receive bids walk to their house of choice while everyone cheers. 

With a good turnout on walk night, Alpha Tau Omega gained nine new members, Sigma Alpha Epsilon gained eight, Lambda Chi Alpha gained seven and Kappa Theta Psi gained six.  

Compared to past years, fall recruitment this year was significant because of being entirely in-person. “The past couple of years have been tough due to COVID-19. Last year SAE received six members during formal recruitment. Compared to the eight that we got this year, it does not seem like a huge difference, but we also had many guys down to the house who are considering joining; they were just unsure at the moment,” Teske said.  

Even with the excellent turnout, fraternities will continue to do informal recruitment similar to COB. “Not everyone wants to join Greek life right away, but if they keep coming to the house and see all the positives it brings, then maybe they will be more inclined to join,” Teske said.