By Claudia Balthazar
The number of male students joining fraternities rose this year, after the fraternities decided to change the recruitment process to one that forced them to work together.
In previous years, each fraternity held its informational sessions off-campus. However, the fraternities decided to join together and hold their recruitment meetings for two days in February. Roughly 140 new recruits showed up to this event to learn more about each fraternity.
“I’m surprised that they [fraternities] all worked collectively,” said Mario Bolanos, assistant director of the Office of Student Leadership and Activities who oversees Greek Life on campus. “Some people who were interested in one organization were actually going to others.”
He also added that having informational sessions on campus helped the fraternities because not many people have access to transportation with a large portion of students from out of state.
Commonly known as “Round Robin” for sororities, the fraternities chose to adopt this method of recruitment to increase their numbers because of its success in sorority recruitment.
“It’s a good system because the new members get to feel what each organization is about,” said Emily Gage, public relations chair of The Inter Fraternity Sorority Council. “It’s a better choice because they have more variety. They get to see all their opportunities at one time and get to pick and choose rather than getting only one so they get to really feel their pick.”
But while the sororities have marketed themselves through Round Robin for a while, their recruitment numbers dropped significantly. This semester, 170 girls attended the event, whereas last year it was close to 300.
Gage insists the low numbers are not a problem. At her previous school, there could be close to 30 girls pledging at one time. At Hofstra, that could very well be the number of people in the entire organization alone.
“Greek life at Hofstra is not big in numbers period, but we have a strong presence because of our events and philanthropy,” said Gage.
