The Rules of Recruitment

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Every fraternity and sorority does it, but what exactly is ‘recruitment’? To an average undergraduate at a college, recruitment week is the craziest week of the year. At UC Irvine, it used to be a time when fraternities threw wild parties every night and sororities were in full force, singing songs and wearing identical outfits. For UCI, much has changed since these wild days; with new rules came new restrictions.
Despite this, the meaning of recruitment has not changed. Fraternities and sororities have different attributes, and not all of themare the same. Upon joining a Greek organization, the opportunity arises to meet new members who share the same interests and goals. This opportunity, to Greeks, is recruitment.
Recruitment is the chance for non-Greek students to interact with the members as well as partake in social functions, such as poker night, barbecue night or the occasional house party. With this in mind, recruitment may seem like an interesting week, but in reality recruitment doesn’t occur only one week throughout the year. Recruitment is a year-round event.
The official recruitment week occurs at the beginning of the school year and is a time for undergraduates and transfers to more easily meet new people.
A couple years ago, the Inter-Fraternal Council, the governing body of the fraternities, instituted new rules for recruitment. No parties or social gatherings are allowed where there are potential new members.
‘This puts a strain on fraternities because fraternities are social organizations. Partying is part of the Greek life,’ said Matt Cox, a third-year political science major and member of Kappa Sigma.
But just because there are rules doesn’t mean that everyone will follow them. When asked what purpose the current rules serve, James Fry, a fourth-year biological sciences major and member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon said, ‘They don’t serve any purpose other than another way for fraternities to get each other in trouble. It’s basically a game. Not getting caught is the key to winning.’ Fraternities receive a pricey consequence if they arecaught breaking the rules, a monetary fine of $1,000.
Rikard Gellert, a second-year economics major and member of Sigma Pi said, ‘The current rules limit our freedom to recruitment the same way most fraternities at other campuses are restricted. Nonetheless, it’s pointless to have rules because none of the fraternities follow the rules anyway. The point of the current rules is to only fine those that get caught.’
For now, it seems the rules of recruitment won’t change for the Greek fraternities at UCI. Recruitment is and will always be a year-round event in which members search for those sharing a similar sense of brotherhood.

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