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Greek organizations may not take new members despite spring rush requirement

The University’s Board of Trustees mandated last year that every Greek organization offer a spring alternative to fall recruitment, but the reality might not be as clear cut.

At least one fraternity and some sororities are not planning on accepting new members, current members said.

John Childress, president of Chi Phi fraternity, said the house will conduct recruitment, but there is a strong possibility it will not accept any new members due to cost concerns.

But Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp said a fraternity conducting spring rush with the intention of not accepting new members would be unacceptable.

“If an organization pre-determined that it was going to go through the motions of spring recruitment with no intention to genuinely consider new members, I would not consider that to be meeting either the letter or spirit of the standards and expectations,” he said.

Last November, the board mandated that spring rush be offered by all fraternities and sororities. Crisp was charged with implementing the board’s decision.

The decision came in response to a study by the board about the overall experience of freshmen who join fraternities and sororities.

Fraternity spring rush will kick off Jan. 9, followed by a nine-day official recruitment period, said Jack Partain, president of the Interfraternity Council.

All chapters will be required to participate, he said.

Partain said he thinks most fraternities are excited about offering spring rush, and he hopes to see growth in the spring.

“Definitely the overarching theme is that chapters are going to try to get a pledge class in the spring in addition to what they got in the fall,” he said.

Ana Samper, president of the Panhellenic Council, said in an email that national chapter regulations will prohibit some sororities from accepting new members in the spring.

“Every chapter that is eligible will participate,” she said.

Sororities will begin their spring rush process with a kickoff on Jan. 12, and women will be initiated by mid-April, Samper said.

Greek pledge classes in the spring are typically much smaller than those in the fall, said Aaron Bachenheimer, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Community Involvement.

“While there are some opportunities in spring, fall is always going to be the larger recruitment process,” he said.

Partain said the number of students interested in rushing a fraternity drops significantly in the spring.

“In fall we were looking at about 500 kids registered, and spring we’ll probably see about 200 or so,” Partain said.

The smaller size is not ideal, Childress said.

“We don’t want to have a three-person or four-person pledge class because that kind of devalues the pledging process, and it isn’t special to them.”

Contact the University Editor at university@dailytarheel.com.

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