Fraternities look for prospective additions during recruitment

There is more to fraternity life than partying.

That is what fraternities are hoping to get across as they began recruitment Monday.

Seventeen hopeful fraternity members played Ultimate at the Intramural Athletic Fields that day as the first event of the Phi Kappa Tau social fraternity’s recruitment week.

“We needed an athletic event to round out the week,” said Clinton Township senior and Phi Kappa Tau member Tony Berardo.

Clinton Township freshman Brandon Szachta decided to join a fraternity because of the stories his father and uncle told him.

“When I came to Central, I was interested in joining a fraternity because my uncle and dad were in one and they told me great things about being in one,” Szachta said. “I went
to MAINstage and checked out all the fraternities and visited houses and, of all the fraternities I checked out, I liked them the best.”

Fraternity recruitment is different from sorority recruitment because there is no formal structure to introducing the potential members to the houses.

“They get to choose which houses they’ll go to and which events they attend,” Berardo said. “With sorority rush, they have to go to every house at one point – ours, if you
already know you want to rush Phi Tau, you can go to Phi Tau events.”

Barbecuing for Recruitment

Phi Kappa Tau is not the only fraternity doing events all week.

All fraternities involved have planned events, bringing recruits out to get to know the group.

Alpha Chi Rho kicked off its week with a charity barbecue to raise money for one of its five philanthropies, Autism for Society of America. Potential brothers, returning
members and even supporting sorority women came out to donate money and socialize with Alpha Chi Rho.

Alex Angel, a Grass Lake sophomore who went through recruitment in fall 2008, said it was an open event.

“Everybody comes out to donate and socialize. The barbecue was an open rush event for new recruits,” Angel said.