Spring Hill College Greek recruitment for both sororities and fraternities just wrapped up this past week.
Although being in a fraternity or sorority at Spring Hill is not necessary, many students usually participate in Greek life. This year though, there were noticeably fewer students who signed up to rush with 44 guys and 98 girls taking part. Last year, around 150 girls and 75 guys participated in recruitment. After talking to a few first-year students who did rush and presidents of the sororities and fraternities, they were almost all in agreeance that the lack of students in recruitment this year was due to the amount of commuters in the freshmen class.
Joey Nolan, president of Sigma Chi Fraternity, suggested that there was a decrease in the number of students that signed up to go through rush, and it was mostly due to the fact that there are a lot of commuters. He excitedly added that, although there was a low number of guys that rushed, Sigma Chi was still able to get 13 new members which was only a couple less than the amount they gained last year. Will participation in Greek life at Spring Hill continue to decrease in the future? Kaschia Benjamin, president of Phi Mu Fraternity, is hopeful that this is not the case. “I am not sure what the future holds, but I truly hope that Greek life will get st ronger and stronger. Going Greek honestly was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I can imagine that the founding members of each Greek organization would be so proud of how far these organizations have come.” Just like Nolan shared, Benjamin affirmed she was excited because, even though the number of girls who rushed was lower, Phi Mu was still able to get a new pledge class that was almost the same size as years past.
After speaking with Grace Thelen, a freshman from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Brandon Balnoschan, a freshman from Houston, Texas, they both shared that, although not all of their friends chose to participate in recruitment, they both thought it was an excellent opportunity to meet new people. Thelen revealed that she was always planning to join Greek life, but Balnoschan was hesitant, at first, because he thought it would take up too much of his time. Greek life is an important part of many students lives at Spring Hill College. It will be interesting to see if Greek life continues to decrease in the following years, or if the large number of commuters in the freshman class this year, was the only reason Greek life was at a low.
