Greek life is taking a step into the twenty-first century.

For the Fall Semester of 2001, incoming freshman and other Penn State students will no longer be receiving a greek recruitment book. Instead, they'll get a compact disc.

"The recruitment CD is a way to move into modern times," said Martha Benedum, vice president of membership for the Panhellenic Council. "It's a more efficient way to get our information out to potential members."

The recruitment CD will feature similar things to the book, including facts and pictures from Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, Greek Sing and Homecoming.

"The CD will look a lot like the recruitment book, only flashier and easier to read," said Benedum. "It's no longer another book to read — now interested students can scan text, look at more pictures and interact with our material. It also includes a lot more information."

Unlike the recruitment book, the CD will feature each sorority and fraternity chapter individually, giving basic facts and providing a link to each chapter's Web page.

The idea of adding a CD was brought up by the IFC executive board at the end of last semester.

"This semester's board has been exploring the idea of a CD since we came into office," IFC President Jon Brooks said. "We wanted to do a paperback guide, but it's not economically feasible to reprint 12,000 paperbacks every semester. The CD can simply be updated every semester, which is much cheaper."

University Park Allocations Committee provides the primary funds for the CD. The IFC and PHC had originally planned to produce and distribute the CD through the mail this summer.

But because UPAC ran out of money, the planners have put production off until August. They plan to distribute the CD when students return for the Fall Semester, possibly when they pick up their room keys.

"Since we're not mailing out the CD this summer, we're going to place a lot of emphasis on the greek Web site," Benedum said. "The Web site already offers a lot of information about each chapter and greek life in general. We always encourage kids who want to know more about greek life at Penn State to use it."

The idea for the CD came from other greek recruitment CDs at other campuses.

"The CD has helped recruitment a lot at other campuses," said Brooks. "But Penn State is a unique campus, of course. We'll just have to wait and see how it does here."