Recruitment issues are still a major concern for the Interfraternity Council (IFC) as the executive council changes members for the spring semester.

IFC President Brian Bertges said a larger new member class helps fraternities get a lot more done throughout the semester.

"More members in general help fraternities achieve whatever they need to accomplish," Bertges said.

Newly elected Vice President of Membership Grant Miller said a main goal of the new executive board is finding members who are more willing to become involved in leadership positions.

Bertges said there are generally fewer people who join fraternities during the spring semester because there are usually more recruitment efforts made by fraternities during the fall semester.

This could be because fraternities want to try and obtain the large numbers of freshmen that arrive during the fall, Bertges added.

Miller said he feels that in the past, many of the IFC on-campus recruitment activities have made a large impact on gaining new members for fraternities.

The IFC is currently trying to move recruitment efforts, such as information sessions, on campus to reach as many students as possible, Grant said.

Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Kevin Kerr said in an e-mail message that recruits are what hold fraternities together and keep them going for the future.

"We have worked with the chapters to assist them in creating recruitment plans and providing education for the organization," Kerr said. "On the council level, we have worked to coordinate publications that support and showcase the community."

IFC President-elect Ben Jabara said a part of his platform as president is to help increase the recruitment numbers for fraternities.

"We want to get the numbers up and recruit the best quality members," Jabara said.

He said recruitment programs are still in the works, but it will include events such as fraternity mixers, so new members can become more familiar with greek life.

Jabara said he is trying to make events like these more formal.

"It is a semi-informal process right now," he said.

Jabara added students will be seeing a change within greek life at Penn State in the future, but he would not specify what types of changes.

"Generally, people are going to see a big change in the way the greek system works," he said.

Dan Sloane, membership development chair for Alpha Gamma Rho, 322 Fraternity Row, said it is best to find a "happy medium" between large and small new member class.

Sloane said fraternities want large pledge classes because with more members, more money is brought into the house, and they can participate in more activities.

Sloane said there are also problems with a larger new member class because it is harder to get to know all the people who are joining the fraternity.

"With large pledge classes, there isn't as much personal bond between a brother and new member," Sloane said.

Sloane said he has heard from his other fraternity members that recruitment has gone down over the past years. "I heard a lot about how parties used to be bigger and better, and there were less restrictions," he said.

Sloane added that he doesn't feel that IFC-run recruitment events do much to bring new members to houses.

He said his fraternity attended an information session once, but there were only three other fraternities present at the event.