Today marks the end of the Interfraternity Council's (IFC) first week of alcohol-free recruitment, but greek officials said it's too soon to tell if it has affected recruitment numbers.
Only one fraternity has been punished for a minor violation, IFC President Max Wendkos said. Security officials intercepted the issue before it could actually occur, which only included one fraternity member, Wendkos said.
Chapters that violate the policy face a $1,000 fine and lose a week of social events -- a punishment that was enforced upon the fraternity in violation, Wendkos (senior-marketing and psychology) said.
The IFC is working diligently, with the help of a third-party security company, to ensure the rules are being enforced, he said.
"We have been monitoring our policy as closely as we possibly can," he said. "IFC executives have been checking on houses nonstop, and we've developed a training program for the security company so they know exactly what to look for."
This "values-based recruitment" was implemented at the beginning of the semester for risk management purposes, Wendkos said. But the policy
can also have other benefits, he said.
"Fraternities will get to know the recruits on a more personal level than they had in the past, and we'll get a better feel for the personalities of the guys that they're inviting to join the brotherhood," Wendkos said.
One fraternity, Delta Upsilon, has a dry rush every year because of its international
affiliation, said Brenden
Finn, the fraternity's rush chairman.
"It's actually been good for us," Finn (sophomore-elementary education) said. "It kind of levels the playing field."
But fraternity members said they have mixed views on whether it's a good idea.
Gio DiSalvatore (freshman-mechanical engineering) rushed in the fall 2009 and said he thinks an alcohol-free version won't be as much fun.
"People join fraternities for the networking," he said. "Now that everything is dry, you can't really see the fraternity's true colors."
