Spring rush events for the 12 fraternities in CSUN’s Inter-Fraternity Council are not as big as fall rush events, but the fraternity brothers still go all out in hopes of recruiting new members.
Each fraternity has something different to offer and puts emphasis on different areas, contributing to different philanthropies and holding various events during rush week to try and attract new members.
Events put on by different groups included meeting the brothers, video games, sports, hookah nights, live music, lip-synching, jousting, belly dancing and BBQs. These events kicked off Feb. 5 in the University Student Union.
“We’re really tying to focus on improving the quality of our membership,” said Benjie Patterson, rush chair for Phi Sigma Kappa. “We feel that by recruiting better members in general is going to improve our organization overall.”
“Even though we’re small, we do want to grow at an adequate pace and not choose quantity over quality,” Patterson said. Phi Sigma Kappa is the smallest IFC fraternity on campus with 14 active members, he said.
Jonathan Bonesteel of Sigma Alpha Epsilon said being a part of the Greek system is a stepping-stone to getting involved in other activities and constantly meeting new people.
“I think that our house is definitely the most diverse house on campus,” Mike Gelles of Zeta Beta Tau said. “You get anywhere from Latinos to Eastern Europeans to Russians to Jews to everybody and it just brings that atmosphere together. It(‘s) basically like America, it’s a melting pot.”
“I would take a bullet for any one of my brothers,” said Justin Loveless, a Sigma Nu member. “Sigma Nu is something to stand for: Love, honor and truth.”
“We always tell people when they get here to try out other fraternities before they come to us because we believe that you need to see where you fit,” said Eric Wilks of Sigma Chi. “Even if you heard that one fraternity is better than another you shouldn’t go right there because you might work out somewhere better.”
“It screams a lot about you when you’re actually willing to try other stuff than you’re comfortable with,” Wilks said. “We welcome all men of different temperaments, talents and convictions.”
“We always have fun being with each other,” Neil Sanchez of Lambda Chi said. “We hold a lot of our strength through our brotherhood.”
“You need to prioritize to have everything under control,” Edgar Merino of Pi Kappa Alpha said. “School is obviously important and family but other than that you need to have fun. You don’t want to be a distraction, you want to help these guys.”
“Pi Kapps are also involved in A.S., UPC and many other clubs on campus,” said Abdel Mahtab, vice president of Pi Kappa Phi. We enhance people’s college experience and create leaders of tomorrow as the A.S. president and vice president are both in Pi Kappa Phi, Mahtab said.
“We’re a bunch of cool guys,” said Bryan Hom, a Phi Delta Theta member. “We’re pretty much the oldest fraternity on campus, we’ve been here since 1966. We have strong roots here.”
Adrian Ruelas, rush chair for Sigma Phi Epsilon, said they had the highest grades two semesters in a row and put up extra boards on campus to recruit new members.
“We’re all about respecting your fellow man and trying to make a better person out of them through the support of others who are looking for the same thing,” said James Enriquez of Tau Kappa Epsilon.
