Fraternity and sorority involvement on campus has increased by about 100 students since the 2004 – 2005 school year, said Jamison Keller, activities coordinator for fraternity and sorority life in the Matador Involvement Center.

“(CSUN currently has) about 1,100 students involved in fraternities and sororities on campus,” Keller said.

Keller said the current involvement on campus has risen drastically since he came to CSUN about seven years ago. At that time, about 600 students were involved in fraternities and sororities, he said.

“As enrollment has gone up, the numbers (of students involved in fraternities and sororities) have gone up as well,” Keller said.

Victor Azanedo, former USFC president, is also involved with the Gamma Zeta Alpha fraternity, acting as the social chair.

He said the fraternity currently has 15 chapters in California and CSUN’s chapter has a range of 10 to 20 members during the fall semesters and 10 or less during the spring semesters, Azanedo said.

According to Azanedo, a majority of its fraternity candidates are sophomores and juniors, but last semester several freshmen joined.

Another governing body, the Intrafraternity Council, oversees national and international social fraternities, said Airez Baharouzi, former vice president.

Baharouzi, who is also the current formal chair of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, said the council provides a better way to keep the fraternities organized.

Baharouzi said the fraternities active in the IFC range in size from about 10 to 80 members per chapter.

PKA currently has about 30 members, a small increase from last semester, Baharouzi said.

Baharouzi said that Greek rows at universities like UCLA, “unify the entire Greek system, but we don’t have that (here).”

He also believes that movies and the media in general present a false image to viewers about Greek organizations by depicting acts, such as binge drinking while ignoring beneficial involvements, such as supporting philanthropies.

Noel Edwards, president of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, said successful recruiting “comes down to not being afraid to be social.”

TKE has 54 active members this semester, about 10 to 12 higher compared to the previous school year, he said.

Edwards said that most of the freshmen in his fraternity are recruited from freshmen orientation, and that his group throws a back-to-school party every year to gain new members.

According to Baharouzi, PKA recruits most of its members through networking. He said people don’t just come by on their own looking to join.

“We don’t get many random people who want to rush,” Baharouzi said about PKA.

Baharouzi said that the councils exist for many reasons other than governance.

“One goal of the IFC is to help recruitment for everyone,” Baharouzi said.

According to university officials, CSUN plans to exceed full-time equivalent student enrollment next year by about 4 or 5 percent.

If the university meets this goal, a proportionate number of students could join Greek organizations on campus, increasing their numbers as well.

Mike Siciliano can be reached at mas20740@csun.edu.