Despite Tuesday’s tragedy, potential greeks were in no short supply during men’s Recruitment last week.
“Overall, I think this was probably one of our best sessions since I’ve been here at MSU,” said Interfraternity Council President Josh Tudor. “But I think the events that happened Tuesday halted all activities within and out of the greek community.”
Tudor said most fraternities canceled Recruitment activities for the night.
“A couple fraternities still allowed potential new members to come up to their houses, but it was more just opening up the chapter houses so that they had a place to go with other people and watch the events unfold that evening,” he said
Recruitment activities continued for the rest of the week with high numbers of interested students, Tudor said.
“We’ve been very pleased with Recruitment this year,” he said. “Not only have numbers been excellent, but the quality of new members going through the process has been exactly what we were desiring.”
Garrett Sheffer, chapter president of Alpha Epsilon Pi, was among the fraternities that canceled Recruitment Tuesday.
All of the fraternity’s 35 members are Jewish.
“We are a Jewish house, so this issue definitely affects all of us with the Middle East conflicts and the Middle East-U.S. relations,” he said. “It affected everyone in the nation, but in the end it’s bringing everyone closer together, and I think that’s really important.”
Although some greek and non-greek students believe last week’s events were a time for remembrance and reflection, some say it’s also time to start moving on.
“By Friday, I was ready to stop watching the news and begin living my life again,” said teaching intern Myra Goodrich. “But I think it was natural and appropriate that the country was on pause for a few days.”
Women’s Recruitment begins Sept. 20, and Tudor believes a high number of potential greeks will be ready to begin the process.
“I don’t expect that the events that took place this week will cause the women’s Recruitment sessions to be significantly worse,” he said. “I think that most people want to go on with their lives and not let these events have an effect that would keep them from doing the things that they enjoy.”
