ECU’s Spring Recruitment Week for the Interfraternity Council

East Carolina University’s Spring Recruitment Week for the Interfraternity Council helped welcome 64 new fraternity members.

Christopher Cooper, Interim Associate Director for Fraternity and Sorority Life, said Spring Interfraternity Council (IFC) Recruitment Week proved to be a success, spanning from Jan. 21 through Jan. 27. The schedule included orientation on Jan. 21, formal recruitment rounds on Jan. 22 to Jan. 23, open rounds on Jan. 24, preference night on Jan. 25, and bid day on Jan. 26. Bid Day is the last day of recruitment when invitations to join are handed out.

Cooper said, a total of 109 individuals registered for recruitment, with 88 actively participating in the process. Among them, 64 accepted bids to join a fraternity. Notably, all 18 fraternities involved in Recruitment Week welcomed at least two new members into their respective folds.

“ECU has four governing Greek councils: the Panhellenic Association, the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the Multicultural Greek Council, and the Interfraternity Council,” said Cooper. “The Interfraternity Council distinguishes itself by being home to the oldest traditional fraternities. Every semester, each council conducts recruitment in its unique way, but all organizations strive to attract new members annually or semesterly through various methods such as Fall formal recruitment, Spring recruitment, Continuous Open Bidding, or Intake.”

Daniel Walker, a founding member and Internal Vice President of Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) said they had a total of 14 people sign bids. This marks Pike as a considerable fraternity since its comeback as a provisional chapter. The original PKA fraternity got banned in 2017 because of alcohol-related hazing and this is their first recruitment week since then.

“Our recruitment week went better than expected,” said Walker. “We were not expecting to gain this many people right away but we are very happy with how it worked out and confident with the selection of new member recruits.”

Walker said their rush process, structured similarly to other fraternities, began with formal rounds on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23. Jan. 24 included a bonfire and barbecue event where they could get to know the members even more. Jan. 25 was preference night by invitation and Jan.26 was the night where the members received their bids. Some of the more promising candidates received bids earlier in the week to solidify their position in the fraternity early on.

“We are so excited about our new members,” said Walker. “Recruitment week went great and we are certain our new guys will represent the core values of Pike in the best possible way. We are building a strong network of people that can all count and rely on each other.”