Bid numbers for spring Inter-Fraternity Council rush increased this year, with 41 more students accepting bids than last spring.
Fraternities saw 451 men accept bids to the 33 houses that participated in IFC rush.
Last year, only 32 fraternities participated in formal rush. Phi Delta Theta, a dry fraternity now recolonizing at the University, did not participate in rush last spring.
Phi Delta Theta had 33 students accept bids, the most of any IFC fraternity.
This year's numbers are normal compared to previous years, IFC Rush Chairman Wes Bieligk said.
"I'm very pleased with rush," IFC President Josh Johnson said. "There was a good amount of participation. I'm pleased to see we got the guys we got."
While some fraternity houses reported low numbers of accepted bids, Johnson said there are usually fluctuations from year to year.
"Some houses do better from one year to the next," he said. "But I would prefer to see high numbers for every house from year to year."
Some fraternity presidents shared Johnson's sentiments that a few fraternity houses with low bid numbers are not cause for concern.
"I thought it went pretty well," Chi Phi President Bryan Caccavale said. "Numbers were down overall, but we were happy. We're satisfied."
Bieligk said he was disappointed that more men did not join fraternities because many more students than usual participated in the earliest rounds of rush.
"I'd like to see more of those kids find houses," he said.
Johnson said greater cooperation between IFC and the Office of the Dean of Students allowed rush to run more smoothly than in past years and increased participation.
The Office of the Dean of Students aided IFC officials in last fall's rush forum, which introduced interested students to the rush process. This year, each fraternity sent a representative to speak with students.
"I thought it was a great opportunity for first years to be introduced to fraternal values," Asst. Dean of Students Aaron Laushway said. "It was one way to ensure that they had access to all the particular fraternities."
Bieligk said more active participation on the part of the Office of the Dean of Students pleased many fraternity members, who still feel the administration was unfair in moving formal rush to the spring three years ago.
Johnson plans to improve participation in fraternity rush next year with a new residence hall advisors program.
Through the program, liaisons from fraternities would serve as sources of information for first years.
Bieligk said it is important to encourage those first-year students who may not consider rush to sign up.
"The key is really to talk to those kids personally," he said.
Laushway agreed students need to know as much as possible about the entire fraternity system.
"What I would really like is for the IFC fraternities during the rush process to be able to secure maximum exposure of all fraternities," he said.
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