Men’s Spring Recruitment and Men’s Spring Walk kicked off the month of February in an electrifying way. With 60 men lined up at 5 p.m. on Iler Field, anticipation was running throughout campus. After a semester of potential new member events, it was finally time to find out which men would go to which one of the seven on-campus Greek fraternities: Theta Chi, Sigma Nu, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Tau, Alpha Sigma Phi, Phi Mu Delta and Pi Kappa Phi.
Before Walk, 3 p.m. was when the real event began. Meeting in the Lankford Student Union Ballroom, the fraternities and potential new members gathered to give out bids to the men that they thought could enhance their chapters in new ways.
The recruitment process for men occurs both in the spring and fall semesters. According to Inter-Fraternity Council (IFC) President Luke Esper, spring recruitment is special because it is the first opportunity for freshmen to rush. Freshmen cannot rush their first semester in college. Typically, fall rush is made up of older students looking to rush and for new sophomores who did not have the opportunity in the spring.
Before Walk, every man interested in rushing a fraternity must sign up for recruitment online at www.longwoodgreeks.com and meet the requirements to rush. Requirements include a2.5 GPA and at least 12 Longwood credit hours.
The process to become a potential new member is one where, throughout the year, men will meet each fraternity via open houses and other events. Then on the day of Walk, the bids are handed out and each man prepares to join their new fraternity and begin the new member process. Before accepting each of their bids, the potential new members must sign a binding agreement to the fraternity that has offered them the bid.
With hundreds of Longwood students gathered to watch the Walk, the men lined up in alphabetical order with almost identical white shirts on to remain neutral in order to surprise each fraternity. The seven members of IFC ran back to their respected fraternities first.
The IFC members included President Luke Esper of Phi Kappa Tau, Executive Vice President Johnathan Barham of Sigma Nu, Administrative Vice President George Werbacher of Theta Chi, Vice President of Standards and Risk Management Cainan Townsend of Phi Mu Delta, Vice President of Philanthropy and Community Service Taylor Anderson of Theta Chi, Vice President of Scholarship Dani Roberts of Phi Mu Delta and Mike Garvis who serves as the vice president of Leadership and Membership Development and is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. Commenting on the event, Werbacher said, “It was super awesome!” He explained how it felt to run back to his fraternity brothers for the second time.
Werbacher also serves as the Recruitment Chairmen for Theta Chi and went on to say about Theta Chi’s recruitment and their new members, “I felt so proud of myself and my chapter for getting so many great men to join Theta Chi. I am so excited for all of our new members.”
After the IFC members returned to their respective fraternities, it was the potential new members’ turn. From the first to the last, each young man received loud cheers and support from all the spectators in attendance. A shocking change to Men’s Walk this year was that crowd surfing was banned because of safety and liability reasons. Despite this ban, each fraternity sought out unique alternatives to crowd surfing in order to make Walk extra special this year.
Phi Kappa Tau chose to have their associate members run to their new members and embrace them in congratulations.
Another great moment of Spring Walk this year was when Alpha Sigma Phi’s first member ran their way. This was Alpha Sigma Phi’s first Walk since being re-started on campus. The representatives from Alpha Sigma Phi were very excited to participate in this tradition.
After Walk was over, each fraternity greeted and congratulated their new members with numerous hugs and handshakes. Afterwards, they participated in taking pictures and each potential new member was beaming with excitement. Neil Reyes, a new member of Phi Mu Delta, described the feeling by saying, “It was an emotional experience. I am so proud to be a part of Phi Mu Delta.”
By Friday evening, the fraternities each added the following amount of new members during spring recruitment: Phi Kappa Tau: four; Sigma Phi Epsilon: five; Pi Kappa Phi: two; Theta Chi 20; Phi Mu Delta: six; Alpha Sigma Phi: 11; Sigma Nu: 5-7.
Freshman Ben Gibbs runs to join his new brothers of Phi Mu Delta.
