Can Utah State's fraternities and sororities overcome COVID-19?

Utah State University’s fraternities and sororities have been limited to holding virtual or socially distanced recruitment events during this academic year, and some students fear these constraints could reduce pledge numbers.

Back in 2018, Caden Preece was a recruit who attended Rush Week events that involved a bunch of guys getting to know each other, singing songs, passing guitars and eating food.

“Now it’s unheard of,” he said. “It would have to be in a big place, 6 feet apart and disinfecting everything.”

Preece is now the Phi Gamma Delta recruitment chair and is worried about the difficulty of building relationships with recruits as quickly as he has in the past.

Paige Eidenschink, USU’s fraternity and sorority coordinator, has noticed registration numbers have dropped. But, she noted, retention rates have risen when compared to the previous three years.

She sent a survey to the women who participated in fall semester recruitment and learned an “overwhelming majority of respondents found a sense of belonging in their sorority that they do not think they would have found if recruitment was not done, due to the pandemic.”

Jonathan Thomsen, the Interfraternity Council vice president of public relations, said having fewer people and classes on campus has made finding interested students more difficult.

However, Thomsen was surprised by the turnout of students at online events. Those events, he noted, are more accessible than ever. “You get more than you expect,” he said.