Greek numbers continue to grow

By Rich Nieva

Santa Clara's sororities had slightly fewer bids this year, while fraternity Sigma Pi had the biggest class for its fraternity in the country, as last week's "rush," or recruitment process, ended.

The community's social sororities -- Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma, and Kappa Alpha Theta -- recruited about 140 new women, out of about 200 that rushed, said Kiely Nose, president of Santa Clara Panhellenic.

Santa Clara Panhellenic is the community's chapter of the National Panhellenic Conference, an umbrella organization for 26 national sororities.

"It went very well, very smoothly," said Nose, who added that the consistent number of recruitments each year still has the group looking into adding a fourth house.

Though the numbers were slightly down from last year -- when 170 were offered bids out of 230 -- she said it was still in the same ballpark. "The community is by no means in danger," she said.

Members of these sororities declined to comment, citing guidelines from their national organizations.

Sigma Pi reached a benchmark by admitting a class of 29 men out of 50 hopefuls this quarter, one of the largest classes for the fraternity in Santa Clara history, said Sigma Pi President Matt Ambauen.

"I think it's a good fact that we're going strong," he said.

This is also the largest Sigma Pi class in the nation out of 130 chapters, he said.

This was a feat, Ambauen added, because unlike any other chapter in the country, this one -- along with every other social fraternity or sorority on campus -- isn't recognized by the university.

The two other social fraternities, Pi Kappa Alpha and California Phi, will begin their rush later in the quarter. Multicultural Greek organizations, including Chi Upsilon Zeta, Nu Alpha Kappa, Sigma Lambda Beta, Lambda Sigma Gamma and Sigma Lambda Gamma, will also have recruitment events during fall quarter.

Alpha Kappa Psi, the university-recognized co-ed business fraternity, had a group of about 25 interested candidates, said Tony Chigazola, the fraternity's president.

Nine of them made it through to the pledge process, which is ongoing throughout the quarter. "(Rush) is basically a one- to two-week interview," he said.

The organization usually has about 25 to 50 people each rush period, said Chigazola, adding that they had planned on it being a small rush this quarter.

Alpha Kappa Psi did not advertise much this time around, though the fraternity is planning a more well-marketed rush in the spring.

If this turnout was due mostly to word of mouth, then it shows that the fraternity's presence on campus is growing stronger, he said.

Business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi did not respond to an interview request.

Contact Rich Nieva at (408) 554-4546 or rnieva@scu.edu.