CARLY SUMMERSON
Special to The Leader
There is no doubt that this semester is drastically different than any other.
Colleges across the country have had to undergo numerous changes in order to bring students back to campus during a global pandemic.
With that being said, SUNY Fredonia has come up with safety regulations for the fall 2020 semester to protect the wellbeing of students.
However, the current circumstances have left students wondering how clubs and organizations will meet safely during this unusual semester.
Greek life in particular has been severely affected by all the new regulations. The way sororities and fraternities normally recruit new members has now been completely altered.
In previous years, Greek organizations would have recruitment events in person and on the Fredonia campus to meet potential new members.
Now, neither of these recruitment strategies are possible.
The leadership teams of these organizations have been working diligently to be able to have a successful, but also safe plan for their fall recruitments.
Kelsey Callea, a senior and the president of Delta Phi Epsilon, has been working on a plan with her fellow sisters that follows Fredonia’s new safety regulations.
Callea mentions that since this semester is very different, it was tricky to come up with ways to reach out to prospective members.
“We’re really utilizing our social media right now and our Facebook interest group page,” she said.
“We’re constantly updating our Instagram with recruitment information… Anyone who is following us, we add to the interest group — which has more detail about all of our upcoming events.”
With Activities Night being moved online via Flipgrid, every club created videos in order to get their name out to incoming students.
“We also made a recruitment video in place of our normal Activities Night, which I think was very helpful as well. [It was] just to give everyone a glimpse of our sisterhood and what we’re all about,” said Callea.
All three of Fredonia’s sororities have had their own plans for recruitment week, but there is a common theme with most of their events being virtual.
“Since we were planning on meeting in person for a few events and having the rest virtual, and now switching back to all virtual, we have to finalize our schedule… Our final schedule will be posted on our Instagram story in the next few days,” said Callea.
Regarding the bonding of new members with current sisters of the sororities and past traditions, Callea said, “Not having that face-to-face interaction and bonding time we usually get with each fall semester will be hard. We’re definitely doing everything we can to make things as normal and positive as possible, while keeping the safety of our girls and potential new members in mind.”
Past traditions of the sororities and fraternities have certainly been affected by all the new changes.
“As far as our past traditions are concerned, there’s definitely a lot we had to cancel and events we can no longer hold, which is super sad because these events and fundraisers are a huge reason we’re in this sorority,” Callea said.
Jordan-Christopher Purvis is also a senior and the recruitment chair of Kappa Sigma.
Similarly to the sororities, fraternities have also taken advantage of social media during this time.
“Word of mouth and social media are our most prominent way of communicating with those interested in joining the fraternity,” said Purvis.
“We are planning on promoting ourselves to connect with students across the entire campus through our Instagram account.”
As far as Kappa Sigma’s recruitment process goes, Purvis said, “Similar to other Greek life organizations across the country, we plan on having a virtual recruitment process. Ours will start Sept. 14 until Sept. 20, in which we will have an event every other day (Ex. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday). Safety is our biggest concern right now, not only for our brothers, but also for students interested in rushing.”
Purvis also said, “This semester won’t be the same as it once was before. That goes for both our recruitment and pledging process. Nevertheless, we’re going to try to have the best semester possible. Overall, we’re working diligently with the Greek life administrators to ensure safety for students and the community of Fredonia.”
Fredonia’s Greek organizations will definitely be going through a challenge this semester, but each has come up with ways to make everyone feel safe and welcomed during this new change.
Be sure to keep up with Fredonia’s Greek life’s social media accounts for more updates regarding their recruitment week:
Delta Phi Epsilon (@fredonia_dphie)
Sigma Gamma Phi (@sigmagammaphifsu)
Sigma Kappa (@sigmakappa_fsu)
Kappa Sigma (@kappasigfred)
Delta Chi (@fredonia_dchi)
Sigma Phi Epsilon (@sigep_fredonia)
and also Fredonia’s Panhellenic Council (@panhelfsu).