Julia Garrison
News Editor
Founded in 2011, Eta Pi is Wooster’s only all-gender fraternity. They have worked closely with the Wayne County Humane Society in volunteer efforts and were planning on hosting recruitment events (formerly known as “rush”) this fall until their sign-ups yielded a strikingly low number of recruits. Members cited the Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) Fair as the reason.
“Eta Pi is de-chartering at the end of the year… we’re left with no fair option to the members that will be returning,” explained Alex Phillips ’24, current Eta Pi president and four-year member. “The short-notice blindside changes significantly hampered our ability to effectively recruit people.”
For the first of its kind in recent Wooster history, the FSL Fair was held as a separate event from Scot Spirit Day, where student organizations find their largest recruitment pool. This change has sparked debate amongst members of FSL groups across campus, as the event not only caused a shift in routine, but also a shift in recruitment numbers.
The FSL Fair was held on Sept. 1 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on the Lowry Patio. The event hosted 12 fraternities and sororities, featured music by WOO 91 and ice cream. Students were required to check in at the Student Engagement table before exploring each of the group’s offerings. An email sent to the entire student body with information about the event was sent out on Aug. 31, one day before the event was scheduled to happen.
Director of Student Engagement Julia Zimmer explained that they are still receiving feedback on how the event fared – not only for FSL organizations, but also for attendees. “We are likely to simply host all eligible organizations at Scot Spirit Day [next year], including FSL organizations,” she explained. “The final decision will be based on our survey results and through conversations with IGC.” IGC refers to the Inter-Greek Council, where representatives from each Greek group come together to discuss fraternity and sorority life at Wooster.
Vice President, co-social media chair and co-recruitment chair Aster Smith ’25 explained the need for a good recruitment year coming into this school year as the group had undergone a restructuring last year and did not do much recruiting. Their pledge class (members who joined the fraternity in the fall of ’21) contained 13 members, which is a large disparity from their most recent effort for recruitment: the FSL Fair.
“None of our three recruitment members came from the FSL Fair.” Smith explained that even if their three recruits joined Eta Pi, they still would not have enough members to sustain their presence on campus for another year.
“I had no intention of joining a Greek group when I got to campus… most of the members of my organization come from the same viewpoint, same stance.” Smith criticized the Student Engagement department for separating the event, explaining that their freshman year Scot Spirit Day had changed their mind about joining a fraternity. “I pledged because of the community and support.”
“This group is almost one-hundred percent composed of people that never dreamed of joining greek life,” said Phillips. Eta Pi had 11 visitors visit their table during the FSL Fair, of which only four were completely new people that had no affiliation with the group’s members.
