By EZEKIEL KINGSBURY

The Spring semester has begun, which means that once again, to the dismay of the nerds, geeks, and dorks, Rush season is upon us. The glorious ritual of awkward chit-chat, big ol’ chapter meetings where potential members’ personalities and controversies are discussed in depth, bids, and broken hearts presents us weary students with a feeling of “Yeah, maybe we are going to a real college!” 

The past year has confronted Beloit College’s Greek life with a number of issues. Recent incidents, particularly Sigma Chi’s infamous C-Haus video controversy, have tainted the image of our beloved fraternities, and this “taint” has been reflected in their numbers. Devin Brog’25, president of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), told the Round Table that while the anti-frat sentiment is fading, it still is present. While TKE usually doesn’t take Spring Rush “too seriously,” with the lack of Fall semester rushees (as a result of admittedly poor organization and what may be a generally negative student sentiment towards frats) the fraternity has been forced to up their game. 

With the indefinite closure of C-Haus, a popular on-campus social hub, many students are looking elsewhere for their social and party needs. TKE is seizing this opportunity by bolstering its recruitment strategy and emphasizing community values. (Some have even heard tale of TKE trivia nights to replace the C-Haus classics. Reach out to Brog for more info.) In the meantime, TKE will continue raising money for St. Jude and have serious conversations with new members to combat the “fraternal” pattern exhibited most recently by Sigma Chi last Spring. 

In contrast to some of its counterparts, Phi Psi has managed to largely avoid the negative press that has beset other fraternities. Ryan Novak’26, president of Phi Psi, says that he trusts most students on campus understand what “Phi Psi is and what it stands for.” During the Rush process, vice president Teagan Rogers’26 says they were looking for people who would be able to continue their “tradition of inclusivity.” While remarking that their fraternity dodged a lot of the negative press, Rogers still believes they need to remember they are “a fraternity as well,” and they are taking active steps to minimize the risk of somebody doing something “disruptive or otherwise awful,” as put by Novak. 

This semester, in addition to collaborating with other organizations on events, Novak wants to expand IFPC, an organization that is supposed to bring together all of Greek Life. It was “supposed to be the connection point, but with everybody so distant its been hard for people to feel like its worth going to,” Novak says. But, if he could get IFPC up and running, not only would parties stop happening on the same night, but hopefully there would be a broader system of accountability.

Theta’s goals broadly mirror their fraternal counterparts. In an interview with president Katherine Ekman’25, she said that Theta is looking for roughly 10 new members who value kindness, compassion, and inclusivity. This is reflected in a broader push by Theta to change their by-laws to match evolving values. One current by-law currently states that Theta only accepts female-identifying and non-binary people, and they are currently trying to change it to accept all gender identities. Ekman says, “While we are local and self-run, we are not exempt from the anti-Greek sentiment.” In order to ensure that the organization is able to be a positive force on campus, they are working to enlarge their focus to collaborate with more non-Theta organizations and individuals. “But we also want to bring back Theta rowdiness. Let’s have more fun,” Ekman says. 

When the Round Table contacted Sigma Chi’s Rush Chair to ascertain their goals for this Spring Rush, we were declined an interview.

_{Featured image: Mackenzie Kurtz’13}