By Brooke DellaRocco, Staff Writer
Manhattan College’s Greek life is back with another recruitment season for the fall 2023 semester. This past week, all four organizations, Alpha Pi Delta, Alpha Pi Phi, Delta Kappa Epsilon and Sigma Delta Tau, celebrated their Rush week, where potential new members get the run-down on what being a sorority sister and fraternity brother is all about. For the fall semester, most greek life can only accept second semester freshmen and above, as a GPA is needed to be admitted. The Quadrangle spoke to members of each organization to gauge the groups’ turnouts.
Sigma Delta Tau (SDT), one of the two sororities, gained another 12 girls to make their total of engagement 105 girls. Sofia Bernabei, marketing chair for SDT, shared the schedule for their events explaining that the main focus is to get better acquainted within the sisterhood.
“We had night one and two of recruitment,” Bernabei wrote in an email to The Quadrangle. “Night one being sisterhood, we did bracelet making and had all of our PNMs (potential new members) meet the actives. We also did an introduction for each executive board member and general board member. With an organization as large as ours, we have tons of girls in leadership positions doing all sorts of different stuff.”
After learning about the group, the recruitment process is about learning who gets along best and building the organization.
“It’s so important to have a community of people to empower you and support you and to work together to better your community,” said Vice President of SDT Samantha Keating.
Not only is there an emphasis on the sisterhood the sororities promote, but they also get regularly involved in community affairs. One of SDT’s main organizations they raise money for is Preventing Child Abuse America (PCAA), as well as taking part in an Alzheimers walk and additional activities. They tend to throw different events to raise money for these organizations, usually working some kind of fun into the mix. For example, Sigma Delta Tau currently have a Chipotle Night in the next week or so to raise some proceeds.
Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE), one of the two fraternities on campus, shared his rush week experience and the importance of building relationships among the guys.
“Rush this semester went great,” Joey Talenti, President of DKE, wrote in a message to The Quadrangle. “We had some info sessions in Kelly, and some fun events like a BBQ and Thursday Night Football. It was great meeting some of the new guys and seeing some familiar faces at the events. Rush is a fun time for everyone, but it’s really important because these young guys are gonna be in charge of the fraternity one day. Even though this semester’s rush is finishing up, we can’t wait to continue getting to know these guys better and soon enough we’ll get to call them brothers.”
Alpha Phi Delta (APD) fraternity is constantly looking forward to rush and trying to consistently make it better.
“I’m happy to say that this year’s rush unfolded pretty well; the brothers met a bunch of willing potentials,” Jordan Gaylord, president of APD said. “We value every potential new member who shows interest in our fraternity, and we are constantly thinking about how each semester we can make a more inclusive and engaging rush process in the future. We are confident that the bonds formed during these weeks will continue to strengthen our fraternity for years to come. It’s always an incredible experience meeting potentials, and I can’t wait to welcome the new members into our close-knit brotherhood.”
Alpha Pi Phi (APP) sorority accepted eight new members, making their total number of sisters 21. APP believes in love, loyalty and friendship and couldn’t agree more about the importance of Greek life at MC. Currently, the sorority is providing themselves with their own budget because Student Engagement’s says that a club must be standing for at least two years on its own, in order to get financial support from them in the future. APP was founded in 2022.
Senior Madison Rapuano, one of the main founders of the Mu chapter and New Member Support Officer (NMSO), is excited to see more money allocated to philanthropy and their cause The Alzheimer’s Association in the coming years.
“It has been unfortunate to not have that extra funding, but I’m excited that at least next year, you’ll get to experience at least some money,” Rapuano said to her fellow sorority sister and External Programming Officer (EPO) junior Siena Demarco.
Both sorority sisters agree that not only has this organization helped them form a support system, but it also helps them prepare themselves and others for their future. Getting involved in leadership chairs was one of the main ways to truly prepare.
“I think that we encourage leadership and encourage having those [chair] positions taking on those responsibilities,” Demarco said. “I think that you actually do learn a lot and get a lot of exposure to the world.”
With fun events approaching for the organization, like Karaoke Night in October, the women hope to see some new friendly faces at the next rush week in the spring. No matter the sorority or fraternity, the organizations attested to the main goal of this year focused around helping build up the college community.