Gannon University’s Fraternity and Sorority Life is having its spring semester recruitment and it is starting to feel more like “normal” for the first time in a couple of years.

The recruitment process started Friday and is continuing into this weekend.

While recruitment has always been a major event on Gannon’s campus, the process has been impacted significantly with COVID the past two years.

Not as many people wanted to join fraternities and sororities because they involve social gatherings, and the pandemic curtailed many of those activities. To this day, those groups are not attracting the numbers they did prior to the pandemic.

Nicole Habjan, a senior physician assistant major in Alpha Gamma Delta who rushed back in the spring of 2019, noted the differences throughout the past recruitments.

“There definitely are not as many girls going through recruitment this year, as well as last year, compared to when I went through,” said Habjan.

“In the spring semester in 2019 we had a little over 100 girls go through primary recruitment, with 2020 having similar numbers — before we got sent home, that is. Last year, there were obviously less girls, due to the amount of COVID restrictions on campus and as well in FSL. Surprisingly, this year there are only about 50 girls going through.”

Even though there seems to be less people rushing, this is the closest to normal FSL has gotten in almost over two years.

Julia Ciarimboli, vice president of recruitment on the Panhellenic Council and a junior nursing major in Alpha Gamma Delta, said this year – especially spring compared with fall – recruitment has been very much closer to normal.

“Each part of recruitment is 100% in-person; however, everyone is still required to wear masks,” she said.

“We are so lucky to have the entirety of recruitment face-to-face this year because it makes so much more of a difference within the connections being made between potential new members and chapter members.

“Last year, recruitment was completely online through Zoom, which was insanely difficult. It is definitely more exciting and so much less tedious to have everyone be able to come together in person for each round of recruitment.”

As new people continue to join FSL, they have nothing to compare it to, not knowing what life before COVID was like within FSL.

While many of the new recruits may think that this is very different from before COVID, in reality it is not all that different.

Armin Comic, a senior advertising communication major in Pi Kappa Alpha who rushed during the fall 2020 semester, said this year has been quite similar to the time before COVID’s prime.

“I think FSL has done a great job to make recruitment ‘normal’ this spring,” said Comic.

“Truly, the only difference is that we have to wear masks. We’re able to keep the same process and events that we usually have.”

Even when COVID was new and much more restrictive than it is now, recruitment was still able to happen and allow new people to rush, thanks to FSL’s efforts.

“The lifting of COVID restrictions is doing wonders for GUFSL,” said Ciarimboli.

“The entire community is so glad to be back together face-to-face again, which has created more of a positive attitude within FSL.

“We can finally get back to the things that we have had to miss out the last year due to the pandemic.

“Everyone is definitely reaping the benefits that Fraternity and Sorority Life originally has to offer, which was taken away from us during Zoom recruitment.”

While FSL is doing its best to allow students to continue having recruitments and doing different events on campus, the fact of the matter is FSL cannot be the only ones working to allow this to happen.

“The only thing that I have to add is to get vaccinated and to stay healthy so that we can continue to work our way back to normal, and we can continue to do the things that pandemic put a pause on,” Ciarimboli said.

“I highly encourage everyone to go through recruitment and get to know our wonderful and unique sisterhoods and brotherhoods. Everyone deserves to feel loved and joining Fraternity and Sorority Life will certainly make that happen.”

CHLOE PALMIERE

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