Fraternity leaders said they are pleased with last week’s rush, as at least 20 more GW males pledged a fraternity this semester compared with last spring.

Although spring rush is typically smaller than fall rush, at least 83 students will be pledging fraternities this spring, compared with 63 last year. Every fraternity and two sororities – Sigma Delta Tau and Phi Sigma Sigma – held recruitment last week.

Several Greek-letter organizations living in Townhouse Row said their residences helped attract new members this year, and groups acquiring houses next year found out about their new homes this week. The Alpha Epsilon Pi and Beta Theta Pi fraternities will gain on-campus townhouses next fall, along with the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority.

“The houses are really cool hangout places that give the brothers common ground, but we haven’t held events in the house so rushees know there is more to the fraternity than our house,” said Nathan Fagglioli, rush chair of Sigma Phi Epsilon, which has a residence on Townhouse Row.

Sigma Phi Epsilon recruited 11 students last spring and seven men this spring.

The Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, which has a house in Townhouse Row, recruited eight pledges this fall and none the previous spring. This spring, 12 students will be pledging.

Phi Kappa Psi President Justin Grossman said there were more interested students this year “because the house makes it easier for people to see and know more about us.”

Pi Kappa Phi, which also received a place in Townhouse Row this fall, recruited 13 students last week compared to 11 last spring. About 25 students came to the fraternity’s events each night during recruitment this week. Pledges attended events at the ESPN Zone and went to a Washington Wizards game.

Members of fraternities without residences in Townhouse Row did not think the houses hindered their rush numbers.

The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, new to campus last semester, recruited 11 pledges this spring. Fraternity members held events such as “Casino Night,” which drew crowds of 25 to 30 people every night.

Lambda Chi Alpha Rush Chair David Austin said the group’s off-campus house on G Street was attractive for new members despite a small decrease to seven pledges this spring compared with nine last year.

Other fraternities also experienced slight decreases. Phi Sigma Kappa’s numbers dropped from three to zero this year, Beta Theta Pi’s from six to four and Tau Kappa Epsilon’s from four to two.

“This fall we had tremendous numbers,” said Scott Borow, co-rush chair for Tau Kappa Epsilon. “Personally, I was expecting more this spring.”

Tau Kappa Epsilon recruited 11 new members in the fall.

Some fraternities postponed handing out bids from Saturday to Monday because of the loss of a member of the Greek-letter community last week. Sophomore Jennifer Dierdorff, a member of the Alpha Phi sorority, was found dead in Arlington, Va., Friday.

“As soon as we found out the news, we offered to any fraternity that felt like they needed time to cope with the situation … (an) extended bid-giving process,” said Ben Block, president of the Interfraternity Council.

Block said each fraternity could make a decision on its own, and at least the Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternities gave bids out Monday.

Sigma Delta Tau recruited four members this spring, and did not hold spring rush last year, said Kari Hirsch, the sorority’s president. n

– Merideth Paige contributed to this report.