The new colony of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity extended 19 bids to freshmen and sophomore recruits Wednesday, concluding a recruitment process that lasted just under two weeks and attracted approximately 40 participants.
Recruits will have until Friday to accept bids and join SAE's founding class, alongside 13 upperclassmen handpicked by SAE alumni earlier in the year.
"How many people get the opportunity to found a fraternity?" said Rush Chairman Zachary Chapla, a sophomore, who was one of the 13 students chosen by SAE alumni to help spearhead the rush process. "Our group of guys gets to establish a name for SAE."
SAE President Saxby Stradinger, a junior, said he is pleased with how the colony's first rush went, although he noted that the process was not without its difficulties.
"It was tough at times because we didn't have a medium for the number of guys we had come out," he said. "We don't have a common room per se, so we had to get creative."
SAE was unable to begin recruitment until two weeks after the completion of regular Interfraternity Council recruitment at the end of January because of IFC rules regulating the process of recolonizing a fraternity.
Their first official rush event, a meet-and-greet at the Washington Duke Inn, was held Feb. 6.
"We had a big concern about what kind of people would be left over after [official] rush," Chapla said.
Although the SAE rush pool was composed of a number of legacies and sophomores who had never rushed before, some were students who had declined or failed to receive bids during the official rush process.
A number of freshmen who made it to the final round for Kappa Alpha Order fraternity's recruitment before being cut had decided to rush SAE together, Chapla said.
"It's kind of a sad thing for these fraternities who passed over these good guys," he said.
Will Eastman, a freshman who has already accepted his bid from SAE, went through IFC's official recruitment process before deciding to partake in SAE's recruitment.
"It was different from [official] IFC rush in terms of being a little more low-key," he said. "It wasn't just a bunch of crazy parties."
Because the fraternity is an IFC colony rather than an official chapter, SAE recruits do not have to undergo the pledge process.
Eastman said he has decided to join SAE because he liked the members he met and because several of his friends are pledging as well. He recognized, however, that there could be other advantages to joining.
"SAE has a very strong alumni network," he said. "I sort of viewed that as an additional influential factor."
SAE is the largest national fraternity, with 208 chapters in 46 states.
The Duke chapter of SAE was founded in 1931 and disbanded in 2001, with roughly 1,500 alumni belonging to the chapter, said SAE Regional Alumni Volunteer John Stringfellow, who is serving as alumni adviser for Duke's SAE colony.
"Many [Duke SAE alumni] were coming back for football games and tailgating parties and didn't understand why SAE hadn't returned," he said. "There was a lot of pressure and a lot of support to start a new chapter here."
Although it will take a year and a half of colonization for SAE to earn back a charter and become an official IFC-recognized fraternity, Stringfellow said he is predicting that the fraternity will thrive on campus.
He foresees a sizeable number of service projects, a break from a typical tradition of hazing and an emphasis on academic excellence, with an eventual 3.5 GPA requirement for members.
Zachary Hungate, a freshman pledge, is looking forward to participating in SAE's development.
"This is allowing us to take leadership roles really early on in our Duke career," he said. "We get to shape the colony into what we want it to be."
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