Greek Life recruited the greatest amount of new members in at least a decade last year, attracting students despite stricter alcohol policies.

Though recruitment dove 25 percent in 2002 – the year a student died of alcohol poisoning outside his fraternity house – it has more than recovered since then, according to statistics from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. Last spring’s numbers show the best recruitment semester in 10 years, with 452 men and 571 women pledging.

“Interest is high right now,” said Brad Jensema, Zeta Psi’s recruitment chairman. “I don’t know exactly why, but people are wanting to get involved and see what Greek Life has to interest them.”

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and students said outreach drives and Greek Life’s attempts to depart from its “anti-intellect” image may have caused the recruitment jump, though they could not explain the 2002 decrease or the subsequent success.

Recruitment rates rose by 60 percent since the 2002 death of freshman Daniel Reardon during a hazing event at former university fraternity Phi Sigma Kappa’s house. OFSL Assistant Director Matt Supple did not know if Reardon’s death caused the decrease. At the time, the decline was “not on our radar,” he said.

Supple added the new-member increase reflects additions of fraternity or sorority chapters to the university, which happens on average once every year.

Sororities have also been using broader marketing strategies, such as posting more advertisements on Facebook, The Diamondback and around campus. They also attempted to change sorority stereotypes of superficiality by interacting more with recruits, Hayes said.

“We’re tapping into previously unlooked-at groups of women, giving everyone an opportunity to see what sororities at Maryland are all about,” said Kayleigh Russo, the Panhellenic Association’s president.

Growing recruitment comes as Greek Life has implemented more stringent alcohol policies. In 2005, the Interfraternity Council banned houses from hosting more than eight alcohol-drinking guests without registering it as a party, which would require fraternities to provide a bouncer who checks IDs at the door.

Though the rigid alcohol rules have significantly decreased the frequency of registered parties, fraternities are moving their parties off-campus instead, OFSL Director Mike Hayes said.

“A lot don’t like the policies,” Hayes said. “What concerns the university and national organizations is it pushes people off campus.”

As the growing recruitment suggests, the alcohol policies have not deterred students from pledging – even if they joined to party.

“Everyone would say that [they join a fraternity for the social aspect],” said sophomore Rashad Jones, who is pledging Pi Kappa Alpha. “You can go to a party without joining a frat. But for me, I like to go out a lot.”

Students and university officials involved in Greek Life said the emphasis shifted from a social environment toward a more “value-based” community. Some said this change attracts more students who want to join an organization that is both social and academic.

“People come to join Greek Life for a lot of the social aspects and learn to develop a lot of the value-based [aspects],” Jensema said. “Both seem to exist but it’s more of a balance now.”

Contact reporter Ben Block at blockdbk@gmail.com.