Spring Rush for the fraternities kicks off today at 6 p.m. in the St. Louis Room of the Busch Memorial Center. Just like the larger Fall Rush, fraternity members will be hosting various events through the end of next week in order to meet and recruit potential members.

All 11 fraternities will be seeking new members this week, with the exception of Delta Sigma Phi, who is not participating in Spring Rush.

Though Spring Rush events will be similar to the events that took place in the fall, the overall environment will be different.

“Spring Rush is much more laid back. The numbers are down. I think the guys coming out in the spring can find out a little more about the fraternities and make a more educated decision,” said Eric Wirtz, president of Beta Theta Pi.

“In the fall, rush is usually the first experience people have with the frats. In the spring, [rush participants] might have more of an idea of who they’re looking for,” commented Dan Delpha, Phi Kappa Tau rush chairman.

In addition to hosting common rush events like billiards night, pizza at Vito’s and bowling, some fraternities have planned nontraditional activities. Phi Kappa Tau will be going on a tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, Sigma Phi Epsilon will be going to a St. Louis Sting minor league hockey game and Beta Theta Pi will be going skeet shooting.

All the fraternities at Saint Louis University participate in a dry rush system, which means that there will be no alcohol at rush events, and throughout rush week no members of the fraternities may drink in the presence of rush participants.

Matt Stewart, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon said, “Dry rush lets people get to know the real value of the fraternity, not just which one can buy them the most alcohol. Guys can come out and get to know us and really see our ideals.”