After a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Augustana College has returned to in-person Greek Life rush, located at venues throughout the Quad Cities.

There are still certain concerns for people after in-person Greek rush has started due to the rise in COVID cases recently. Since half of the people participating in a rush right now have not experienced rush pre-covid, presidents of Greek groups worry their traditions might be lost. However, the Greek community has vowed to provide a COVID safe environment and tried to resume their old traditions the way it was. 

Tia Fuhr, Greek Life coordinator, has assured that necessary precautions were taken to make the event COVID safe. 

“During the rush, all students were required to wear masks and physically distance. Each chapter had hand sanitizer at each event and cleaned their area between their groups,” Fuhr said.

Fuhr also said they were able to offer much more than last year, when the pre-rush events were done virtually. Formal and informal rush also returned to normal and were held at various locations around the Quad Cities.

“We were able to offer many more in-person and off-campus activities. It allowed the newest members of our campus to really get connected to other students and have a fun experience that in turn will strengthen their bonds with Augustana,” Fuhr said.

Megan McLaughlin, president of Sigma Pi Delta, said in-person rush is much preferred.

“Augustana prides itself on in-person classes and extracurricular activities. Being able to rush in person will always feel superior to virtual or remote,” McLaughlin said. “The students at Augustana want to be in a relationship with one another and rush is a great way to meet new people and create new relationships.”

Ambrose Poduska, president of Delta Omega Nu fraternity and Greek council, was fascinated by how rush turned out to be this year in comparison to last year. Poduska said there were significantly more participants this year. 

“The numbers were significantly bigger than last year. We had 110 guys looking to rush fraternities and around 196 women looking to rush sororities,” Poduska said.

According to Poduska, 71 people rushed for fraternities and 142 people rushed for sororities last year. 

Based on the increase in numbers, Greek life may be returning to normal. Poduska is also optimistic that Greek life traditions will not be lost.

“The number of recruits in the Greek groups has started to increase, despite the number of people in Greek groups being lesser than what it was pre-pandemic,” Poduska said.