Another year of Greek Rush and Recruitment formally came to a close on Wednesday, Aug. 25. The total number of new members rose, while the overall number of recruits and rushees actually declined. Formal recruitment for the seven campus sororities began with Recruitment Kick-Off on Aug. 20 and ended with Bid Day on Aug. 24. The last day that rushees were allowed to accept bids from fraternities was on Aug. 25.
Roughly 370 girls went through recruitment. Each chapter took at least 41 new members.
“This year, every girl that attended a preference party got matched. That was something the Panhellenic community was really proud of,” said Amanda Boothe, a fifth-year ChBe major and the Rush Chair for Alpha Phi sorority.
This year saw a number of changes in the recruitment process.
“On the logistics side, we started on Friday instead of Saturday,” said Lauren Melim, a fourth-year MGT major and Phi Mu Rush Chair.
Other changes include one in recruitment button regulation. Every year, all Potential New Members (PNMs) are required to wear and display white buttons while current sorority members wear pink ones. These visual aids help prevent both groups from accidentally talking to each other during the formal recruitment process.
However, in past years those pink buttons worn by sorority members could display their sorority’s letters. In an increased effort to decrease any effort to unfairly sway PNMs, every sorority received identical pink buttons this year.
“It really brought us together as a whole and allowed for Potential New Members to not notice our affiliation and just see us as one big Panhellenic community,” Boothe said.