Due to an editing error, Isabel Expaldon’s status with Delta Zeta sorority was misstated in the original version of this story. The error has been corrected.
Two large-scale changes in this year’s sorority recruitment process — an earlier deadline and online registration — have already made an impression.
This year’s sorority recruitment registration deadline was moved more than a month and a half earlier — to Nov. 19, from Jan. 7 last year — said Karla Diaz, the Panhellenic Association’s vice president of education.
Sorority chapters told members this week at their weekly meetings that about 360 women had signed up for recruitment thus far, down from last year’s figure of 531 women.
Despite having fewer women than last year, Diaz said Panhel was not seeking a specific number of women to register this year.
“We want to get as many girls to register as want to go through recruitment,” she said.
According to Panhel Vice President of Recruitment Sarah McCracken, there are no plans to extend the deadline to allow more women to sign up.
McCracken said the purpose of the earlier deadline is to allow new members to meet their recruitment counselors before Winter Break and participate in a philanthropy recruitment round before Winter Quarter begins.
The philanthropy round is a one-day event when women who are going through recruitment visit all 12 Panhel-affiliated sororities and learn about each chapter’s national philanthropy and service programs, as well as what each sorority does locally, said McCracken, a McCormick senior.
This year’s students will be the first to register for recruitment online. The several-page recruitment form — linked off the Greek Affairs Web site — asks women to list their extracurricular activities in high school and in college, as well as any family members who belong to sororities.
McCracken said several schools across the country, including Indiana University and California’s state schools, have successfully adopted Internet registration.
“The online system will increase the ease of the registration process and reduce the stress and time involved with recruitment.”
She said the early deadline and ease provided by the Internet format will give recruitment counselors a chance to meet with the women who have signed up before formal recruitment begins on Jan. 6.
“We are asking the recruitment counselors to set up meetings with the girls to answer any questions before recruitment begins,” McCracken said.
McCracken said last year some recruitment counselors — called Rho Chis by Panhel — tried to contact their groups before recruitment began, but Diaz claimed there was no contact between recruitment counselors and prospective sorority members before the two Panhellenic recruitment forums held on Jan. 6 and 7 last year.
Communication sophomore and former Delta Zeta member Isabel Espaldon said she does not know anyone who met their recruitment counselor before recruitment began.
“I definitely don’t remember being in touch with my recruitment counselor until the first day of formal rush,” said Espaldon, who deactivated during the summer and is no longer a member of DZ. “I didn’t meet my Rho Chi group before the first day of rush either.”
McCracken said the amended registration process will facilitate a successful recruitment period this winter.
“I would love to see as many women as possible sign up so they can see the opportunities that Panhel can give them,” she said.
Reach Julia Neyman at [email protected].
