Before she left for Northwestern, Meredith Laitos’ parents said they could have kept in better touch with friends from college.
Her parents’ regret is part of the reason Laitos attended the Fraternity and Sorority Life Experience at Norris University Center’s Louis Room Tuesday.
“I want to rush because the friends you have in a sorority – you keep for a lifetime,” said Laitos, a Medill freshman.
The event, organized by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, was designed to inform interested students about Greek opportunities on campus, said Kyle Pendleton, the office’s director. About 150 people attended, said Weinberg junior Paige Mackey, Panhellenic Association’s vice president of membership. Last year’s event attracted between 300 and 400 people.
Tables for 36 of NU’s 43 chapters were manned by representatives chatting with students. But restrictions from Panhel and Interfraternity Council limited what information could be exchanged. Chapters could not collect e-mail addresses, said IFC Executive Vice President Jay Ward. They also couldn’t publicize fall quarter events, Pendleton said.
Instead each chapter chose to show off its colors. Awards, pictures and brightly decorated science boards covered the tables. Delta Chi made a pyramid of plastic cups emblazoned with their symbol.
“You see the personalities of each chapter on the tables,” Pendleton said.
Some Greek organizations used the event as a springboard to garner interest. The three members standing behind the burgundy and gray table of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. were there to publicize their sorority to women of all ethnicities. The same went for the members of Kappa Phi Lambda, the Asian and Asian-American sorority.
For students like Medill freshman Dee Turman, the expo served as a way to compare the sororities and find out what the Greek system had to offer. Turman, a black student, used last night to help her decide between joining a black or Panhel sorority.
Joining a black sorority would mean greater involvement in the black community, she said, but joining a Panhel organization appealed to her because she would “be a part of something bigger.”
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