By Paul TakahashiThe Daily Northwestern

The Panhellenic Recruitment Team hosted the third annual Philanthropy Round on Sunday to encourage potential sorority recruits to join a particular chapter.

“(This event) allowed us to showcase one of the highlights of going Greek and being involved in the community,” said Communication senior Audrey Chen, a recruitment counselor and former Summer Northwestern staffer. “It’s allowed women to hopefully make some new friends and network in the future.”

Groups of 20 to 40 women, led by recruitment counselors, made their rounds to each of the 11 sorority chapters in the Sorority Quad between noon and 5:30 p.m.

At each sorority, members entertained and informed the potential recruits, called “potential new members,” of their sorority philanthropy efforts. After 20 minutes, the recruits were ushered out of the sorority houses by the members singing their sorority song.

Each sorority nationally supports a particular national organization, such as the American Cancer Society or the Make-A-Wish Foundation, through fundraisers are held mainly during Spring Quarter. Some sororities, in addition to supporting their national philanthropy, also aid campus fundraisers such as Dance Marathon.

“The purpose of this is that we feel like philanthropy is just an integral part of a chapter’s identity,” said Jessica Stamler, vice president of public relations and a Weinberg senior.

Between 520 and 550 potential recruits participated in Philanthropy Round this year, Stamler said.

There were no selection decisions made on Sunday. Selection decisions are made during Formal Recruitment, which begins Jan. 11.

“I feel that it’s been a success because I feel like people have gotten to understand more about the sorority community, which is a community that is kind of an enigma to a lot of people,” Chen said.

The press was not allowed to approach potential recruits during the Philanthropy Round, recruitment counselors said.

Recruits said they were strongly discouraged from talking to reporters, and they were asked not to speak to the press in an e-mail sent to them after a New Member Forum in November.

“It can be a fairly difficult process for people on either side, just because there are a lot of decisions to make and there can be some hard feelings sometimes,” Stamler said. “No one wants to see when they’re making a decision that’s going to impact all four years of their college life. You know, like people are watching and judging them from the outside based on the decision that they make so we just try and keep it kind of isolated, to keep it personal.”

Reach Paul Takahashi at [email protected].