By Sarah SumadiThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern’s 11 Panhellenic sororities opened their doors Thursday to the largest group of prospective members ever during the first night of formal sorority recruitment.
The 577 women who registered for recruitment set a new record at Northwestern, said Erin Huffman, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life. Last year 571 women signed up for recruitment, but only 534 attended the first set of house visits.
Four hundred of those women joined one of NU’s 12 Panhellenic sororities during rush last year, making each chapter’s average pledge class size 35. But since Alpha Delta Pi closed in June, only 11 sororities are participating this year and will have to absorb the extra women.
If no one drops out of recruitment, each pledge class could have more than 50 women, but Huffman predicts pledge classes will be about 39.
“We’re working hard with this year’s recruitment process so no one will withdraw,” Huffman said. “But many women who do drop out of recruitment end up joining a chapter later in the year.”
By the end of today’s rush events, all women will have visited every one of NU’s 11 sororities for about 30 minutes each. During the weekend, recruits list the chapters they would like to visit again, and chapters select the women they would like to invite back. Women receive up to eight invitations for Saturday events and up to five for Sunday.
This year, recruitment is suspended on Monday to allow women to take part in Martin Luther King Jr. Day activities, but will continue on Tuesday evening with Preference Night, in which women visit their top three choices for the last time. They then rank their final three choices, and the sororities in turn list women they want to join. A computer system matches women to houses and the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life makes sure pledge classes are about equal.
Each potential new member receives an invitation to join a house on Bid Day, to be held Wednesday.
“It’s not 100 percent guaranteed that everyone will get a bid, but almost everyone will,” Huffman said. “Last year everyone was placed into a house, but there have been years where a few women didn’t, usually because they didn’t meet minimum GPA requirements.”
Zeta Tau Alpha will become NU’s 12th Panhellenic chapter this year and will recruit members in February. Since Zeta will begin participating in formal recruitment with the other Panhellenic sororities next year, Huffman said the other 11 houses can handle larger pledge classes for this year.
Women who withdraw from recruitment can participate in Zeta’s recruitment in February, but no one is guaranteed a bid from Zeta either.
“Zeta will be just as selective as the other 11 sororities,” said Panhel president Lisa Juarez.
Many women said meeting new people is their main reason for participating in recruitment.
“No matter what happens, I’m getting a chance to meet girls I normally wouldn’t,” said Weinberg freshman Kate Bell. “At the beginning of the year, all I knew about sororities was from MTV’s ‘Sorority Life.’ But I’ve met some great Greek girls this year, and they changed my mind completely.”
But recruitment isn’t for everyone.
“Sororities aren’t really my thing, but I’m certainly not against them,” said Medill freshman Tessa Miller. “Pretty much all of my friends are rushing, though, and this week is so busy for them. I didn’t realize it was such a big deal.”
Northwestern’s Greek community is one of the strongest in the nation, said Marissa Bieschke, Panhel Vice President of Membership. Members of Panhellenic sororities have higher average GPAs than non-Greek students at NU, Bieschke said, and going Greek provides living accommodations and leadership opportunities.
“Possibly most significantly, each chapter allows women to network, meet others and create bonds that last a lifetime,” Bieschke said.
Reach Sarah Sumadi at [email protected].
