Full disclosure: I’m a recruitment counselor. Some of you might have big plans for the first weekend of Winter Quarter. Not me. I won’t be playing in the snow or enjoying a BYOB evening at Cozy Noodle. Instead, I will be calling the Best Western home until Tuesday, all for a wonderful event about 1,800 ladies on campus suffer through every winter: Sorority recruitment.
The realization that recruitment was right around the corner hit me a few days ago when I was working at Starbucks and overheard two freshman girls talking.
“Hey girl, you’re rushing, right?” said the first.
”Of course. But I’m, like, totally nervous. We all better get into the same house. Oh my God! Wouldn’t that be so fun?!”
It felt like a scene out of “House Bunny,” which I begrudgingly admit I saw with my 13-year-old sister.
Living at the Best Western is not the ideal way to spend a first weekend back, but other schools follow similar practices – this just happens to be the first year NU is putting us lucky few up in separate housing. The purpose is to separate us 40 or so girls completely from the recruitment process by which the sororities choose which potential new members (PNMs) they invite back each day.
Sure, the Best Western’s bed won’t be as comfortable as my own, but I’m not complaining. The way I see it, I’m getting the better end of the deal than my fellow sisters.
I won’t have to make small talk, entertain and sometimes scare off freshmen women with my jokes from The Office. Instead, I’ll be the one making sure my little PNMs get in and out of the sorority houses unscathed.
Yes, I’ll have to suffer with them through the single digit temperatures, but I would rather be outside than inside doing the whole girl flirting thing. I’m already horrible at flirting with boys; trying to flirt with girls is worse.
The commandments of recruitment will always make it awkward: the strict schedule, the unending list of rules, the stifled conversations that must never touch the topics “boys, booze, bank or Bible.” Some things will never change.
I often think I’m more of a sorority boy (or fraternity girl) than a traditional sorority girl. I envy fraternity rush. Guys slip into a house, eat a bunch of free food, hang out with other dudes and get a bid if those guys see “brother potential.” (They’re even still allowed to call theirs rush) That would never work for girls – we need to see all the chapters and make the choice that’s “right for us.”
But those of you going through recruitment can take a few lessons from the boys this weekend. It’s OK to laugh at yourself, preferably after you’ve tripped up the stairs. Eat that cookie (my technique is to ask a question then take a bite while the other girl answers), and feel free to spill food crumbs all over the freshly vacuumed sorority house floor (I did and was still invited back).
It’s okay to be yourself. It’s okay to be awkward. Just please, for my sanity, let’s keep the “House Bunny” drama to a minimum.
