Pointing to shortcomings in the current system, the Panhellenic Council announced Monday that it will make several adjustments to its pre-recruitment process this term to foster a sense of united Greek community across all sororities. Potential new members planning to rush next year will have the option of participating in two “sorority-blind” pre-recruitment events.
During the “sorority-blind” events, members will not be permitted to wear their letters or disclose their affiliations to potential new members until the end of the gathering, Panhell vice president of public relations Jessica Ke ’15 said. The two events will take place in a non-Greek location, and each sorority will send a set number of women to attend.
In addition to the new pre-recruitment events, potential new members will still be required to attend one of several information sessions either this term or in the fall to become eligible for recruitment, according to Panhell’s press release.
Ke said that the events will enable potential new members to meet sorority members without being influenced by preconceived notions about each house.
Often during recruitment, she said, both sorority members and potential new members are expected to make decisions about one another after only about 10 minutes of conversation.
“That’s unrealistic,” Ke said. “We’re looking to make recruitment more genuine, and that starts with pre-recruitment.”
Panhell will also require each sorority to host one individual pre-recruitment event in support of Link Up’s annual “Sister 2 Sister” conference.
Ke said she hopes that the partnership between sororities and Link Up will highlight sororities’ philanthropic involvement and mentorship.
“Philanthropy is something that gets lost in recruitment,” Ke said. She added that engaging in a service-oriented activity will offer affiliated women and potential new members more substantive ways to begin conversations than “girl-flirting.”
The changes aim to “level the playing field” among sororities, encouraging potential new members to consider joining each organization and show respect to members of all houses, according to the press release, which also states that the changes are only a partial solution to recruitment problems.
Panhell president Rachel Funk ’15 said that the shifts in pre-recruitment will lay the groundwork for creating changes to the overall recruitment process.
“The reason behind ‘sorority-blind’ events is that we know at this point that potential new members have a lot of preconceived notions about which sororities they want to rush in the fall,” Funk said. “We hope they will recognize they’re not just joining one house, they’re actually joining a community of women.”
Former Panhell president Eliana Piper ’14 said that sorority members often become too invested in getting potential new members to join their respective houses without acknowledging that many are still in the process of deciding whether they want to be affiliated at all.
Piper, who abstained from this winter’s recruitment along with four other Panhell executives who cited systematic problems in the rush process, said that during her tenure, she wanted to create a precedent for implementing changes within the council.
“What we get out of these changes will be however much sorority members put into it,” Piper said.
Alpha Phi sorority president Courtney Wong ’15 emphasized that the changes will facilitate meaningful interactions.
Out of seven students interviewed, some were skeptical of the changes’ potential impact, while others expressed optimism.
Katherine Fox ’15 said the changes would allow potential new members to meet sorority members without judging them based on affiliation. Hannah Nash ’17 also said that the “sorority-blind” events will give potential new members a way to gain exposure to the sororities.
“It can be difficult to get a sense of sororities without pre-rush events,” Nash said. “It’d be great to know who they are and what they do.”
Presidents of Alpha Xi Delta, Kappa Delta Epsilon, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Delta sororities did not respond to requests for comment by press time. Presidents of Delta Delta Delta, Epsilon Kappa Theta and Kappa Delta sororities declined to comment.
