A knock on a door and a friendly, welcoming message ended Bid Week for many new sorority sisters Sunday. Bid Day is the culmination of the Sorority Recruitment process that began weeks ago.
p. The recruitment process is much more complicated than it may appear.
p. The Inter-Sorority Council’s 2005 Recruitment guidelines specify the rules by which recruitment must take place. The ISC is the governing body of Greek Life at the College and is a student-run group, according to Anne Arseneau, assistant director for Greek Life at the College.
p. The rules governing sorority Recruitment are designed to prevent any sorority from gaining an unfair advantage over another during the crucial period when girls look at houses and decide whether or not to participate in Recruitment. The rules also work to prevent unfair influences that could result from contact with sorority members, such as RAs and OAs, prior to the building process. According to the ISC’s rules, “a potential new member must attend the maximum number of events to which she has been invited each day.”
p. “Recruitment can be an overwhelming process for everyone involved. But I think that the process does a great job of allowing the sororities to get to know the potential new members [of] the sorority,” Sarah Black ’10 said.
p. The Recruitment process is designed to acclimate potential new sisters to the various sororities in order to ensure a good match. Black said that this process is essential to ensure a new sister’s future success in her sorority.
p. “In the long run, any stress associated with recruitment is so worth it,” Black said. “I knew, because of going through the recruitment process, that my sorority was without a doubt the one for me. I loved all of the girls I met in the house during recruitment, and I felt so comfortable there,” she added.
p. According to the College’s Office of Greek Life, about 28 percent of College women, or about 825 students, are members of in one of the College’s twelve sororities. The 72 percent of women not participating have a variety of reasons for not doing so.
p. “I decided not to rush any sororities at the College because it’s a large time commitment that I can’t dedicate myself to,” said Amanda Eclipse ’10. In addition, Eclipse cited the financial obligations of sororities as a key reason she didn’t wish to participate.
p. For those receiving bids, Sunday was the rewarding end to a long, exhausting process.
p. For those who do not receive a bid, sorority recruitment also occurs in the spring.