Sororities offered bids to a record number of women at this year’s recruitment, with pledge classes growing by 10 women each. Each sorority was allowed to take 38 new members, and the majority of sororities filled their quotas.
Five sororities took 38 new members, exceeding the quota of 36. Fiona Conroy, Panehellenic Association president, said sororities can take two more potential members because of a Panhellenic rule.
One sorority accepted 36 women, one took 21 and one took 20, Conroy said. The Hatchet has learned that Sigma Delta Tau and Phi Sigma Sigma were the two organizations with lower numbers.
Conroy said some sororities take numbers below quota for numerous reasons, including the inability of smaller sororities to accommodate a larger pledge class.
A jump in pledge class quotas correlates to the increase in interested women.
“(Recruitment) went really well,” said Missy Green, president of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority. “We are happy to welcome 36 wonderful women into our sisterhood. This is our largest pledge class yet.”
This year, 423 women signed up for recruitment, compared to 368 last year. Leaders said they were pleased with the 55-person increase.
Sorority members said they worked hard during recruitment because of the large number of potential members.
“(During the last round) I had to work with two girls at one party,” said senior Cara Stein, a member of Sigma Kappa. “Usually at every party you deal with one girl at a time.”
The recruitment process consists of four rounds. Throughout the recruitment process, sororities can “cut” potential members, while women rank the order in which they prefer the sororities, ensuring mutual selection, Conroy said.
Women can only revisit sororities that allow them to return.
This year, about 63 percent of women who went through recruitment received bids. About 68 percent of women received bids last year.
Conroy said some students were excused from rounds for various reasons such as leaving town or other prior commitments. In some cases, sorority members may not get to know a potential member who is excused and, therefore, may not invite her back, Conroy said.
Throughout the process, the Panhellenic Association uses a computer program to track the mutual selection process, as women rank their top choices on scantron sheets. Conroy said more popular sororities try to cut more women.
“The computer creates a figure of past recruitment history,” Conroy said. “If a sorority has a history of big return rates they are asked to cut more people to keep the playing field fair. We’d like each chapter to give the same number of bids.”
