Updated: January 27, 2025, at 4:43 p.m.

Participation in the Panhellenic Association formal recruitment dropped by 35 percent this year, a shift officials attributed to a string of winter weather causing travel disruptions, reversing an upward trend since 2021.

A total of 280 students participated in recruitment this year, down from 378 participants last year, according to Director of Student Involvement Meredith Bielaska, who attributed the decline to earlier recruitment dates this January compared to past years, which typically started two days later. Panhel executive board members said they expanded their diversity initiatives this year to enhance inclusion efforts and dispel common stereotypes about sororities.

“The Panhellenic community is mindful of how those changes influenced participation and is continuing to have discussions about how to make recruitment the best possible experience for all individuals in the coming years,” Bielaska said in an email.

Bielaska said 205 students were offered bids, with 202 accepting their offers. Panhel has offered an additional 46 bids to students after bid day through continuous open bidding, an informal recruitment process that allows students to join chapters after bid day.

A total of 378 students participated in formal recruitment last year, a 20 percent increase from 2023, according to Assistant Dean of Student Life Brian Joyce. Joyce said 11 sororities offered bids to 266 students in 2024 and 250 in 2023.

This year’s Panhel recruitment week took place from Jan. 8 to 12 in the University Student Center. After attending recruitment orientation on Jan. 7, potential new members participated in four different rounds that focus on the tenets of sorority life — values, philanthropy, sisterhood and preference — each day, while narrowing down potential new members through a mutual ranking process. 

On bid day — the last day of recruitment — new members received final offers to join a sorority and celebrated with their new member class and current sorority members in a ceremony on the National Mall. 

Junior Grace Munn, Panhel’s outgoing vice president of recruitment, said the council conducted annual marketing events throughout the first semester like “Passport to Panhel,” where students can meet sororities and ask questions about recruitment, and “Meet the Greeks,” where students can meet different fraternities and sororities from multiple councils to market recruitment.

“These events are great ways for Potential New Members to meet active members in each chapter and get a better idea if they are interested in going through the recruitment process,” Munn said in an email. 

Munn said chapters are responsible for their individual marketing during the recruitment process. She added the council also used Snapchat Ads to promote the opportunity this year. 

After GW closed all campus buildings due to snow on Jan. 6, sororities’ mock recruitment in preparation for the week was forced to take place in alternative spaces instead of the student center. Munn said chapters were only allowed back into the student center on the first day of recruitment, stoking “jitters and nervousness” among chapter members who were unsure if the process would run smoothly.

Last year, Panhel created a new recruitment-specific diversity, equity and inclusion coordinator position to aid in diversity and inclusion efforts. Munn said this year, she expanded the position to two coordinators compared to the single one from last year to ensure a more “collaborative and discussion-oriented role,” instead of a lone executive. 

“Their passion for creating a safe and positive recruitment space was evident and I think contributed greatly to the overall positive outcome of recruitment,” Munn said. “I’m super grateful for them and super lucky to have worked with such passionate and dedicated individuals.”

Munn said DEI coordinators were able to place infractions on both chapter members and prospective members during recruitment for incidents like the initiation of uncomfortable questions about romantic relationships, money, religion or drug and alcohol usage. Prospective members and chapter members could report these incidents to the DEI coordinators, which would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

Prerecruitment DEI programming included an open community event on Zoom for chapter members and a talk with Victoria Alexander, a public speaker and DEI practitioner who facilitates conversations about racism in various environments to create more inclusive environments.

Munn said this year Panhel sent prospective members a list of chapter fees before recruitment week in order to help students decide if they are able to financially commit to each sorority. Munn said she hopes next year’s executive board develops more effective marketing strategies for the next recruitment cycle to attract more interest and engage individuals who aren’t certain about participating in recruitment.

“I wanted to fight against the harmful sorority woman stereotype that is portrayed by the media and showcase a community of bright, ambitious, talented, intelligent, and passionate individuals,” Munn said. 

Junior Allison Walker, the vice president of Sigma Delta Tau, said the snowfall made it difficult for potential new members to travel back to campus, resulting in some entering the process halfway through rounds due to delays and a few even having to drop recruitment entirely.

“Luckily, almost all of the chapters did informal recruitment following bid day so those people were able to meet the chapters and find their place as well!” Walker said in an email.

Senior Rachel Salop, the outgoing Panhel president, said she believes Panhel’s addition of the DEI coordinators are, at least in part, responsible for the “notable improvement” in the number of DEI concerns reported this year compared to previous years but declined to disclose the specific numbers.

Salop said Charlotte McCourt, the Panhel prospective members coordinator, navigated the logistics of travel delays for new members and worked with the participating chapters to create new schedules that accommodated everyone fairly. She said the recruitment process went smoothly despite the snow serving as a “major curveball” at the last minute, causing complications in the deliveries of recruitment resources and access to the student center.

“PNM’s were happy on bid day, chapters love their new member classes, and everyone seems excited and ready to grow within our community,” Salop said in an email. “There’s nothing else I could ask for!”

This article was updated to clarify the following:

This article was updated to clarify that Munn hopes the executive board is able to work to develop more effective marketing strategies for the next recruitment cycle, not that she herself hopes to implement more effective marketing strategies.