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After the GW Panhellenic Association increased recruitment quotas for each GW sorority chapter, four sororities on campus are recruiting new members this spring.
Through formal sorority recruitment is not held in the spring semester, Alpha Delta Pi, Sigma Delta Tau, Phi Sigma Sigma and Delta Gamma will use “open bids,” personal invitations to join the sorority, to fill the last few spots in their chapters, said Panhellenic President Sarah Sutton.
“The open recruitment process is used when sororities want to fill any spaces that are keeping them under total,” said Dean Harwood, director of Greek Life.
Sutton explained that this style of recruitment is not abnormal, but the recent increase in chapter quotas left some sororities with only a slight deficit in numbers, which would force sororities to turn away too many women if they held formal recruitment events.
“You’re going to see a lot of chapters who don’t advertise their recruitment because they won’t advertise for only a few women,” Sutton said. These chapters will participate in open bidding to recruit the few women needed to meet their total.
“I think this year is the only year you’ll see women doing open recruitment because next year all chapters will go through fall recruitment with the new chapter total in mind,” she said.
Sutton said Panhel passed the increase after last fall’s recruitment period.
The sisters of Phi Sigma Sigma said they were not looking for a specific number of new members.
“Our number will depend on the women who show up and if we think they’ll be a good fit with our sorority,” said Phi Sigma Sigma President Madi Lottenbach. She estimated that the sisters would choose 25 to 30 women to join their sorority – they selected 34 members this past fall.
“We’re all excited but especially our newest members who just joined in the fall. They’re really excited because they’ve never been through the recruitment process,” recruitment chair Julie Haigney said.
Eden Sutley, president of Delta Gamma, said spring recruitment gives the sorority a unique opportunity.
“It’s exciting because new members will be immersed in sorority right away,” she said. “We have events coming up that they’ll get to experience very quickly.”