Sorority recruitment becomes more formal for the spring

Story by Connor Jaschen, Features Editor

In a bid to shake up the status quo, sorority recruitment for the spring semester has been given a new look, complete with a new dress and a brand new outlook on rush week.

The Murray State Panhellenic Council decided to make this spring semester a “formal” recruitment process for the sisters and hopefuls looking to join.

While the old, informal rush process involved potential new members doing meet and greets with only the sororities of their choosing, the change to formal will mean all rushees having to attend open house with all sororities.

Tori Wood, president of Murray State’s Panhellenic Council, said the change comes in hopes to not only help sororities in general, but also the potential new members looking to find their home in Greek life.

Wood said the process will still be less formal than its fall semester counterpart.

“If it weren’t for this more casual way of recruiting, we would be missing out on some great women in the Greek system,” Wood said. “Formal fall recruitment isn’t for everyone and that is A-OK.”

This change will alter not only the experience each potential new member has while going through recruitment, but also how bids to join sororities are accepted and given, because of past controversies over when bids were given.

Tanelle Smith, recruitment chair for Murray State’s Panhellenic Council, said the process should clear up any anxiety issues potential new members may have had during past informal recruitments since there will now be a set date that every sorority is forced to give bids out on.

While the specific date and time sororities give out bids may not seem important enough to change an entire rush process, Smith said the change should help keep a level playing field for not only potential new members, but also individual organizations hoping to get the best and brightest in the recruitment process.

“This way, [formal rush] is more fair to each organization, as well as the potential new members,” Smith said.

Smith said, in the past, issues have sprung up when one sorority would give bids out earlier than other sororities. This incentivizes potential new members into joining the sorority they know they have a bid from, rather than taking a chance and waiting for a bid from a sorority they may be a better fit in.

Savanna Wojcik, sister of Alpha Sigma Alpha, said the change is a positive move for the recruitment process and should help to alleviate some of the confusion on all sides of the process.

“I’m glad that it is formal recruitment,” Wojcik said. “I think that it’ll be a lot more helpful for everyone involved.”

Though hopes for potential rushes may be high, the limit to how many each sorority can take always comes into play. Since totals go up and down every year, some sororities, such as Alpha Sigma Alpha, will not be able to give out many bids, if any at all. Some worry this may leave potential new members who want to be involved in Greek life feeling left out.

Quotes for exactly how many potential new members have varied, though estimates count around 50 to 75 rushees. Even the lowest estimate is an unusually high amount for the spring semester, Wood said. Naturally, not everyone rushing will receive bids.

“We are extremely hopeful that each [potential new member] will get to know every single sorority and rush in the fall if they’re not given a bid or see themselves in a sorority that is not giving them this spring,” Wood said.

Wojcik said she hopes the push for formal rush – which will inherently force the potential new members to meet every sorority, rather than one or two – will allow for rushees to find their home at Murray State, even if it is not the sorority they originally thought.

Wojcik, who had family ties to a different sorority, said she joined Alpha Sigma Alpha despite having her mind set on a different organization. While informal rush was great for people who had their mind’s set, she said formal rush allows potential rushees to see all the qualities of every sisterhood.

“All of the sororities are great,” Wojcik said. “We’re all great in different ways.”

Rushees will find their new homes at bid acceptance at 4 p.m. Monday.

“In making spring recruitment slightly more formal,” Wood said. “The ultimate goal is to help potential new members find their new home. This helps us do that.”