With the spring semester upon us, sorority recruitment has reappeared at the university.

Spring 2020 Recruitment offers a more casual way for girls to meet members of sororities through interest parties, contrary to the formal fall recruitment schedule.

Jessica Litolff, Collegiate Panhellenic Council president, explained that the main difference between spring and fall recruitment is the structure of the recruitment process.

“In fall, Panhellenic hosts recruitment,” said Litolff. “A potential new member would sign up through an online program, but we host it. In the spring, Panhellenic doesn’t host it at all. So, the chapters host interest parties where people will have pajama parties at the house, like ‘Let’s go to IHOP,’ or ‘Let’s get some ice cream’ to kind of meet the girls, but it’s very informal, whereas in the fall, it’s a very formal process.”

Litolff commented on how social media influences spring recruitment.

“A lot of them just post their fliers on their Instagram pages, and like, if you know someone in class, or if they’re your friend, they’ll invite you and let you know,” explained Litolff.

For spring recruitment, Litolff said, people who are interested in joining a sorority can simply reach out to the organizations via Instagram.

“It’ll be like DM, or contact a member, or you can literally just sign up on their Instagram account and say like ‘I’m interested,’ and they’ll just send you all the information you need, and a lot of it’s just like at the house, so you can just show up—you don’t actually have to sign up for anything,” explained Litolff.

Litolff listed Alpha Sigma Tau, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Theta Phi Alpha and Phi Mu as sororities participating in spring recruitment.

The bidding process of spring recruitment is also different than in the fall. Girls have the opportunity to receive bids, or invitations to a sorority, after attending a sorority’s interest event.

“A sorority will offer a bid by phone call and just be like ‘Hey, really enjoyed having you come out to the events the last week or so, we would like to have you as a member, would you like to join?’ and you’ll be required to sign a piece of paper saying you’re joining-you’re accepting a bid, and then you turn it in to the Office of Student Engagement, and then you start your new member period,” discussed Litolff.

Fall recruitment guarantees that girls spend time with every sorority to determine where they fit best. However, during spring recruitment, getting to know people in each sorority is difficult, so it is preferred that participants attend if they are already acquainted with girls in the sorority they wish to join. 

“If there are girls that you know or that you hang out with who are already in that sorority, it would be more beneficial to go through with spring recruitment because you already know everybody,” said Litolff. “If you don’t really know anybody, and you’re just starting now, then I would suggest going through fall because you get to see all five, get to see all of their philanthropy, all of their social, everything they do as a chapter. You get to meet a lot of women, whereas in spring, you don’t really get to meet the range of women before you go in.”

Although some sororities have already hosted their interest parties, Litolff mentioned they may still be open to new members.

“The sororities who are picking up 10, 15 people usually have a series of interest events, whereas other sororities who are only picking up five may only have one interest party,” said Litolff. “If someone isn’t in, though, I think they still have plenty of time to join. Even if they missed it too, they can still contact the sorority and be like ‘Hi, I’m interested, are you still recruiting?’ and they would reach out to you. And if you missed it, fall recruitment is still an option too.”

Litolff mentioned that anyone who is interested in joining a sorority and is willing to commit to its guidelines should participate in recruitment.

“Honestly, I think anyone can join a sorority if you are interested, though it can be a commitment,” warned Litolff. “There are dues associated with joining a sorority, but I think that they’re very manageable. There’s a few mandatory events throughout the year, but they’re pretty fun. Just people who want to make friends and really experience all that a sorority has to offer.”