Fall at the University of Oregon means recruitment for women interested in joining a sorority.
This year, the Panhellenic Council and representatives from the 10 Panhellenic chapters voted to push recruitment dates to week two (Oct. 6-10), in hopes of encouraging more participants to rush.
The dates for recruitment were moved to help new students get acclimated to the college environment, due to a home football game and the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur all occurring at the same time.
“In the past if girls were planning on celebrating the Jewish holiday, they weren’t able to go through recruitment,” said Morgan Plew, president of PHC. “We don’t want to dishearten girls from joining, so we moved it back a week.”
Justin Shukas, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said that this year is reaching new heights in terms of potential new members.
“This year we have a record number of potential new members registered,” Shukas said. “Unlike previous years, a primary registration was implemented with a deadline of September 1, due to an increase in registration numbers.”
However, the timing isn’t the only change in fall formal recruitment this year.
“The first round of recruitment was changed from ‘Open House’ to ‘Leadership Days’ and ‘House Tour Day’ was changed to ‘Sisterhood Day’ in order to align with a values-based recruitment process,” Shukas said.
The UO PHC is responsible for organizing and advising sororities on campus and is hoping to create a more positive environment through new recruitment activities.
“There is an increased emphasis on values-based recruitment this year,” Shukas said. “Potential new members will do an activity with Rho Gammas to identify their top values, and they will write those on their name tags, so that chapter members can also ask them about their values and how they will relate to each chapter’s values.”
Sorority members spent the week before school commenced partaking in “spirit week,” which allowed them to practice for recruitment. It also helps build morale and kept members motivated for the weeks ahead.
On Oct. 5, PHC will hold a potential new member orientation to “learn more about the recruitment process and about the Panhellenic Council at the University of Oregon,” Shukas said.
Potential new members will be placed into small groups and assigned a Rho Gamma — a recruitment counselor — who is a sorority woman who is dissociated from her chapter to assist students through the recruitment process.
Fall formal recruitment begins Wednesday, Oct. 8, with ‘Leadership day’ and ends on Tuesday, Oct. 14, where potential new members could receive a bid to a sorority.
When registration closed Sept. 26, 904 women had registered to participate in fall formal recruitment.
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