OU sororities begin new member recruitment.
You can’t choose family, but at the end of September, some Ohio University women will pick sisters.
OU’s underclassmen are busy courting Greek Life organizations — trying to choose (and hoping they’re selected to join) the organization that meets their varying needs — whether it be in terms of academics or service.
About 12 percent of OU students are in a fraternity or sorority, according to a campus Greek Life official. There are more than 1,100 girls in the nine sororities at OU that are part of the Women’s Panhellenic Association, said Kate Schroeder, a senior and the association’s vice president of public relations.
The process of choosing a sorority can be lengthy — and starts with attending one of the Greek Life information sessions.
“I would advise you to do your research on all the chapters,” said Hillary Stahl the association’s advisor, to a room full of potential recruits on Wednesday. “You’re making a lifelong commitment.”
The Women’s Panhellenic Association encompasses the nine Greek sororities that have chapters in Athens. This year’s goal: recruit more than 700 “intelligent, capable women” to Greek Life at OU, Schroeder said.
As of last week, more than 500 ladies are registered to partake in recruitment, more than twice as many who had registered at this time last year, in an uptick in interest that Schroeder said she attributes to a new marketing plan.
Accepted students pay dues, are typically able to live in the sorority house and eat meals made from the houses’ personal chefs.
On Wednesday, droves of underclassmen listened in Porter Hall as Association Vice President of Recruitment, Kelsey Graf, along with Stahl, explained every detail of the Greek bidding process. Last year, 595 women joined a sorority.
“I want to meet new people and it seems like a good time,” said Jenna Jacobs, a freshman studying biological sciences, who attended the session.
These types of information sessions all lead up to Sept. 9 — Kickoff — when all students are required to be registered to participate in later recruitment events. Then, break-the-ice events, house tours and various themed nights bring potential new members closer to the sororities.
Over the course of the recruitment process, a computer system assists potential new members in narrowing down their sorority choices from nine to three chapters. Then, current sorority members decide which potential new members they want to accept, according to Schroeder. The computer works as a tool in the process but is not the final deciding factor.
To help the women with the recruitment process, many sorority members temporarily disaffiliate themselves from their respective chapters to act as an unbiased guide through process.
These ladies, which number 54 this year, are known as Rho Gammas.
Sept. 21 is Bid Day, when students find out which sorority they’ll join and the Rho Gammas reveal their own sororities.
The ladies convene at Scripps Amphitheater and receive envelopes with the names of the sororities with which they’ve been paired.
“Rho Gammas improve the recruitment process because they act as an unbiased support system for the potential new members going through,” said senior Liz Gibson, the coordinator of Rho Gammas for the association. “They have all gone through extensive training where they each learned how to counsel (potential new members) in different situations and motivate them through the process.”
Nationally, sorority costs can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars per semester based on a variety of factors. OU officials declined to comment on the costs here because “it is against recruitment conduct to promote one chapter over another” by providing specific costs of participation, Schroeder said in an email.
For example, at Miami University, costs range from $515 to $816 per semester for new members, according to university figures online.
“A lot of my friends from home got involved, and I thought I’d give it a try,” said Alex Corsi, a sophomore studying journalism.
Yet, regardless of their reasons, all these women said they share a common desire of belonging to a group focused on self-improvement while participating in a sisterhood.
“My advice for women looking to sign up is to definitely give it a try,” Gibson said. “Going Greek is such a great way to get involved on campus and is a rewarding experience. You meet so many great people during the process that you usually end up staying in touch with for years.”
