The beginnings of fall bring to mind a number of things like pumpkin-spiced lattes, extra large bowls of soup and gently falling amber leaves — except in South Florida of course, since we go to the the beach year-round. In addition to these fall staples,there is one highly anticipated event that you might not want to miss: Recruitment Week.
Recruitment week allows for students to socialize with members and learn more about on-campus chapters of fraternities and sororities through different events to assist students with making the decision of joining Greek Life. All chapters are governed by one of three separate councils: the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council or Unified Greek Council.
The breakdown:
The Interfraternity Council oversees the chapter operation of three nationally recognized fraternities: Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Sigma and Phi Gamma Delta.
The Unified Greek Council supervises the management of fraternities Kappa Alpha Psi, Phi Beta Sigma as well as the Alpha Kappa Alpha, Lambda Theta Alpha, Sigma Lambda Gamma and Zeta Phi Beta sororities.
The Panhellenic Council works with the Delta Phi Epsilon, Phi Sigma Sigma and Sigma Delta Tau social sororities.
This information is important because the way in which students can register for recruitment week depends on which fraternities or sororities they would be interested in learning more about. Registration information can be found at nova.edu/greeks or by contacting the Office of Student Activities. For the most part, you should know that members of the Unified Greek Council find members throughout the year and have individual, often confidential recruiting processes. Members of the Panhellenic and Interfraternity Councils recruit one to two times per year, usually through recruitment week.
What happens during recruitment week:
Though the recruitment process differs slightly based on governing council bodies and the discretion of sororities and fraternities, there are a few key events to note. Students interested in joining Greek Life can expect to meet with current members through more casual events like barbecues to the more traditional informationals.
According to Katherine Silver, president of the Panhellenic Council, from Sept. 7-9, students interested in joining such a sorority will be matched with a Rho Gamma, a version of a recruitment counselor, who will guide the groups to designated room for informationals regarding each sorority.
Each of the sessions over the three-night process feature a specific topic: Sorority 101, Values and Traditions, and Preference Night where students are able to rank the sororities they wish to join.
“As far as PC’s recruitment, the matching process is a mutual selection process. PNMs [or Panhellenic Council Members] will rank the sororities they visit each night at the end of the night and the sororities do the same with the women who visited their room,” said Silver. “Together these two lists are entered into a computer program called Interactive Collegiate Solutions or ICS and it matches the girls up with the sororities for the following nights.”
Following informationals comes Bid Day. This is the time where students will be informed about which sorority or fraternity has invited them to join their Greek organization. Upon receiving the bid, prospective new members have the option to accept or deny the invitation to join. Those who do accept are invited to attend a celebration event with their new brothers or sisters.
A word of advice:
Silver adds a word of advice for students apprehensive about going through recruitment: “I would just say to try it out. You aren’t committed to joining a sorority or fraternity by going through it and if at the end you have the opportunity to join, it’s ultimately your choice.”
“Going through is a great way to get to know the Greek Life we have at Nova [and to] make connections,” said Silver. “By going through recruitment you might even find a fraternity or sorority that fits your values and interests.”
