On Sep. 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Panhellenic Council (Panhel), the governing organization for all sororities on-campus, hosted a meet and greet on the first floor of Fisher. Seven rooms were decorated with respective sororities’ colors, and sisters held activities from sculpting air-dry clay to decorating cards for nursing home residents. According to Panhel’s President of Recruitment, Madison Ruth, the event functioned like a “deconstructed open house, offering each Potential New Members (PNMs) a space where all the sororities are in one spot.” Meeting the sororities allows PNMs to familiarize themselves with the organizations, and for the sororities to filter interest and offer bids, an invitation to join their chapter.
This recruitment style is a recent change established by the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), which “noticed that our spring recruitment interest gathered just as much and if not more PMN interest,” according to Claire Mattern, Panhel’s Vice President of Marketing. Mattern said that in past years, visiting every sorority was mandatory, but now it is only highly encouraged. NPC chooses the total membership limit, which is the same for each sorority and includes current sisters. The current limit is 48 members, subject to change on a semesterly basis. Bidding itself, however, is an internal chapter process which is different from chapter to chapter.
But what if a PNM doesn’t receive any bids? “It just means [you] didn’t click with any chapters,” said Panhel President Becky Etten. “But you can always try again next semester, next year, whenever you feel more comfortable and are willing to try again.” She adds that “Getting a ‘no’ one semester doesn’t mean a ‘no’ forever. Sometimes a sorority can really like you, but they have a limit and can not initiate that many people at once.” Mattern emphasized Panhel’s values-based recruitment: “we just want people to connect on a deeper level than surface.”
According to Ruth, the time investment is comparable to a three-credit class for an average of six weeks of initiation, but with fun events rather than coursework. President Etten wants new members to “remember you can get more than one bid, and that recruitment does not stop after Bid Day, which is Sep. 27 this year. It just switches to continuous open bidding.”
The dues for new members range from $100 to $700, and for active members range from $200 to $400, and typically go right back into the chapter and members themselves. Interested students can contact the sororities’ treasurer individually to see if there’s any opportunity for a fee reduction, such as scholarships.
“National chapters tend to have higher dues because you have to pay into the national corporation,” Ruth said. The national chapters on campus include Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Sigma Tau, Delta Phi Epsilon, and Delta Zeta. The local sororities are: Alpha Delta Alpha, Theta Chi Epsilon, and Phi Delta Chi. Other events that Panhel hosts include Meet the Greeks, a collaboration with the Interfraternity Council (IFC), the fraternity counterpart to Panhel, and Bedazzle with Panhel.
“Panhel is very focused on the success of the sororities and to see them thrive, and flourish. We’re just here to support them through it all.” said Etten. For more information visit Instagram, @panhellenic.mtu, which includes links to their interest form, and contains information about all the sororities.
