On the night of Monday, Jan. 12, dozens of campus women stood out on the snowy ground in front of Central Hall in below-freezing temperatures, screaming cheers and slogans that resounded through the Quad and beyond.
Madness had not driven them there, however. They had congregated to welcome their new sorority sisters and to mark the end of winter formal recruitment, according to Assistant Dean of Women Rebekah Dell.
Earlier that afternoon, Panhellenic Council representatives had invited recruited members to Central Hall that evening, but the students only learned into which sorority they had been placed in the moments before they rushed outside to join their new sisters, Dell said.
For this recruitment period, Chi Omega welcomed 16 new members, Kappa Kappa Gamma, 15, and Pi Beta Phi, 16, adding an additional member via continuous open bidding.
In a typical year, each sorority welcomes 18 new members in the second semester, but this year was a bit down from that. Dell said this didn’t surprise her, since Hillsdale College joined a nationwide increase in the minimum recruitment GPA to a 2.5.
“It made sense for the college requirement to echo that,” Dell said.
Even so, the relative number is actually constant, given changes in the freshman class’s gender distribution.
“The percentage is the same, but the numbers are slightly less, about 30 fewer overall,” Dell said. “Still, about 1/3 of women are Greek.”
Each sorority’s president said she was happy with her recruitment results.
“As always, I am very proud of Chi Omega and our successful recruitment,” said Chi Omega President junior Sophia Coyne-Kosnak. “Besides the obvious excitement of expanding our sisterhood, recruitment strengthens our existing bonds of friendship and love, and I know that the other sorority houses would agree that it is quite an enjoyable time.”
“We picked up 15 wonderful ladies and are very excited to see what they bring to the house. These young women are full of energy, sisterhood, and they are a very smart bunch,” Kappa Kappa Gamma President junior Kelsey Lozier said. “I am very excited to see what this class of women achieves on campus and I’m sure that they will develop into great leaders.”
“The girls we picked up add diversity to our house,” Pi Beta Phi President senior Elizabeth Harris said. “They’re really excited about Pi Beta Phi and I can’t wait to see what they can do in the next few years.”
Now that each woman has entered her appointed sorority, the sororities themselves are responsible for new member training, which lasts six to eight weeks, according to Dell.
