In what many agree is a “positive step by all sororities,” Hillsdale College raised the minimum GPA needed to rush in sorority recruitment to take effect in January 2015.
Previously, students needed a GPA of a 2.25 or above to rush for sororities at Hillsdale, but Dean of Women Diane Philipp approved an initiative to raise the minimum requirement to a 2.5 on Sept. 10. Associate Dean of Women Rebekah Dell said the decision was made to align with each of the sorority’s national chapters, which recently increased GPA standards.
“Over the past few years, all three [sorority] chapters raised their GPA standards. With a 2.25, young women could participate in the recruitment process, but weren’t eligible to be picked up by a sorority,” Dell said. “It was raised so young women without an opportunity to be picked up won’t rush. It’s not fair to give them false hope.”
Although the increase is significant, Dell said few students were inhibited from rushing by the 2.25 requirement, and she doesn’t expect many more to be excluded by the new standard. Also, the higher GPA will ensure students participating in Hillsdale’s Greek system are prepared to balance academics with the time requirements of a sorority.
“Participating in a sorority takes a lot of time, and we don’t want young womens’ attention taken away from academics if she needs to be spending more time there,” Dell said.
Although the requirement is chosen by the college, each sorority’s Panhellenic delegates were asked for their opinions before Philipp approved the proposition.
“They all thought it was a good idea,” Dell said. “There was no negative feedback.”
Chi Omega delegate junior Alexis Allen said the increase is a positive step for the sororities individually and also aligns with the Panhellenic Council’s aims.
“One of our goals on the Panhellenic Council is to promote superior scholarship and basic intellectual development,” Allen said. “We felt that an increase in the minimum GPA requirement would serve that interest well.”
Pi Beta Phi delegate junior Paige George added the college’s choice to increase the requirement will aid sorority members in achieving high academic goals.
“We are lucky enough to be on a campus which strives towards similar ends [of academic excellence], and is willing to help us further our scholarship goals,” George said. “The Greek system exists as a means to help one excel, and I believe that the new GPA requirement set in place by the college will further encourage women to have a successful academic career at Hillsdale while simultaneously allowing each of the chapters to expand upon their individual scholarship goals.”
Kappa Kappa Gamma delegate junior Kelsey Lozier agreed, saying it will positively impact the recruiting process.
“The GPA requirement will most definitely affect recruitment and hopefully raise awareness for freshmen who are interested in Greek life,” Lozier said. “The goal is for freshmen to understand that sorority life on campus is not simply a fun extracurricular, but that we strive to better ourselves, in part, by placing such a high emphasis on academics.”
Dell said the new requirement will ultimately benefit the women hoping to rush.
“Scholarship is very important to the Greek system and we want to set women up to be successful,” she said.
