Though they have not been the focus of the Greek system’s reform-minded critics in recent years, the University’s sororities are tightening the rules on how they recruit new members.
Starting this summer, chapters will be subject to a series of more strongly-enforced regulations aimed at discouraging summer recruitment parties, promising bids to prospective new members and violating ‘no booze, no boys,’ the 11-day period in which sorority members are forbidden from consuming alcohol and talking to men.
Ana Samper, president of the Panhellenic Council, said the changes are aimed at putting all potential new members on a level playing field.
“How do we regulate recruitment so that no girl feels she is at a disadvantage because of where she attended high school or whether she attended summer parties?” Samper said.
Samper added that the changes were the idea of the Panhellenic Council’s leadership, but were prompted in part by expectations from outside stakeholders such as the Parents Council and the Board of Trustees.
“A stagnant Greek system is not going to be recognized,” she said.
In fall 2010, the Board of Trustees undertook an effort to reform the system, expressing concern that freshmen interested in joining fraternities or sororities were not being given enough time to join other campus organizations. As a result, the board mandated that all Greek organizations begin offering spring recruitment.
“The Board of Trustees brought up the whole theme of the potential new members and recognizing that not everyone wants in the first two weeks of school to join a sorority,” said Jermisha Dodson, who serves as an adviser to the Panhellenic executive board.
Fraternities were the primary focus of the board’s conversation, but sororities established a quota system last fall requiring each chapter to take a certain number of upperclassmen.
