by Emily Beloof
STAFF WRITER
In the fall, female students are offered the chance to display their interest in going greek. Over the course of attending parties, brunches, meeting tons of other girls and getting to know the three sororities on campus, the girls make their decisions and are funneled into their new families.
So, what happens to all the women whose interest in joining a sorority happens after fall recruitment? Luckily, these women have a great option: spring recruitment.
Spring recruitment is a great opportunity for a number of reasons. One of the most important of these concerns bonding. A pledge class is made up of the group of women that pledges over the course of one school year. Pledge classes spend a lot of time together and become very close. Spring recruitment gives girls a chance to join the pledge class of their friends that joined a semester earlier.
“Sometimes girls need a semester to settle in before they decide they want to join a sorority,” said Christie Seyfert, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma. “We want to give these girls the chance to join.”
Sororities have a number of spots they can fill each year. It is usually in the best interest of the sorority to have spring recruitment if they have open spots left. Unlike fall recruitment, however, individual sororities have a lot more control over spring recruitment. First of all, members of the sorority get to decide whether or not to have spring recruitment. For example, this year only two of the three sororities at Whitman, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Kappa Alpha Theta, are having spring recruitment.
Sororities also get to design spring recruitment. In the fall, all three sororities have to follow the same rules and procedures to meet and welcome their new pledges. However, in the spring, sororities get the chance to change those procedures if they want to. This year, Kappa Kappa Gamma will keep their spring recruitment very similar to fall recruitment.
While girls that join in the spring miss out on some of the opportunities offered by fall recruitment, such as the chance to meet many new faces in a short period of time, they still get the great benefits a sorority can offer a young woman. When asked what the best part of being in a sorority is, Seyfert replied, “Support. I never thought I’d have this kind of support from living in section. I’ve never seen anyone be so supportive of me and I have never been so supportive of someone else.”
Spring recruitment gives girls a chance to join their friends in the same pledge class, the chance to get to know other amazing women on campus and act on their desire to join a supportive organization of women without having to wait until fall recruitment to do so.
