Whitman fraternities have the goal of half the student body affiliating with a greek group.

According to Chase Cooper, president of the Interfraternity Council, an umbrella organization of the men’s fraternities represented on campus, and member of Tau Kappa Epsilon, the fraternities are well on their way to reaching this goal within five to seven years.

“That level of involvement is needed for the long-term solvency and viability of the greek system, and we are very satisfied with the recruitment and retention rates,” said Cooper.

Thirty-seven percent of the male students this year are affiliated with one of the four fraternities, up from 30 to 35 percent a few years back, but much below the 80 to 90 percent in the 1970s. The three sororities currently count 27 percent of all female students as members.

“Essentially, the whole campus used to be greek, the remaining 10 percent forming an informal independent fraternity,” said Andrew Stokes, a TKE and the Interfraternity Council recruitment coordinator for the last year.

“Many of the college’s Trustees are worried about the drastic fall in participation,” said Rachel Wallace, recruitment coordinator for Panhellenic Association, the umbrella group for the sororities, and vice president of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. “They value their membership with the organizations and want to see them strong.”

Each fraternity and sorority is a chapter of a national or international organization, simultaneously self-governing and subject to the centralized rules. Whitman greeks are not different from other schools, only smaller, according to Barbara Maxwell, associate dean of students and advisor to Panhellenic and the IFC.

There are major differences between the way fraternities and sororities are organized. “They are like apples and oranges,” said Maxwell, referring to the role central headquarters play in the recruitment practices of the greek groups.

The sororities are led by the National Panhellenic Conference, which sets a quota for the number of students eligible to be accepted each year. Based in living space capacity and other requirements, the quota is divided equally and each sorority can accept 28 new members this year.

Most of the new members are attracted in the fall during a formal recruitment week, which is organized by all the sororities and coordinated by Panhellenic. Interested students are required to rank their preferences for sorority membership and sororities rank the applicants. A committee consisting of the sorority faculty advisors and Panhellenic representatives review these rankings and match applicants with sororities. Each accepted applicant receives a membership offer, known as a “bid,” from one sorority.

“The fraternities do not have the kind of institutionalized parity the sororities do,” said Cooper. A potential member can receive bids from all four fraternities. The IFC coordinates the recruitment events and practice, but only to eliminate what Cooper calls “dirty rushing”: consumption of alcohol and unfair competition between the fraternities.

“Twenty years ago the rushes were a lot more focused on uncontrolled partying and excesses,” said Cooper.

“Whitman is changing quickly and the greeks have to change along with it,” said Cooper.

The IFC has recently reworked its constitution and the rules for recruitment.

The sorority recruitment is very structured, while men’s is more autonomous, according to Maxwell.

“The women could not go river rafting even if they wanted to, due to national organization liability concerns,” she said.

The difference extends to language. While all sorority official communication uses only the term “recruitment,” fraternities also use “rush.”

“We avoid the word ‘rush’ because of the negative connotations associated with the term stemming from films like ‘Animal House,'” said Wallace.

The Panhellenic concluded a situation study last year and has also initiated a plan to increase membership.

“Our ultimate goal is to reestablish a fourth sorority,” said Wallace. The Whitman chapter of Delta Delta Delta was “pulled,” the official term for termination, by Delta Delta Delta Headquarters in the spring of 2005.

Filling the existing sorority houses is a prerequisite for the National Panhellenic Conference to authorize the process of establishing the fourth sorority.

After accepting a membership to a fraternity or sorority, known as “pledging,” the new members undergo a period of preparation for the full membership. Whitman College mandates this period to be at least a semester. Seventy-four men and 76 women pledged this fall.

Between pledging and becoming a full member, known as “initiating,” the new members can decide whether the particular group is right for him or her. Membership can be cancelled, known as “de-pledging.” According to Wallace, this year sororities lost two to three members each, mostly due to friends being separated by joining different sororities. “We also have to bridge the Anderson/Jewett divide,” said Wallace.

If there are spaces available after the new members are initiated, which is a requirement for residence in a house, membership bids can be offered to non-affiliated students outside the fall recruitment period. Fraternities do not organize formal spring recruitment, but offer bids if they encounter an appropriate candidate.

Sororities have scheduled common spring recruitment late in February. Sign up for the events will take place in Reid at lunch Feb. 11 to 15.