Spring semester begins Jan. 9, but nearly 2000 IU women will return to campus the week before to take part in sorority recruitment, a two-week process dedicated to helping them find a home in one of the 23 Panhellenic Association chapters.
Recruitment begins with orientation Jan. 4, and women will go through a series of rounds during which they visit different chapters. The women are invited back to chapters based on a mutual selection process. Rounds get more personal as the process progresses, and recruitment culminates Jan. 17.
Women are notified on bid day if they received a bid from their preferred chapter, and the remaining women open their bids together at the IU Tennis Center that night.
Senior Paige Dausinas is the vice president of recruitment for the PHA executive council, and she has also served as a Rho Gamma, a woman who disaffiliates from her sorority to help girls going through recruitment make an unbiased decision.
IDS: What is the best piece of advice you would give to women who are going through recruitment?
PD: My best piece of advice would be the same advice I gave to my women last year when I was a Rho Gamma — keep an open mind. There are a lot of stereotypes that can be associated with chapters and the greek system in general, so keeping an open mind is the best way to go through it and enjoy the process. It should be fun, and it shouldn’t be something that’s stressful.
IDS: Are there any common mistakes some women make during the process?
PD: I think the number one thing is a lot of women maybe want to act a certain way to portray themselves a certain way to chapters. I think the best thing they can do is just be themselves. They may think they want to be in a certain chapter, maybe because their mom was in that chapter or their best friend really likes it, but they should really just make their own choices and find where they fit even though it may not be the same choice as their best friend.
IDS: What would you tell a woman who is unhappy with the chapters she has gotten back?
PD: This definitely happens often. Again, I think keeping an open mind is important. I saw this a lot with the women in my group last year, and a lot of them were uncertain. The best advice I could give is if you think the greek system is for you, just keep going until you find your home. Be yourself and see how it goes because you never really know until you try.
IDS: What are your responsibilities as the vice president of recruitment?
PD: There’s been a lot, but just looking at this semester it’s been a lot of getting registration up and running for women to enroll for recruitment and preparing the Rho Gammas, who have a class Monday nights that’s been going all semester. We’ve been doing a lot of advertising and marketing for recruitment and getting everything pulled together. I also work with all the recruitment chairs for each chapter, so I kind of see what questions they have and how they’re feeling.
IDS: Do you have a favorite part of the recruitment process?
PD: I think my favorite part is watching all the Rho Gammas get excited for receiving their potential new members, then on bid night seeing all of the women getting placed into their new chapters and finding their new homes.
IDS: Does the executive council have any goals for the upcoming recruitment cycle?
PD: I don’t know if we particularly have a goal as an executive council, but for me it’s just that the feedback we get at the end recruitment looks a lot different from the feedback we got last year. We’re hoping this year that our potential new members go in feeling more comfortable and relaxed and that our Rho Gammas are better trained than in previous years, and the whole community is coming together to feel more like a community.
