Correction Appended Below
This fall, three of the six sororities at Washington University have chosen to participate in the University’s first open bidding process to increase membership.
The campus membership quota for each sorority was raised from 90 to 115 last spring, based on a calculation of the ideal size for chapters at the University.
As a result, Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi and Chi Omega have chosen to have open bidding for sophomores and juniors interested in joining their sororities, according to a sorority member who asked not to be identified because she is not authorized to speak about open bidding.
The sorority member said that the open bidding option was open to all six sororities, but that the three remaining ones—Alpha Epsilon Phi, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Delta Gamma—chose not to participate in the process because they were not in need of more members.
“Sororities are not allowed to go over 115 unless formal recruitment pushes them over. They aim to start at the 110 to 115 range before going into formal recruitment,” Lucy Morlan, coordinator for chapter development in the Greek Life Office, said.
After formal recruitment before the spring semester, the chapters are expected to have 140 to 160 members.
While the three sororities that chose to participate in the bidding may be smaller than the others, the sorority member said that the difference in size is due not to popularity but to national recruitment standards.
“Every sorority manages its numbers differently,” she said. “The three sororities that decided to take advantage of it did so not because of dwindling membership but because it was a good opportunity to get more sophomores and juniors.”
Morlan added that this also presented sororities with an untraditional way of attracting members.
“A lot of sororities think ‘this is something new we can try,’” she said. “They’re excited to be doing this. It throws a little twist onto the [recruitment] process.”
The University traditionally uses a ‘deferred’ recruitment process. Formal recruitment, held the week preceding spring semester, is the first opportunity for first-year students to join a sorority. The Women’s Panhellenic Association (Panhel) makes no note of the informal recruitment process on its Web site because “they don’t want to turn people away, but they have a limited number of spaces,” according to Morlan.
“Informal recruitment is not structured in the same way as formal recruitment, and each individual chapter has the ability to schedule their own events and offer bids throughout the fall semester,” Panhel President Michelle Beasley said.
Formal recruitment, by contrast, is more structured, with a week of scheduled events before sororities and candidates make their decisions and decide bids. Morlan said that the lax nature of the open bidding process may attract students who feel intimidated by the atmosphere of spring rush.
“Formal recruitment can seem over the top to some women,” Morlan said. “We want to let them be a part of [the sorority system] without having to go through the whole circus.”
Open bidding is also geared toward older students, as opposed the spring, which is focused on freshmen.
“A lot of sophomores have friends who they think would like these sororities,” the sorority member said. “They enjoy it [and] they want their friends to be a part of it. It’s a good way to get girls who weren’t able to rush last fall.”
Beasley sees an overall increase in interest in sororities on campus, as reflected by the number of women who registered for bids and the subsequent bid acceptances, which were higher than they were the previous year. She expects this trend to continue into 2009.
Panhel will be holding informational sessions throughout the semester to speak about and promote formal recruitment.
The sorority member said that sororities have also been open about the process within their chapters.
“They’ve been clear with us all along that this is not a bad thing and that it’s not indicating any low membership level on our part that’s our fault,” she said. “It’s been a very positive thing for all three chapters. All the chapters that are involved in this are strong ones.”
With additional reporting by Ben Sales
Correction (9/19/08)
Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that The Women's Panhellenic Association would be holding informational sessions about open bidding throughout the semester. In fact, those sessions are meant speak about and promote formal recruitment; in addition open bidding will likely be unavailable in the future. Also, due to an editing error, a quote was incorrectly attributed to Lucy Morlan, the coordinator for chapter development in the Greek Life Office. In fact, the quotation was given by the anonymous source referenced in the article.
