With Ferris Greek organizations readying to start recruiting new members, many potential members may be wondering how it works.
Ferris offers four types of fraternities and sororities organizations: Black Greek Council (BGC), Interfraternity Council (IFC), Panhellenic Council, and Professional Greek Council (PGC), with multiple fraternities and/or sororities composing each organization. There are three varieties to join: all-male, all-female, or mixed.
Recruiting can be a complicated process according to Ferris environmental biology senior and Panhellenic’s Vice President of Recruitment Samantha Rosengarten.
“When we recruit potential new members, we have tabling at Bulldog Beginnings, hanging posters around campus, and handing out flyers. We have fifteen sorority women who are constantly asking potential new members if they’ve ever thought about joining a sorority. Our community is looking for eager women who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Our chapters are usually looking for women willing to be leaders on campus, that want forever friendships, and a passion for good grades. We choose our new members on a mutual ranking system.
“After the Friday of recruitment, all the potential new members visit the rooms, and they rank them from favorite to least favorite. The chapters also choose the women they’d like to spend more time with. So it’s a mutual selection,” Rosengarten said.
The recruitment period for PGC runs from Thursday, Sept. 12, to Sunday, Sept. 15, and includes a variety of activities. According to Rosengarten they begin with orientation where potential new members will get information about the weekend and the chapters and get a chance to meet recruitment counselors. On Friday, the women meet all five social sororities on campus before going to three sororities, at most to learn about their philanthropy. On the final day they return to no more than two sororities and choose which one they want. Sunday afternoon is Bid Day, which is when the women finally get to call themselves sisters of their new sorority.
In IFC fraternities, Ferris physical therapy sophomore James Kendrick, IFC’s recruitment chairman and member of Lambda Chi Alpha, said, “We recruit potential new members through individual events which each organization hosts, however there is one big event known as Formal Rush, where any male interested in Greek life gets to go through a number of rooms and meet members of every fraternity. “We are looking for young men who will represent their organization the best because once you join a Greek organization, everything you do represents your organization.”
“During our process, it involves getting to know the organizations and them getting to know potential new members. Once you’ve done this, if an organization feels they’re a good t, they’ll extend a bid card. If the potential new member chooses to sign it, it gives the fraternity [allowance] to do a grade check to make sure they meet the grade requirements. It also says that they won’t go for any other fraternity that semester if they go ahead with the recruitment process. “Recruitment is men from organizations reaching out to other men they like or might want to get to know better to see if they’ll find a home in Greek life. That’s why there’s a lot of recruiting events and advertisements everywhere to try and draw in more members. The events help us explain to potential members that Greek life is not what’s seen in movies and can help you grow as a person and bring out your best qualities,” Kendrick said.
For more information about Greek life and the organizations, visit Bulldog Connect, or contact the Greek Life Center through CLACS.