For students who still want to join a sorority this school year, there are options available, but few compared to the formal recruitment process in the fall.
A handful of sororities hold recruitment events in the spring to fill open spots in their sororities, but only chapters with less than 113 members can recruit, Rachel Franceschino , president of the Panhellenic Council said.
Sororities have the option to make their recruitment events either open or invite- only, and not all sororities will advertise their recruitment events, Franceschino (junior-political science and labor and employment relations) said.
“There are some that are not advertising because they only have a few spots,” Franceschino said. “It wouldn’t be fair to have a huge event.”
She said recruitment events during the spring vary from chapter to chapter.
The list of sororities that are advertising rush events will be on the Panhellenic Council website by the end of this week, Franceschino said.
Maddie Tauber, president of the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi at Penn State, said her sorority only has one or two spots open, depending on how many members are graduating in the spring.
She said her sorority is not sure if it will hold a recruitment event because of the limited number of spots.
“Sometimes there is a person who wants to come in,” Tauber said. “It’s more likely to be someone that we know.”
Tauber added that sororities under the 113 total are encouraged to recruit members in the spring.
Franceschino said that if Panhellenic is on any college campus, only one formal recruitment process can be held a year, which is why formal recruitment isn’t in the spring.
“It’s a lot more time-consuming for a chapter and potential new members,” Franceschino said. “By Panhellenic rules, you have to go to every chapter and it has multiple rounds.”
Franceschino added that there are 19 sororities that would participate in formal recruitment, and only eight sororities have spots open, Franceschino said.
“It’s not worth it to have structured recruitment,” Franceschino said.
The vice president of membership has not been elected yet. According to the Penn State Panhellenic website, her job is to “to plan and execute recruitment efforts” for both formal and informal recruitment.
Franceschino said she is temporarily filling the position. Elections are to be held in about two weeks and the Panhellenic President’s Council will begin accepting applications on Thursday, she said.
