Dozens of girls in white shirts lined up behind the Lankford Student Union on Jan. 20 with a crowd that reached practically a hundred people surrounding them. It was only when they emerged at the front of the line did their prospective sorority know that they, as it is said among sororities, were coming home. This is known in the Greek world as a sorority walk.
The process that led to this crowd began two nights earlier on Friday, Jan. 18 when approximately 236 girls arrived for the first night of their sorority recruitment. This is known as Values Day. The potential new members (PNMs) were split randomly into groups and each group made their way to the eight on-campus Greek sororities: Kappa Delta, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Sigma Tau, Delta Zeta, Sigma Sigma Sigma, Alpha Delta Pi, Sigma Kappa and Alpha Gamma Delta.
The groups spent a total of 30 minutes at each sorority. This was the first impression the PNMs got to leave the sororities with. It was during this half hour that the members of the sororities were able to ask questions and simply get to know the Day two began with the PNMs discovering who had invited them back for Philanthropy Day. The girls were allowed to receive up to five invites from different sororities. This was decided the night before by both the PNM and the active members. While the recruit filled out a preference list of their top favorite sororities, the actives did the same during a bid session after Values Day.
Once the girls received their invites, they attended 40 minute parties at each sorority that asked them back. It is on this day that the girls were also instructed to wear business casual clothing to their parties during which activities were created based on the philanthropy each sorority supported. Also, the hosting sororities provided information about their national and local philanthropies and what they do for their philanthropies.
At the end of the second night, the girls were once again asked to narrow down their lists to their top sororities as the sorority sisters did as well.
The final and third day of the recruitment weekend, known as Preference Day, began early Sunday morning when the PNMs were invited back to up to two parties. These are the final parties where the girls gave their final impressions to the sorority sisters.
After the parties, the final invites were sent out, and the PNMs were asked to rank the sororities they visited during the last day, as well as sign a Membership Recruitment Acceptance Binding Agreement (MRABA). In order to receive a bid, the PNM must sign this contract. By signing this agreement, the PNM agrees to accept a bid from a sorority. Due to the fact that both parties chose each other, it is considered a momentous occasion for the PNMs because they have found their homes.
“I was so happy,” said Sigma Sigma Sigma new member, sophomore, Sarah Donaghue, when asked how she felt discovering that she and the sorority had chosen each other. “It’s like feeling that you’re finally home. After a long stressful weekend there’s just this amazing feeling of relief that you got what you wanted.”
These events led to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday night when the girls wore a plain white shirt of any kind and dressed themselves with assorted accessories and paints to express the sorority they had chosen. When they arrived at the front of the line, they were faced with eight groups of ladies in front of them, all cheering for the next member in the line. The sororities dressed in their letters or identical outfits, held signs and chanted their songs until their new member got to the front of the line and they began to cheer their name as loud as possible. The original PNM ran to the sisters and was greeted by a shirt and hug from two sisters.
During the recruitment process, the ladies were led by recruitment counselors whose job it was to assist the PNMs through recruitment with unbiased views to the sorority. These counselors became unaffiliated with their active sororities early in November until the last day of recruitment where they unveiled their letters to the PNMs right before the sorority walk – or run.
“I was able to see [recruitment] from the outside. It was definitely interesting to get a different perspective,” said Alpha Delta Pi senior, Katherine Buffey, one of the recruitment counselors from the weekend. “We got 21 perfect, precious Alphas. We can’t wait to get to know each and every one of them.”
By the end of the weekend, the sororities ended with the following amount of new members: Kappa Delta: 22; Delta Zeta: 20; Alpha Delta Pi: 21; Alpha Sigma Tau: 8; Alpha Sigma Alpha: 20; Alpha Gamma Delta: 20; Sigma Sigma Sigma: 20; Sigma Kappa: 20. Throughout the process, both the sororities and the PNMs used the program iValU, which allows for conversation between the sisters and PNM, so the girls can choose a sorority based on their values and beliefs.
For the week immediately following the recruitment weekend, sororities who still have space available in their chapter are able to hold open houses to appeal to other PNMs. However, during the recruitment of Zeta Tau Alpha, a sorority which is returning to campus after disaffiliating themselves with Longwood, sororities are on what is known as a freeze and are unable to give bids out to PNMs.