The member organizations of the Stevens Panhellenic Council (SPC), an association of Stevens sororities represented by the National Panhellenic Conference, conducted their recruitment processes this month over the course of several days, the first one to be fully in-person since 2020.
The recruitment process for each sorority took place from January 15 to 18. Each day was dedicated to an event that aimed to showcase to potential new members, or PNMs, the culture, mission, and activities of each of the five sororities belonging to the SPC.
Since 1971, when women were first admitted to Stevens, the number of active sororities on campus has grown to seven, of which about 40% of female undergraduates now belong.
The first day saw the Round Robin phase of recruitment, where PNMs had the chance to meet and learn about the sororities in recruitment groups by traveling to stations prepared around campus. Each sorority hosted one location: Phi Sigma Sigma, Theta Phi Alpha, and Delta Phi Epsilon hosted their events in their respective houses, while Alpha Phi was stationed in the Bissinger Room of the Howe Center and Sigma Delta Tau was in the Babbio Center. At the end of the day was the first round of selection, in which PNMs would gradually narrow their choices of sororities to join. On this first day, PNMs selected four sororities to rank as first choice and slotted one sorority as second choice.
Day two was the Philanthropy phase. The day was dedicated to teaching PNMs about each sorority’s philanthropic causes: Phi Sigma Sigma partners with the Kids in Need Foundation to support education and college preparation for American children; Theta Phi Alpha provides aid, home building, and neighborhood revitalization projects to improve the lives of the homeless and provides material and spiritual assistance to residents of rural Appalachia; Delta Phi Epsilon supports the Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders organization and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to help combat eat disorders and cystic fibrosis, respectively; Alpha Phi aims to support and raise awareness for women’s heart health; and Sigma Delta Tau partners with Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA), the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and Jewish Women International (JWI), and operates a self-named Foundation that provides scholarship opportunities and educational programs to sisters. The day culminated in the next round of selection, with PNMs now ranking only two of their remaining sororities as first choice, another as second choice, and the final one as third choice.
The third day, or “preference day,” saw PNMs attending a preference ceremony for each of one or two remaining sororities returned to them based on their previously indicated selections. These ceremonies are a kind of formal ritual where sororities aim to communicate their unique meanings and forge deeper connections with prospective members. At the end of “pref day,” the final round of selection consists of PNMs choosing a single preferred sorority.
Each PNM then receives a bid, or a formal invitation to a sorority, which is revealed on the fourth day, or Bid Day. The Bid Day celebration took place in the Bissinger Room this year, but only 20 members from each sorority could attend due to capacity limits. The celebration consisted of the invitation announcements as well as the “welcoming home” of sisters who volunteered as recruitment counselors (RCs) or Panhellenic Council delegates. According to Keenan Yates, a sister belonging to Sigma Delta Tau, this celebration was particularly special because RCs and Panhellenic Council delegates are not allowed to reveal an affiliation with any sorority during the recruitment process because of bias concerns.
“It was the first in-person recruitment event I’ve been able to experience since joining Sigma Delta Tau in the spring of 2022,” Yates said. “I’m so thankful to have been a part of recruitment this year. It was an awesome experience and I’m so excited to meet our new Lambda class!”
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