Greek life clarifies recruitment

As many students on campus know, Greek recruitment is happening very soon at Drake – Sept. 2-4 for the women and Sept. 5-11 for the men.

To keep everything fair and just, each sorority is required to follow rules and guidelines specified by the National Panhellenic Conference as well as the campus PanHel. The NPC is the representing governing body for all sororities and has set rules to follow in order to uphold “orderly and ethical conduct.” Everyone going through recruitment must obey the same rules, and there have been a few changes and clarifications in the rules around campus.

No boys, no booze and no bars are the most common rules for every girl involved in recruitment.

No contact should be made between a recruiter and a girl going through recruitment where alcohol is present.

Because social media outlets such as Facebook are growing rapidly, PanHel added rules pertaining to the use of social media last year. All contact between a potential new member going through recruitment and an active member should be made in person. Therefore, contact on Facebook, texting or phone calls are prohibited. There are exceptions, such as emails for education purposes.

Recruitment counselors are not affiliated with their fraternities and sororities during the recruitment process. Peer mentors, academic consultants and resident assistants are allowed to share information about their house with first-year students.

The rules are a little different for the fraternities, who follow a different governing body – the Inter-Fraternity Council.

“Fraternities are allowed to interact sociably with possible members anytime and are allowed to recruit before the established recruitment period,” said Jordon, a senior recruitment counselor. As part of the recruitment process, her last name must be withheld during her time as a counselor.

“Sorority recruitment holds three separate events, and the sorority women are not allowed to communicate with potential new members until the designated recruitment events in the hopes that the potential members will not be biased in their sorority selection,” she added.

For both sorority and fraternity members there are rules that are the same. No alcohol should be present at any recruitment events. All Greek members should speak of other houses only in a positive manner “The whole (Drake Greek) community is welcoming and supportive,” Hohl said.