NC State Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL) concluded its formal recruitment processes for two of its four councils on Tuesday. FSL pursued 464 bids to women and about 250 bids to men to join sororities and fraternities on campus this year.
Shelly Brown Dobek, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, expressed that she thought Recruitment* Week this year went well, even with the slight scheduling difference in comparison to previous years.
“Typically, we do recruitment after Labor Day, and this year we really wanted to focus on not overlapping with the academic schedule so we moved our events to Labor Day weekend,” Dobek said. “I think, overall, things went really well.”
Other than the difference in schedules, FSL’s approach to recruitment is witnessing minimal changes that are more formal and success oriented.
“We’ve been working towards value-based recruitment for both our IFC [InterFraternity Council] and Panhellenic organizations, making sure we’re focused more on great conversation, on less frills for the women,” Dobek said. “For men, [we’re] making sure that we’re not engaging alcohol in that recruitment process.”
Julia Norton, a second-year studying psychology, participated in recruitment last fall. She wanted to be a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma. After signing up, she interviewed with KKG alumni in the North Carolina area and went through an interview process, which is how she got to attend Bid Day.
“We installed our chapter and officially became a sorority chapter at NC State, then went about our business like regular sororities do,” Norton said. “This was our first formal recruitment and it was a lot of work because we are new and had not done it before. All of the other sororities said we did a really good job and were well put together.”
According to Norton, that process took four days and started at an open house event at McKimmon Center. All sorority members who signed up attended the event, where each sorority had their own room where they were able to conduct short 10-minute long interviews with potential new members. The remaining days include house tours and a final ceremony where results are announced.
“[The potential new members] are ranked zero, five, and 10s,” Norton said, describing the system used for Kappa Kappa Gamma**. “Zero is best because there are zero things wrong with them, fives are in the middle, and 10s are not the best fit. We send in our preferences and the Panhellenic Council has a math system. The system sorts through to see which girl belongs where.”
Eventually, sororities vote on which new members* to accept, and every new member is able to accept or reject the offer*** they are presented with.
According to Dobek, this approach has brought an increase to retention rates and the overall success of students who finish going through any of the two processes.
Dobek spoke about the options students who are unaffiliated with fraternities and sororities on campus have and was happy with the variety in types of opportunities, but still emphasized the comprehensiveness FSL can add to student life.
“In terms of ‘we’re not a campus where you have to go Greek to have a social life,’ what’s great about NC State is that there’s lots of opportunities and lots of niches for students to get involved, where fraternity and sorority is not the only avenue,” Dobek said. “What I love about the fraternity experience, though, is that it’s a very comprehensive experience, so instead of just joining a service organization or just joining a social club, [or] just joining a group where you just play sports together, you’re getting an experience that might be all of those things.”
The two remaining councils of Fraternity and Sorority Life, the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Pan-Hellenic Council, have yet to finish their recruitment processes, as individual chapters will host their own events throughout the year.
*Editor’s note: This article was updated with inclusive terminology for FSL processes on Sept. 6.
**Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify the individual recruitment process for Kappa Kappa Gamma on Sept. 6.
***Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify the the selection process for the Panhellenic Association on Sept. 6.
New members of Kappa Kappa Gamma meet each other and their new older sisters. These ladies will now be part of NC State Fraternity and Sorority Life and have the opportunity to participate in many different philanthropic initiatives. Kappa Kappa Gamma is the newest sorority on campus colonizing only in fall 2016.
