January's familiar lines of potential sorority members will see some scheduling and possible wardrobe changes during next year's sorority recruitment, according to sophomore Sam Smart, Chi Omega's recruitment chair.
Smart said the length of parties and duration of the rush process will be shortened and current sorority members may be required wear T-shirts to open houses.
"These changes look good on paper," Smart said. "We'll see how it turns out."
According to Smart, both the first and second round parties would be shortened by twenty minutes. This will allow more parties to occur in fewer days. Kate Moran, vice president of Panhellenic (Panhel) Recruitment, said open house will only last two days: Jan. 6 to 7; first round will be two days: Jan. 8 to 9; second round will be only one day: Jan. 10; preference round will be Jan. 16; and Bid Day will be Jan. 17.
"The main thing was making sure girls could attend bid day without skipping classes or interfering with Martin Luther King Day," Smart said.
Moran said by condensing the process, Bid Day will be a Sunday instead of a Monday or Tuesday like the last two years.
"We wanted to make sure everyone could attend Bid Day and class," Moran said.
Moran said the constitution was changed in 2008 to no longer allow Bid Day to be on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in order to show respect.
Smart said the shift will allow sororities more time to prepare for preference round, which usually demands a lot of time and effort for decoration.
According to Moran, condensing the process will give sororities six days to prepare for preference round. In past years, second round would end late Saturday night with preference round beginning early Sunday morning.
Smart said the shift would also allow women going through the process more time to reflect and decrease anxiety.
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"With more parties in the first half, it will still be a fun experience," Smart said. "Just a little more tiring."
As for the T-shirt requirement, Smart said there have been multiple talks about having sororities wear a self-designed T-shirt with the Panhel crest for open house.
According to Moran, recruitment chairs from every sorority voted to have their chapter wear T-shirts during open house. Previously, sororities were required to have a T-Shirt day during one of the rounds, the change is that it would be uniform to wear it during open house.
Potential New Members were required to wear standard Panhel recruitment T-shirts in 2009 recruitment.
"Kate Moran (vice president of Panhel Recruitment) is striving for a more values-based recruitment," Smart said. "She wants to avoid stereotypes right off the bat."
According to Smart, last year's Panhel recruitment board was ambitious to make these changes, and next year many of them will be implemented.
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