Sororities at Miami University handle formal recruitment and chapter participation differently. Many women are required to return early from their holiday break to take part in their chapter's annual rush.
Jamie McMillen, collegiate relations director for Phi Mu, said each chapter has different rules as to how they treat recruitment fines.
"We (Phi Mu) strongly encourage participation because it's the most important event," McMillen said.
Sophomore Anna Manevich, member of Zeta Tau Alpha, said she feels the rules regarding recruitment are often too strict.
"If someone has a legitimate excuse or is doing a program or is employed, exceptions should be made," Manevich said. "I shouldn't be a black and white issue."
However, some women feel they are penalized unfairly.
One Greek Miami junior shared the issues that arose when she attempted to miss her sorority's formal recruitment process in January.
The student asked that her name and Greek organization remain anonymous.
"My entire family is meeting to celebrate an award my sister is receiving," the junior said. "I had known about the celebration for months, so I told our recruitment chair early to make sure she had advanced notice."
The junior was informed that her excuse was not acceptable.
"When I e-mailed (the recruitment chair) she replied by saying that my excuse was not legitimate enough for me to miss rush and that I would be fined more than $1,200 for skipping the entire week," the junior said.
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After hearing about the fee, the Greek member said she believes members may be asked to sacrifice too much for their sorority during the weeks of recruitment.
'There are a lot of sacrifices that members will gladly make for their sororities," she said. "Cutting time out of our vacations and not accepting any excuses and having huge fines seems unreasonable."
Kappa Phi Lambda, a 12-member Asian-American awareness sorority, does not implement fines or punishments for missing recruitment according to Xiyang Liu, recruitment chair.
"We ask everyone to come, but if someone doesn't after the first or second event, we talk to them," Liu said. "There's no punishment. We've never had a problem."
Although recruitment fines may differ from sorority to sorority, all Greek members living in a dorm must pay an extra fee to return early for recruitment, the anonymous source said.
"I think it's unfair to require the girls living in the dorm to pay to return early for rush," she said.
Kate Moran, vice president of recruitment for the Pan-Hellenic Association, declined to comment.
Additional reporting by Natalie Mckerjee.
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