Sorority women fight recruitment nerves

Fluffy slippers are strewn on the carpet, flight attendants stand in high heels and six women dance to Lady Gaga’s “Stardust.”

It looks more like a strange dream than the Wednesday before sorority recruitment.
“Will you tell us if this looks stupid?” one of the dancers asks Kappa Alpha Theta President  junior Allie McNelly.

McNelly faces the dancers with hands on hips. She watches as the women do a few moves: two shoulder pops, pull down the hot pink sunglasses. And then the move in question.

“Oh, yeah, it does look a little awkward,” McNelly says.

The women regroup, try a different step and she approves.

“The skit is a good way to demonstrate values and educate potential new members,” said junior Natalie Layton, vice president of Leadership Development for IU Panhellenic Association.

Sorority recruitment resumed this week, with First Invite Thursday and Friday, Second Invite Saturday, Preference Round Sunday and Bid Day Monday.

First Invite now allows women to visit up to 14 houses in 45-minute increments and each house performs a skit for the potential new members.

“We do put a lot of time into our practice, but ... it’s the quality the girls put into the time practicing,” said junior Hannah Roberts, vice president of membership for Kappa Alpha Theta.

Recruitment is a process of mutual selection: as potential new members narrow down the houses they like, sororities also narrow down the women they would like to invite back.

This is why sorority members are just as nervous, Roberts said.

“It’s surprising, and you wouldn’t think we get nervous, but girls get very nervous,” she said. “They want to portray our chapter as best they can, and they get nervous that they’re going to say something wrong or come off in the wrong way.”

However, Roberts said despite all the nerves, every woman going through recruitment ends up where she is meant to be.

Senior Anna Berg, vice president of recruitment for PHA, said restructuring of rush from 12 Party and 6 Party into 14 Party and 8 Party, will help place better women in the right houses.

“We’re getting to see women for a longer period of time,” she said.

Last year, only 52 percent of women who started rush received bids, making IU’s recruitment statistically the toughest in the country, said senior Katie Wickham, vice president of communications for PHA.

This year, 1,525 women signed up for rush but only about 800 women will have a bid.
However, Wickham said IU’s system is so competitive because it is based on a “bed system,” which only allows chapters to extend bids to women based on the amount of open beds they have.

IU is the only college in the nation that still operates recruitment in this way.

“Our hope is to grow, to become better chapters and possibly invite new chapters onto our campus,” Wickham said. “This would give another set of women an opportunity to be a part of the greek community at IU.“

For now, women hoping for bids will have to exhibit the positive qualities sororities are looking for in new members.

Roberts said above all, forming connections with sorority members is important.
“When you’re talking to certain girls, sometimes you can tell that you’re developing a friendship,” Roberts said. “You can tell they’re actually interested, and you’re interested, and you get that sense of a connection.”

Berg agreed.

“Women aren’t wanting to go back to chapters because of a skit or because of entertainment,” she said. “It’s because they’re making a connection with someone else.”

Even with 25 parties at each chapter this week, Roberts said it’s not as repetitive as it might seem.

“It’s just such a rush,” she said. “When it comes down to it, we’re all lacking in sleep, and yes, our feet are so tired and we’re losing our voices ... but this is a good experience and we need to make it the best that we can for the girls going through.”