After consideration, Panhellenic council will stick to their 2005 agreement; members find rush ‘bittersweet’
After conversations between members of the CU Panhellenic Council, the Director of Greek Affairs and university officials, CU sororities will not reinstate fall formal recruitment in 2007.
The sororities, which operate under the umbrella National Panhellenic Conference, traditionally recruited new members in the fall at the beginning of the academic year. In 2005, CU proposed numerous reforms and restrictions for sororities and fraternities associated with the university – one was a spring formal recruitment.
“While the Panhellenic community operated with formal fall recruitment for years, our chapters will continue to find ways to be successful with spring formal recruitment,” said John Henderson, director of Greek Life. “Spring formal recruitment allows chapter membership to provide potential members with opportunities to better get to know what their organization is about throughout the fall term.”
Second semester recruitment may mean more time for women to research and weigh all sorority options.
“[Spring recruitment] can allow potential members with many opportunities to get to know all of the sororities and thus, have a deeper understanding of what the sororities do in terms of service to the community, leadership experiences that are available and what sisterhood really looks like,” Henderson said.
For freshman political science major Emily Lehmberg, spring recruitment is bittersweet.
“I’m from Texas where sorority stuff is really big,” said Lehmberg, a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. “I don’t really like rush in the spring, but I can understand the university’s concerns.”
Recruitment, commonly known as “rushing,” often involves extensive time spent outdoors, walking from sorority to sorority for open houses and other events.
“From an objective standpoint, I do see (spring formal recruitment) as a good idea, but the climate actually makes it an unenjoyable experience,” Lehmberg said.
According to Henderson, the decision to retain a spring formal recruitment is part of the sororities’ concentration on standards and goals.
“Our focus is about what kind of experience we are providing for our women – not when we hold formal recruitment,” Henderson said.
CU fraternities lost perks that come with being affiliated with the university after splitting from the university in spring 2005. The split came after fraternities refused to agree to reforms including spring semester freshmen recruitment and having live-in advisors.
Reforms for both fraternities and sororities came after the September 2004 deaths of CU freshman Lynn Gordon “Gordie” Bailey Jr. and CSU sophomore Samantha Spady.
Sororities signed on to the reforms before an April deadline in 2005.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Jimmy Himes at jimmy.himes@thecampuspress.com.
