Sorority Recruitment Proves Huge Success

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in the Greek Theater more than 1,000 women chanted, sang and proudly displayed their Greek letters. This is “Bid Day,” the day young women going through recruitment find out which sorority they have been matched to join on the University of Arkansas campus.

There are eight National Panhellenic Council sororities on campus. The National Panehellenic Council is the national governing body for sororities, and all eight organizations gained more than 131 members each on Bid Day. This is the first time in recent University of Arkansas history in which all eight sororities received the chapter quota of 131 members.  

The National Panhellenic Council local chapters include the following organizations Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, and Zeta Tau Alpha.

The number of women accepted into the eight sororities has increased significantly since 2007 when 460 women were matched with one of the eight National Panhellenic Council organizations. This year 1,079 women became members of one of the eight groups, with more than 940 of them getting into the chapter that was their first choice.

Parice Bowser, director of Greek Life, contributes some of the success of this year’s recruitment process to planning in anticipation of large numbers of women.

“We began our planning stages in January 2011, unsure of our how large our numbers would be,” said Bowser. “We made a commitment early on to make this an incredible experience for each woman interested in becoming a member of our community. And, we did just that!”

“I am delighted to see such strong interest in our NPC sororities,” said Judd Harbin, associate dean of students. “Our sororities provide many hours of community services each year and support their members’ scholastic success.”

The average GPA of this year’s recruits is 3.67, with an average ACT score of 25.1. Most of the women accepted as pledges, 981 of them, are traditional first-year students, with 96 sophomores and two juniors also obtaining membership.

“Higher enrollment at the university will bring a greater desire for men and women to get involved with Greek Life. Therefore it is critical for us to assess our Greek community needs as it relates to bringing new chapters to campus,” said Bowser.

With only eight National Panhellenic Council sororities on campus this poses a challenge. University of Arkansas administrators are actively involved in attracting more sororities to campus to reduce the size of the chapters and to improve the sorority experience for all involved. This fall representatives from the National Panhellenic Council will be visiting the University of Arkansas campus to meet with administrators, explore future potential housing options for new sororities, and look at which organizations might want to make a new home at the University of Arkansas.

“We hope to work closely with the NPC to show that the University of Arkansas will have a viable Greek system for years to come and that new sororities will thrive here,” said Bowser. “I think the number of women who went through the recruitment process the past couple of weeks is a testament to the strength of our Greek community.”

Greek Life intends to bring two new sororities to the University of Arkansas campus by 2013.