The fall 2020 fraternity and sorority recruitment season kicked off this week with information sessions hosted by the Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic Council and Multicultural Sorority and Fraternity Council of Sonoma State University. 

Every fall semester both fraternities and sororities go through a formal recruitment process consisting of days of social events and mingling with different houses and ending with a bidding process between the potential new members and the chapters. This semester will be no different when it comes to this process except that all events will be virtual over Zoom and bids will be emailed instead of handed to potential new members. 

Vice President of Panhellenic Recruitment Daisy De Martini explained, “Certain chapters on campus were expected to have some sort of formal recruitment, specifically in the fall. Therefore, we decided our best bet was to do an online recruitment in the fall so that every chapter would be participating in recruitment at the same time.”

Greek life makes up about 10% of the student body population with 20 unique chapters run by the three councils. 

The organizations hosted a variety of events including a “Meet the Greeks” event giving prospective new members the opportunity to get more information about the distinctive groups over Zoom. This is an event that normally takes place every year in the quad between the Student Center and the Recreation Center during the second week of the fall semester. 

In the next coming weeks there will be more information sessions hosted via Zoom for all three councils leading up to a formal recruitment process for Sororities and Fraternities at SSU.  

The information sessions will be held during the month of Sept. with the Interfraternity Council meetings on the 3, 9, and 14 at 6 p.m. The Panhellenic Council is hosting two more information sessions on Sept. 1 and 10 at 6 p.m. The Multicultural Sorority and Fraternity Council is holding an information session Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. At these sessions, one can gather more information about the qualifications, time commitments, requirements and get a feel for the different chapters on campus. 

You can register and join these information sessions via the SSU engage website at https://sonoma.campuslabs.com/engage/events. 

Rebecca Wynn, a 365 recruitment Director of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority said, “We want to make the girls going through recruitment feel comfortable because it’s so new and foreign to all of us. We are just trying to make the most out of this new situation and we know it will be a lot of fun.” 

When asked if she anticipated a difference in the new experience over Zoom she added, “I really think the process is going to be as amazing as it always is and I’m super excited.”

Vincent Spence, a senior Communications major and president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity said, “The criteria will be the same as normal rush but chapters have to be creative with what they do during those zoom meetings. During rush we usually have a normal meet and greet, sports day…etc. The way we’re planning on getting to know potential new members is the same as other semesters.  We’re looking for higher character guys who have an interest in all aspects of our fraternity, school, philanthropy, and brotherhood.”

Spence elaborated that Phi Delta Theta will be hosting a series of events such as Thursday night football and a virtual poker tournament in order to get to know the potential new members better and imitate a similar environment to what they would normally do in person. 

Despite a complete change in the normal recruitment process, the Panhellenic Council is optimistic about the impact being a part of a “sisterhood” can make on young women during a pandemic. In an information session on Aug. 26 Martini said, “Having sisters to lean on during this time is so rewarding and makes the next school year a little more exciting.” 

She also added later, “Having sorority sisters during this time has been one of the biggest lifesavers I could have possibly had. Being able to have such empowering women get me through this very lonely time has made me more grateful to have joined a sorority than I had ever thought possible. “

A former alumni of SSU Greek life who wanted to remain unnamed, thought the change to virtual recruitment could be a positive one for some chapters who might be more concerned with superficial aspects of recruitment saying, “girls will actually need to pay attention and not just look at them [potential new members] for looks.”

The alumni did assure that after the intense recruitment process, “Bid night is so fun and we just tackle our new sisters and have great rituals and lots to look forward to.”

Most chapters at Sonoma State have a philanthropic mission that they raise money for throughout the year but many normal events have had to be tabled because of the ongoing pandemic. Gamma Phi Beta has temporarily postponed their “Moonball” fundraising tournament to raise funds for the Girls on the Run Foundation until the spring semester. Despite events being pushed back all chapters are planning on continuing their philanthropic missions and are finding more creative ways to raise funds. 

So, while there may be many changes to the typical rush process, Greek life at Sonoma State hasn’t stopped and there is plenty of time to check out the various chapters Seawolves have available to them.