What on earth is this mysterious process that twelve UMICH sororities are currently participating in? Her Campus gets to the bottom of it by getting the opportunity to sit down with Sarah Schepis, VP of Recruitment of Delta Phi Epsilon. Since Sarah has an esteemed position within the sorority, she provided Her Campus with all the inside scoop of Continuous Open Bidding (COB).
HC: So, what is COB?
SS: COB is continuous open bidding. Unlike a snap bid, this happens all year round. It can happen when sororities are under total, which is a number set by panel that’s usually like an average of the size of all of the sororities. This year it’s set a little bit higher because we’re gearing up for deferred recruitment. When a sorority is under total then you’re eligible for COB and you can extend bids to girls and broaden your sisterhood.
HC: How many sororities are participating in COB?
SS: There are twelve sororities participating out of the fifteen.
HC: How does next year’s deferred recruitment affect the decision to participate in COB?
SS: Because we are losing the seniors that are graduating and we don’t have a full pledge class in the fall to fill those spots, we decided that we wanted to participate in COB so that we could bump up our numbers and make sure that our sisterhood is as big and as strong as possible before we go into deferred recruitment. The transition might be a little bit rough, so we’re just trying to make sure we’re as prepared as possible.
HC: How is COB executed?
SS: Different sororities do it in different ways. Some sororities have big events where they invite all the girls interested in COB. Our sorority is doing coffee dates, so the president and myself are meeting with a potential new member (PNM) and either their friend that recommended them to our sorority or another general member. We’re going to have a second round after that in which me and [the president] will switch girls and bring different general numbers to the coffee dates, so that as many people in our sorority as possible get to meet the PNM and the PNM can meet a wider variety of girls in the sorority and we can make sure it’s a good fit.
HC: How long is the recruitment process?
Sarah: Again, it really just depends on the sorority. Ours is going to end up being around a month and a half, but I know some sororities have already had their bid days, so it depends on your system. I know sororities that have been participating in COB for a longer period of time and they have a smoother system, so their recruitment period is shorter as a result.
HC: What happens after the COB recruitment process?
SS: We’re basically just treating them like a brand new pledge class. They’ll have a bid day, they’ll have a new member education period, they’ll get a big, they’ll have big little week, we’ll make them a paddle. We’re going to initiate them after they’ve done all the new member ed requirements and then they’ll be a part of our chapter. We’re going to try really hard to incorporate them into our freshman that we already have from the fall, so we’re probably going to have a few more bonding events than we normally would. It’s pretty similar to primary recruitment.
HC: How do you think this will affect Greek Life as a whole?
SS: I think it’s really just strengthening the Panhel community as a whole, along with its different chapters, because the more girls we have the better. We always want to expand the Panhel community because it’s such a great place and we want as many people to benefit from it as possible.
HC: What are your personal thoughts on deferred recruitment starting next year?
SS: I’m really excited for the transition. I think that it’s gonna be a really exciting time. I’m excited personally to be able to be apart of it and to figure out how we’re going to do it. I know a lot of people are scared or upset but I think a lot of other schools do it, and it’s definitely not out of the norm for us to have a deferred recruitment. It’s going to take some getting used to, but I think that overall it’s going to be a really positive thing.