A majority of West Virginia University students, as well as the surrounding community, are aware of the moratorium that was set in place in February 2018, which limited social and recruiting activities of all 16 fraternities who made up the Interfraternity Council (IFC). This act was made in response to concerns of constant behavioral issues within Greek life, with plans to review and improve current rules, according to WVUToday. The moratorium was also set in place in efforts to create a plan for Greek life that would enable it to be a safer and more academic community.
So, how have those new rules and regulations affected the Greek life community?
Formal Spring sorority recruitment took place from January 21 to January 27, 2019. Potential new members (PNMs) were able to sign up through a link on the university website, however, as the end of the sign-up period quickly approached, numbers were much lower than what had been expected according to the Panhellenic Association. In 2018, approximately 300 girls signed up to go through the recruitment process, whereas numbers were nowhere near this at the time the sign-ups closed.
After much disappointment and consideration, the Panhellenic Association decided to reopen the link for about two more weeks in hopes that more girls would sign up. Numbers began to rise higher each day, which resulted in over 400 new sign-ups.
This is one of the highest numbers of potential new members throughout the past couple of years that will be participating.
The first two days of recruitment consisted of the sisterhood rounds which are about 20 minutes each. PNMs are able to meet all six sororities before voting out two. Throughout the week, over 100 PNMs decided to drop out of recruitment or did not meet Greek life regulations, which is an extremely high and uncommon number.
Sororities had dropped more girls than usual, which is most likely due to the new high expectations of Greek life members. The process was much more academically selective than it had been in the past, with a new GPA requirement of 2.75.
Looking back, the recruitment process this year was definitely unique from other years. The IFC is working hard to set goals in terms of membership numbers and academic requirements in order to keep Greek life alive and safe at WVU.