Panhellenic new member count highest since 1985
Nearly every house reached council's minimum goal for new member class.
Hannah Kim
Issue date: 9/11/07 Section: News
It's been a long wait for potential new members of the Panhellenic Council sororities this year.
This fall, the Greek council's traditional weeklong recruitment period was spread out over two weekend sessions. On Sunday night, some potential new members waited hours to receive their bid cards.
But nothing hindered the loud cheers as recruits, clutching their cards, rushed from Topping Student Center to Tommy Trojan and then on The Row on Sunday evening to celebrate with their new sorority sisters.
Sorority membership continued to climb this year, with Panhellenic reporting its highest participation and bid rates since 1985, said Debbie Liu, vice president of recruitment.
This fall, 836 potential new members registered for recruitment and, 606 bids were extended from sororities, Liu said.
Liu said she could not be more pleased with the results of this year's recruitment process.
"I love that so many more women were willing to accept bid cards," she said of the increased numbers.
Liu also complimented the quality of the new members.
"[USC's] incoming classes are becoming stronger academically and in terms of involvement, and our new member classes reflect that," she said. "They really do have it all."
Nearly all the houses reached the Panhellenic-wide quota of adding at least 62 new members, Liu said. The quota is the minimum new member goal for each house, based on recruitment registration figures. Eight of the nine chapters met the goal, with five reaching 99. The previous year's quota for new members per house was 56.
A new recruitment schedule seemed to help many potential new members.
Reaghan Gittin, a potential new member and a sophomore majoring in psychology, said that the rush changes had great advantages.
"Having it in two weeks gives you a break," she said. "It's nice and it gets the job done."
When asked about the possibility that dirty rushing - the attempt to sway which house potential new members choose - occurred throughout the extended rush period, Liu said recruitment rule infractions were minimized because of informational presentations by the PHC judicial board explaining the rules to each chapter before recruitment began.
"We didn't have any significant problems with it this year," Liu said.
The judicial process has not been completed, but she said she does not expect any harsh disciplinary actions.
Though excited to join the sorority houses, some potential new members said they were simply happy to be done with the recruitment process.
"It's been a long two weeks," said sophomore Elizabeth Trawick.
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