Jenna Granger
Contributor
Recruitment is up this year for McDaniel College Greek life; sisters are welcoming new pledges, and pledges are working hard to become sisters.
This spring has been the largest recruitment across the board for sororities and fraternities in at least two years. The women normally generate more, but the men kept up this year. There were 60 students recruited in total, 33 women and 27 men, which is a lot considering that at the end of fall semester there were only 169 Greek members. With the new members the total is now 229, 101 men and 128 women.
Compared to other small private liberal arts colleges, McDaniel is low with 11 percent of students being in Greek life. But, compared to small public schools McDaniel is right in line.
Amanda Rose took over Greek life at McDaniel in December of 2003. The McDaniel grad was once a member and president of the Phi Mu sorority. She organizes the recruitment process for the eight groups, seven of which are national.
Underground groups do not exist because of a college policy stating no affiliation with unrecognized student groups is allowed. The policy is clearly explained on page 48 of the student handbook.
For the sororities, there is a “Meet the Sisters Night” where girls can learn information about each sorority and sign up if interested. The final place to sign up is at “Official Bid Night.” The sororities do a lot of self-promotion; they try reaching out by using Facebook and bringing friends to meetings.
Shirl Bryson and Melissa Fisher both signed up for the sorority Gamma Sigma Sigma this spring, along with 13 other girls. They decided to join because it looks good on their application for graduate school, and for fun.
Gamma Sigma Sigma is a national service sorority; the organization’s first priority is service. As pledges, Bryson and Fisher are required to attend pledge classes on Monday and Wednesday nights, pay annual dues of $85, and complete 10 service hours, finishing projects approved by the sisters, such as Relay for Life and benefit concerts. Paying the $85 dues gets the pledges the right to activate, the ability to attend formals and wear the letters. Until pledges become sisters they can only spell out the letters.
The sorority has a semi-formal in the fall and a formal in the spring. Unlike other sororities Gamma Sigma Sigma does not have socials, a gathering of the sorority with another group on campus. The sorority had socials in the past but got written up for drinking, so socials are now prohibited. The sorority is dry, no drinking ever, and the girls are not allowed to be drinking with their letters on.
Bryson and Fisher say they have not experienced any hazing, and are gaining respect for their sisters by getting to know them. “They say ‘optional’ after everything to make it your own choice,” said Fisher.
Phi Sigma Sigma, a social sorority on campus, has had problems with hazing in the past. Rumors went flying around campus about the group two years ago during recruitment time.
Rose feels like hazing is a power trip. She says hazing starts as something members think will be funny. It turns into something that is harmful to the new member or other people present. That is why Rose does not like the word pledge.
“They are new members, they may not know some secrets or passwords of the chapter but they can wear the letters, so treat those [new members] with respect,” Rose explained.
“We don’t haze anymore; we don’t need to do it to get respect from the pledges,” said Maggie Bentley, a member of Phi Sigma Sigma for two years.
Phi Sigma Sigma is also a national sorority but is more social than service. “Our sorority is different because we are more known on the national level and I feel like we have quantity and quality; we are diverse and very inclusive,” Bentley said.
The pledging process for Phi Sigma Sigma is also different than Gamma Sigma Sigma. The 15 pledges this spring are learning about the sisters, getting educated about the history of the sorority, and completing library hours and sisterhood hours. Monday through Thursday the girls are supposed to go spend at least one hour in the library. Sunday through Thursday they spend one hour with the sisters and do activities together.
There are many benefits of being in a sorority. For one it looks good for graduate school, which is the initial reason Bryson and Fisher joined. It is also a way to focus students to keep their grades up, because a 2.0 GPA is required to stay in the group.
“It is hard to say because I am not a sister yet, but it opens up another social network. You know there are always people to fall back on,” said Bryson.