Interest in UI greek life on the rise
The sounds of women chanting and clapping echoed around the IMU.
Hundreds of young women gathered in groups on the grass of the River Terrace dressed in colorful shirts and frilly accessories. They held Greek letters representing their chapters, awaiting the arrival of their new members.
Freshmen recruits came around the corner, clutching their invitations and chatting loudly.
Monday afternoon marked Bid Day, the final day of recruitment for University of Iowa sororities, when potential new members received invitations to join a sorority.
It was the largest group of women to go through recruitment in the last 15 years. In 2009, 500 women registered to take part in recruitment, and 280 finished the process. This year, approximately 744 women registered, 650 began recruitment, and 415 finished and attended Bid Day, said Kelly Jo Karnes, the associate director of the UI Office of Student Life.
Members of greek life think that the increase in interest is partly due to the change in the recruitment process.
In past years, recruitment happened a week before fall semester. This caused those participating to move in early and pay for an extra week in UI or off-campus housing.
The year's recruitment was split between the first two weekends of the semester.
"Instead of asking all these women to leave a week early and leave their friends and family, we made it so they'd already be on campus," said UI senior Taylor Fuerst, the vice president of recruitment for the UI Panhellenic Council.
UI freshman Taylor Newland said she didn't plan on rushing until she arrived on campus.
"I didn't really know about greek life until I heard some women talking about it in Burge. They told me all about it, and it sounded like a lot of fun — it's kind of like a built-in group of friends," she said.
Melissa Shaub, an assistant director of UI fraternity and sorority life, said the change in recruitment also stemmed from the possibility of the university moving toward a freshman orientation that would take place the week prior to classes.
But some are skeptical about the cause of the change.
"It's hard to tell whether more women went through recruitment because of the new process or just because it was a larger class of freshmen," said UI senior Taylor Blevons, a member of Zeta Tau Alpha.
UI senior Michelle Freeman, the head of recruitment for Delta Gamma, said she thinks the increase is due to a mixture of different factors.
"I think it's because of the change in downtown laws and the change in process," she said.
UI freshmen were hesitant to make the connection between the recent changes and their interest in greek life.
"It's a good way to get a close group of friends," said UI freshmen Emily Casey. The 21-ordinance has nothing to do with her decision, because as a freshman, she didn't know what the nightlife was like.
Sororities on campus aren't the only part of UI greek life seeing an increase in interest.
In 2009, 120 young men embarked in the recruitment process for fraternities, and this year more than 400 are registered for the process that began Sept. 5, said UI senior Stephen Pasdiora, the vice president for recruitment of the Interfraternity Council.
Like the UI sororities, the Interfraternity Council changed its recruitment process hoping to increase the number of members and retention rates. Young men used to have to pay $45 to rush, and now it's free, Pasdiora said.
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