A record number of Hopkins women began the annual sorority rush last week, which will end this Thursday with a new Panhellenic introduction to Greek life. Although the procedures for this year's rush were essentially the same as last year's, the Panhellenic Council decided to add a closing ceremony.
According to Panhellenic Council president Ning Chan, approximately 197 prospective sisters attended the start of the festivities. This is up from the estimated 180 students that attended the opening of rush parties last year. The four sororities involved in the Panhellenic recruitment process are Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Phi Mu.
"We have a lot more girls this year, despite a lower freshman girl population." Said Chan. "The recruitment system was really efficient this year, based on the other sororities' feedback."
The rush activities began with an information session on Jan. 28 to describe the particularities of the process. Among the many restrictions given to sorority sisters, sisters cannot have more than normal social contact with potential new members. The only acceptable form of contact is casual greetings. However, exceptions can be made for club and business activities, but sisters may only engage in professional conversations.
"The "strict silence' policy is hard on a lot of the rushees since we have friends or roomates in the sororities and it was kind of weird not being able to talk to them outside of rush events," said sophomore rush participant Esther Hwang, "but I think that was fair to maintain that rule, so that there were no playing "favorites' or anything like that."
The first of the sorority events, a round of ice water parties, were held the day after the information session. All potential new members were required to attend four ice water parties, each hosted by a different sorority.
Prospective sisters are shuttled from party to party by disaffiliated sorority sisters known as Rho Gammas. Rho Gammas serve as guides and are an important source of advice for prospective sisters.
The Rho Gammas are volunteers who disaffiliated from their sororities on November 1. Rho Gammas may only attend closed sorority events.
"It is important to remain impartial so that the potential new members can make the best decisions for themselves," said Jamie Palaganas, a Rho Gamma.
Following the ice water parties are theme parties, the first of which was held on Jan. 31. Each sorority chooses a different theme for its party. The second theme party was held the following Monday in which the sororities limited the number of girls re accepted, and girls went to a maximum of three sororities.
A day before bids are released, a number of prospective sisters expressed their thoughts: "I'm not really nervous, just anxious" said sophomore Katie O'Malley. O'Malley and her friend Jenn Trapp were unable to rush last year because of the time requirements taken by the basketball season.
Hwang said, "I honestly don't know about procedures for selection and what they base it upon, but I believe that the sisters put out a terrific effort on trying to make every girl who was rushing very welcome."
A closing ceremony will end the entire process this Thursday night with bid day. According to Chan, "This year for bid day, which is typically the day after recruitment ends, we are having bid day ceremonies, and we are doing this to make bid day more panhellenic. It makes the new members celebrate joining a sorority rather than a specific sorority."
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