Recruitment season is quickly approaching on the Belmont campus, but this year there has been a change to the way girls rush sororities.
Recruitment has been delayed to Oct. 7-9, the weekend of fall break.
The delayed recruitment will be beneficial for the program, said Sarah Rigsby, assistant director of Student Engagement and Leadership Development. Rigsby also said there are more students signed up for recruitment this year than last year.
Pushing recruitment later in the fall allows upperclassmen to get adjusted to school, as well as gives potential new members– or PNMs– more time to get adjusted to college life. PNMs also have more time to get to know the sororities and explore their options.
“PNMs will have more opportunities to get acquainted with chapters outside of the recruitment setting, which may influence their opinions on the chapters that they might not have considered before.” says Rigsby.
Another benefit of moving recruitment to later in the fall, said Rigsby, is it gives PNMs more time with their Rho Gammas before the week of recruitment. Rho Gammas are older students that guide girls through the recruitment process, and they are there to answer any questions the new girls have about Greek life.
The extra time before recruitment also allows Rho Gammas to get to know the young women better, and PNMs have more time to bond with other girls hoping to participate in Greek Life.
While many members of the Greek community appreciate the change, Rigsby said, some freshmen, including Meghan Uhrick, have had to make changes to their fall break plans to accommodate recruitment. Others, such as Claire Maisto and Emma Salvestrin, are unable to rush because of the timing.
“I had the intentions of rushing,” said Salvestrin. “I unfortunately already bought my airfare.”
Her roommate Maisto also wanted to rush but had already made travel plans for the break.
Freshman Victoria Hamilton bought her plane tickets home just two days before finding out the dates of recruitment.
“I couldn’t get a refund even if I wanted to,” said Hamilton.
For more information on Greek life at Belmont, visit http://belmont.edu/organizations/greek/index.html.
This article was written by Emily Allen.