For the first time since January 2020, Elon University will be holding formal recruitment for its nine Panhellenic Association sororities fully in person. Recruitment in 2022 was hybrid due to COVID-19 and was fully virtual and held during the spring semester in 2021 for the same reason. Registration for recruitment was open to undergraduate full-time female students from Nov. 28 to Jan. 9. The final number of women registered for recruitment was declined to be shared with Elon News Network by Panhellenic Association adviser Alexis Swider.
Recruitment takes place from Jan. 24 to 29 on campus while the university observes Fake Break. According to Elon’s Panhellenic Association website, there are three rounds of sorority recruitment: philanthropy, sisterhood and and preference. On these days, potential new members, known as PNMs, will visit sororities, attend events, learn about each sorority’s values and responsibilities, and have conversations with active sorority members.
PNMs will attend orientation sessions and visit each of the nine sororities prior to the philanthropy round. During the philanthropy round, PNMs start out visiting the nine sorority chapters for 30 minutes each. The sisterhood round consists of PNMs visiting a maximum of six chapters for 45 minutes each. The preference round takes place in the Loy Neighborhood and lasts one hour per chapter. PNMs can visit a maximum of two chapters. PNMs are invited back to each sorority chapter via a process called mutual selection, where PNMs and chapters rate one another.
The process concludes Jan. 29, which is Bid Day. PNMs that received a bid will open bid cards in Alumni Gym before going to join their new chapters in the Loy Neighborhood for a celebration.
Freshman Emma Ceruti said she is excited to rush this year and join a community of women that are there for each other and to form long-lasting friendships.
“I'm looking forward to meeting everyone,” Ceruti said. “I'm a really social person and I like to talk to new people and meet a bunch of people from different backgrounds, different ways of life.”
Ceruti also said she wants to “find herself” more during recruitment, even if she doesn’t end up joining a sorority. She hopes recruitment will give her a chance to reflect on herself through the conversations with sorority women.
Elon University Panhellenic Association declined any interviews with Elon News Network for this recruitment cycle.