Alpha Phi welcomes new members on bid day. Tracey Roman/Online Forty-Niner

 

Rush week takes over CSULB campus

By Sarah Marzouk
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

If you think getting into a sorority is a piece of cake you are dead wrong. Thursday, Sept. 9 through Monday, Sept. 13 marked a week where prospective Greek women got the opportunity to mingle with different sororities and "market themselves" in hopes of earning a bid.

This is known as rush week and was some of the most exhausting yet exciting days for approximately 250 ladies. Anja Lysfjord, a freshman said the experience was, "really fun, but really hectic."

The process started out with information night where the girls attended an orientation about what to expect over the course of the week. It was also here where the girls met their Rho Gammas. These are elected individuals, who disaffiliate from their house and are chosen to run recruitment. They were there to answer questions and make sure recruitment ran smoothly.

Whitney Prenger, CSULB's president of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), a nationwide organization for 27 woman's sororities, said the Rho Gammas "disaffiliate themselves in order to stay neutral and not sway the vote of the potential new members "PNM". The idea of being neutral and fair is important to the NPC and the council does everything they can to ensure these ideas are enforced."

After Thursday's info night the girls met again on Friday for Conversation Day. The girls were split into groups with their Rho Gamma and visit each of the seven houses. The girls got 35 minutes at each sorority to talk with members of the house. Then they went back to school and ranked each of the houses in order from least to favorite. After the rankings were complete Prenger, Sam Lingrosso, CSULB's Greek advisor, and other elected officials input each of the girl's choices into computers.

On day two, Skit/ Philanthropy Day, the PNM's spent 35 minutes at five of the seven houses and viewed a skit or slide show presentation put on by the house. After visiting each of the houses they returned to CSULB and met with their Rho Gammas to discuss their day, and ranked their preferred houses.

Day three, Preference Day, was more formal. The girls only visited three houses and got to spend some real time getting to know the girls of the house. The PNM's again returned to CSULB and did a final ranking of their top three choices. Finally, Bid Day arrived. A bid is a formal invitation to join a chapter and be a new member of a sorority. After bids were distributed the Rho Gammas revealed what house they belong to.

If you are thinking how do theses girls run all this by themselves, the answer is they get help from Sam, CSULB's Greek Advisor. Lingrosso is the University's recourse to the council and vise versa. During recruitment Lingrosso was there to make sure everything ran safely and smoothly and to assist the girls in any of the needs they may have.

When asked about the rushing process the sororities have he replied, "the girls bend over backwards in order to ensure the system is fair and objective." Lingrosso, a Greek himself, spoke highly of the Greek system,"There are few opportunities in life that have an expiration date, becoming a Greek is one of them. Once you graduate your opportunity has passed."