Greek Speak: Should Recruitment Be….Frilly?

February 8, 2011 5:00 pm     Posted in College, Reality  Sorority Girl g+ page


By Sorority Girl

We are officially well into spring semester, and if you are a sorority girl that only means one thing: recruitment. For some it’s the first round of rush for the school year. For others, this is not your first recruitment rodeo. If you fall into the latter category, bless your little hearts! That’s dedication, people.

And while you’re all in the throes of cheers, small-talk and late nights in the chapter house figuring out who would make the perfect sister, let’s talk about a hot topic. No, not the latest recruitment chants for your chapter, or cutest matching outfits… something much more controversial:

Frill vs. no frill recruitment.

What the heck does frill recruitment mean? My own personal definition: frill recruitment amps up sorority rush all that….er…frill. The decorations, the matching outfits, the song and dance (literally). There’s so much frill that a PNM’s (potential new member) decision about a chapter could be swayed based on how over-the-top their house is decorated.

I know it sounds crazy that someone would choose a house based on some streamers hanging from the ceiling, but it’s so much more than that. We’re talking balloons, candles, full sheets covering walls that completely transform the look of a room, catered desserts and non-alcoholic cocktails. If a chapter can afford it, it’s game. And let me tell you, chapters can afford a LOT.

And with all that glitz and glamour (like most things involving large groups of passionate and competitive women) comes controversy.

The National Panhellenic Council is pushing chapters across the country to move to no-frill recruitment, or a least slowly tone down the amount of decorations allowed at each round. Their argument is pretty legit; after all, we are all values-based organizations and should be recruiting based on the values in which we were founded, not based on who has the cutest homemade sailor hats on the Good Ship AXO.

Buuuuut, on the other side of things….

“Frills” recruiting is tradition. It’s part of the process and a lot of what chapters do in each round has been the same for generations. It may not seem like it, but those songs, those themes, those ridiculous skits, are meaningful to not only the girls in the houses, but the many who passed through before them. I agree that some women may go to their first formal recruitment party and think “what the hell did I just sign up for?” But there are many more who trump that one girl who absolutely love the thrill of the yelling, cheering, dressing up, and suspense that comes with formal sorority recruitment.

Honestly, I don’t even know where I stand on this issue. Part of me is all “If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” But the other part (which might also be the part that spends months getting glitter out of my sweatpants) has to wonder if there’s something to be said about recruitment that isn’t excessive, over the top and somewhat materialistic.

What do you think, sorority ladies? How does your chapter recruit? Do you think taking out the frill would ruin the experience?

Let’s talk sorority recruitment!

10 Comments on "Greek Speak: Should Recruitment Be….Frilly?"

  1. Liz says:
    Tue, 8th Feb 201110:25 pm 

    We do frill recruitment, and we got done the end of last month. Our house hasn't really decorated that much in the past, but we did more decorations (not overwhelmingly), and the girls love how creative every house is during recruitment. Yes, it takes a ton of time and people need to volunteer to help do crafts, but hey, you can be in the kitchen and put out drinks and not have to talk to 4 people per party, having 10 parties a day, going down to 6 or 7 for Preference.

    I think taking the frill out would be harder to make conversations with the PNMs. It's always a good conversation to fall back on if you have a silence period or uncomfortable conversation (booze, boys, & bars). It will always bring the conversation back to the house. Plus, I think that having a frill recruitment makes the house closer as a whole because we all work together to get the goal: of having the best, hottest pledge class.

  2. Kate says:
    Wed, 9th Feb 20119:21 am 

    My school does no-frills recruitment, and it's honestly not that bad. We're allowed to have photo boards, so that's usually what our go-to conversation is if you have an awkward gap. Plus, it allows girls to see (somewhat) past the smoke and mirrors of recruitment and get a relatively honest look at a house. While I do think that setting up the decorations and planning the skits would be fun, I enjoy winning over girls with conversation, not streamers and skits. I think either method can be successful, depending on the school and the attitudes of the PNMs.

  3. Liz says:
    Wed, 9th Feb 20119:35 am 

    We say that we have a "no frills" recruitment but it's still very frilly. We only decorate for the first set (balloons, streamers, crepe paper, gossamer, glitter, metallic paper, sheets etc.) but there are banners, catered food, movies/slide shows, skits, matching outfits and songs at every set. It's a little intimidating and a little ridiculous. Like you're not allowed to personalize a place setting for a PNM unless it's in an edible medium (weird right?).

    I enjoy it to an extent. It's nice to see the house all working together and on bid day it's always exciting to see which babies we got. I'm glad that my school is stuck half way between frills and no frills, even with all the ridiculousness that comes with it.

  4. Rachele says:
    Wed, 9th Feb 20113:22 pm 

    We can do frill recruitment for our first of 4 sets of recruitment, after that the only “frills” we have are our outfits, food, napkins, and house banners. I absolutely loved decorating for the first set of recruitment. I was our recruitment chair and it was so easy to portray the party theme with decorations and much more difficult afterwards without the decorations. Although it would be difficult to plan and decorate for as many parties as we do (we have a large Greek system at my school) it is so much fun. The bonding experience of being stuck curling ribbon with your sisters for 6hrs might sound like torture but I had a blast. When attending DLC one year it was so tough to get help from other girls at other chapters on recruitment ideas because they could do frill recruitment all sets so they didn’t have to be creative!

    I’m all for frills frills and more frills! :)

  5. Emme says:
    Wed, 9th Feb 20113:44 pm 

    I've always seen the frill as a somewhat superficial way to provide PNMs with an image of your house. Planning for recruitment allows a chapter to really evaluate itself, who they are, what they want to become. You only get to talk to these girls (at most) for about half an hour. Showing the manufactured image the chapter has created for itself provides a better view of how we perceive ourselves as a house. Personally I find the frills of pref night to be the most special. It's quite the elaborate production we talk about our bond, my chapter does a silent skit that always leaves the seniors in tears. Frills or no frills rush is always superficial you never know about a house until your in it, and for the most part you can always find your niche.

  6. Taelor says:
    Wed, 9th Feb 20118:08 pm 

    We have frills here (fraternities too!), and I love it. It's a good way to give Greek Life a presence on our campus. It does build rivalry between the houses, but ultimately unity too as we discuss who pledged where, who suicided, who we were fighting to get, and who had the cutest Bid Day tee's (universally agreed that we did this year!) You want a PNM who is a good person, but who is also fun. In like manner, you want her to embrace your values, but also to appreciate the pomp that comes with sororities. To my mind, dropping the frills would be like dropping the flower or jewel. It's ritual and sisterhood that count in the end, but those little things get you there.

  7. Molly says:
    Wed, 9th Feb 201111:28 pm 

    We do two part recruitment on my campus, frills (formal) in the fall and no frills in the spring. I like having the two different kinds of recruitment and even our formal recruitment isn't that over the top (it might just be because we aren't a huge school though). And if girls go through formal recruitment and still can't make a decision they can come back in the spring in a more relaxed atmosphere. Spring recruitment is also better for the girls on campus who are intimidated by the extravagance of formal recruitment, during the spring they really have a chance to sit down and get to know girls during events like picnics, volleyball or some sort of craft. The times and days are generally the same for each semester because they are regulated by the campus but I think that overall having both "frills" and no "frills" is advantageous.

  8. Tricia Hein says:
    Thu, 17th Feb 201111:42 am 

    The problem with frill-recruitment is that it can be taken advantage of by sororities with more money, usually the ones with the higher dues. Admittedly, you want some decorations, and certainly to put your best foot forward, but recruitment should be about honesty. Show the girls who you are underneath the frills, and you are more likely to get the girls who truly want to be a part of your organization.
    http://studentswhostillhavesouls.blogspot.com

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