Tufts sororities Alpha Phi and Alpha Omicron Pi (AOII) are hosting fall recruitment this semester for the first time in several years, according to AOII President Jamie Thompson.
Alpha Phi and AOII hold spring recruitment every January, but also offered fall recruitment to non-freshman students this year due to increased interest, Thompson, a senior, noted.
"This is the first year in many years that sororities have been allowed to do fall recruitment," Thompson said.
Tufts' third sorority, Chi Omega, which currently has a total of 104 sisters, did not participate in fall recruitment this year due to membership limits, according to Chi Omega President Audrey Wilson.
"We are far over total, so we actually don't have the capacity to have a fall rush," Wilson, a junior, said.
AOII offered eight bids on Sunday, according to AOII Recruitment Chair Suzannah Golick, a senior. Alpha Phi has not yet begun the fall recruitment process, according to President Stefani Rubenfeld, but the sorority will host recruitment in the coming weeks.
"We do have the opportunity to recruit this semester but have not yet done so," Rubenfeld, a senior, said in an email. "We do plan on participating in the next few weeks."
In the past, the limit for individual sorority membership was approximately 60 students, according to Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Susanna McGlone. The Tufts Panhellenic Council decided to raise the limit on each sorority's membership from 60 to 88 students earlier this month in response to increased student interest, according to McGlone.
This increase allowed sororities to host informal fall recruitment in addition to formal recruitment this January, McGlone said.
The fall recruitment process is less formal than spring recruitment because the Panhellenic Council does not oversee fall recruitment events, she noted.
"Informal recruitment is an opportunity to do events that each organization manages on its own without having a governing body to manage it," she said.
Sorority membership has grown significantly in recent years because of the Panhellenic Council's efforts to reach out to a larger group of female students, according to Panhellenic Council President Gianna Wilkie, a senior.
Three years ago, the average number of students who participated in sorority rush was between 70 and 80 students; this academic year, the Panhellenic Council is expecting up to 200 students, Wilke, a senior, said.
Thompson added that all three chapters have been at capacity for the past few years as a result of increased student interest in sorority life.
"There is definitely an increased interest which can be seen in the huge number of girls going to formal recruitment in the spring," she said.
Sororities felt comfortable raising their membership due to the hire of McGlone as Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs this year, Wilkie said. In the past few years, the Greek community has lacked a stable director in the position, she said.
Holding fall recruitment allows sororities to bring in members earlier in the year, Thompson said.
"Sophomores interested in recruitment have had to wait until formal recruitment," she said. "It's nice that they can have that extra semester of involvement."
McGlone noted that like spring recruitment, all fall recruitment events are alcohol-free.
"Any kind of recruitment happening is a dry process," she said.
The high level of rush participation has led the Greek community to discuss the possibility of adding a fourth sorority to Tufts, according to McGlone.
The Panhellenic Council is currently researching the possibility of having a fourth sorority, but they have not made an official decision on the topic, she said.
The process of conducting this research may take a year or more, McGlone said. The Greek community must evaluate its available resources as well as the number of students who have pledged sororities in the past few years, she said.
If Tufts' existing sororities approve the addition of another sorority, the Panhellenic Council will advertise to sororities outside Tufts to determine their interest in establishing a sorority on campus, Wilkie said.
An additional sorority would prevent existing sororities from becoming too large, according to Wilkie.
"Some of the new member classes are pretty big, and that's both a good thing and a bad thing. It puts strain on everything from planning events to logistics," she said. "A new sorority would make everyone's life easier."
Another sorority would also attract students who would not have meshed well with the current sororities on campus, Thompson said.
"With more options, you're more likely to make a better fit. Every year a pretty sizable amount of people drop out of the recruitment process," she said. "Many do not find what they want in the three houses. A fourth could provide another alternative."
