For over half a century, the seven houses of Greek Row at Puget Sound have been encouraging students on campus to join the fraternities and sororities available on campus. This spring, once again, the Greek community will welcome Potential New Members (PNMs to the houses for various events, in order to let students decide which house is best for them.
Formal recruitment for joining a sorority or fraternity will take place during the first couple of weeks of the spring semester. Registration forms are available on the Puget Sound website. Fraternities will have formal recruitment Jan. 22 through 28, and sororities will recruit Jan. 24 through 19.
After signing up for recruitment, PNMs are invited to the house tours that take place during the first week of recruitment. The second week involves various events put on by the houses, games and activities to encourage current members to bond with freshman and new recruits.
When all the activities of the various houses have ended, PNMs are given the opportunity to have a formal meal with any preferred house, on the night before the bids are given out by the houses. To be eligible for a bid, a student needs a GPA of 2.5 or higher and must have attended Puget Sound for at least one semester.
Jake Snider, the director of men’s recruitment of the inter-fraternity council for Puget Sound, stresses the personal and informal feel of recruitment week.
“There is absolutely no pressure for PNMs to join a house. Recruitment is there for freshmen men to meet other men at UPS that they would have not if they did not go through recruitment,” Snider said.
The official website for Puget Sound Greek Life explains that all of the fraternities and sororities are based upon the four pillars of Leadership, Scholarship, Service and Tradition. Each house is committed to following the values of these pillars to better serve the community.
“Greek life at UPS is here for men and women to challenge themselves to be an active part of the UPS community—through leadership, service, academics, and through living up to their values,” Snider said.
Over the course of a college career, members who have followed such principles are rewarded with both bonds of friendship and stability within the Greek environment.
“I have a lot of fun being in the Greek system. They always tell you about brotherhood, and it’s really a serious thing,” junior Francis Dupar said. Dupar has been living in Phi Delta Theta for three years.
To start off, however, PMNs are strongly advised to go through with the recruitment process and its formalities. Through the course of recruitment, freshmen and other students speak with veteran brothers and sisters of Greek Row.
“People were very helpful and supportive, and I got to learn a lot about different people and different houses,” sophomore Caroline Cook said. Cook eventually made her way through the houses and finally settled on Gamma Phi Beta. “I really had the best conversations and made the best connections with people here,” Cook Said.
Greek Life has been shaping and improving the Puget Sound community for years now, and PNMs are expected to carry out the same tradition of excellence. Spring should see many new members lining up to become new brothers and sisters on Puget Sound’s Greek Row.
For each student at Puget Sound, the Greek system wants to instill the ability to feel secure with a group of new people, to make a bond that will last for years between brothers and sisters.
“It…provides opportunities for more friendships and connections,” Snider said. “I honestly cannot think of any negatives to coming out for…recruitment.”