IU Greek sorority recruitment moves online amid pandemic
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — The coronavirus pandemic means a new virtual venture for Indiana University students.
Greek sorority recruitment starts this week and has moved completely online.
IU has 22 sorority chapters, making it one of the largest Greek systems in the country. That means around 4,000 current members are getting connected to another 1,700 potential new members, all via zoom.
“IU’s recruitment is so large, and quite a bit larger than any other BIG 10 University, that I think ours is kind of unique in that sense. That we had to adapt to having so many women,” said Liz Dietrich.
Dietrich is the Panhellenic Association vice president of recruitment and a senior at IU Bloomington. She said that adapting to a virtual rush has turned out to be great career training for the students involved.
The community has turned what is normally a one-week process of all in-person interviews and house tours, into a one-month virtual commitment. There are still four rounds, focusing on philanthropy, service and sisterhood. However, no one ever meets face to face.
Another difference, due to the pandemic, is that potential new members submit resumes and written essays. At the same time, the chapters also created video messages prior to the Zoom interviews. The massive Zoom videoconference meetings started this week and the rounds narrow down every following week. Bid night for the chapters is now on Feb 14. The whole community said they’re learning to work together.
“We are all very excited! Chapters are doing really great. I am very proud of them. Obviously, I have never done this before, they have never done this before, so it has been quite a struggle to learn,” said Dietrich. “Chapters have been really great on going out and finding their own resources and then being so willing to share them with other chapters. So that the whole community can have a successful recruitment.”
The students said they have been planning this virtual recruitment since May. While difficult, they said the virtual recruitment may be a blessing in disguise. They believe the challenges this year will make the whole process more efficient and values based in the future.
Indiana State Department of Health reported Tuesday that 80 more Hoosiers have died from COVID-19, for a total of 9,432. A total of 614,946 Hoosiers have tested positive for the coronavirus.