What’s the backup plan for recruitment in August?

[Sciencewoman]

It's just one thing after another...a domino chain.

[Cookiez17]

Tons of potential colonies are also being moved to 2021 since many of the organizations do not know if schools are opening.

[AGDee]

Sleeping is one thing- how do you do community bathrooms? There's no way to disinfect a sink after every use. And this affects dorms and greek housing both.

[Sciencewoman]

We (our international facilities team that I'm on) are talking about assigning showers, sinks, and lavatories as one strategy for community bathrooms, instead of anyone using whichever one is open.

Our president's suite will now be the quarantine room, since it has its own bathroom.

Yeah, this is going to be tough. There are so many things we just can't control. So far, I'm really impressed with our members and how they'e handling all of this.

[Titchou]

Arizona State is doing virtual recruitment

[carnation]

You just know that PNMs are going to complain that with virtual recruitment, the sororities pre-selected their classes and didn't get to meet the girls who didn't have connections. Well, I'm not sure what else they can do.

[APhi2KD]

If this all ends and Covid is magically gone for Fall 2021 recruitment, what will THAT look like? Just like the Class of 2021 is likely going to have to fight their way into college against the masses of gap year/deferred 2020’s, is recruitment going to be overwhelmed as well? Yikes.

[TXDG]

Originally Posted by carnation

You just know that PNMs are going to complain that with virtual recruitment, the sororities pre-selected their classes and didn't get to meet the girls who didn't have connections. Well, I'm not sure what else they can do.

I’m so curious to see how virtual recruitment works! The incoming freshmen are solidly in “Gen Z”, born in 2001/2002 and have lived their entire lives online. They were toddlers when Facebook was founded, and before starting middle school, Snap Chat and Instagram were born. The oldest Z’s are just starting to graduate from college and may identify more as millennials just as many of the oldest millennials identify culturally as Gen Xers.

My friends with high school aged kids (mine is younger) say they have really realized over the past 2.5 months how well these kids keep up with their friends without even seeing them. They just live online together.

So even though formal in-person recruitment is yet another life milestone (along with prom, graduation, etc) that is being robbed of them by this pandemic, they are the best equipped freshmen class yet to navigate a virtual recruitment.

[TLLK]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

Oh Gosh, I didn't even think of the housing situation. If the chapters have to reduce the number of women living in, where are those women going to live? They will be nard pressed at this late date to find places to rent.

There are rumors and I sincerely hope that these are rumors, that some of the sorority and fraternity housing at my daughter's university (UCSB) might not open in the Fall of 2020. (Seen on the UCSB Parents Forum Facebook page.) She's not involved with Greek life but if the news is true, that it's very likely that it would add to a growing housing shortage.


In recent years, UCSB has had to triple all of its incoming freshman in their residence halls. Now it appears that number will be reduced to double or even single occupancy. Typically Isla Vista landlords have been reluctant to rent to freshman. If freshman now have to seek housing in IV, and more Greek life members are also having to find other living arrangements , this will compound the problem.


Very, very glad that my daughter had already signed her lease on her apartment back in February 2020.

[UVASquirrel]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

Was this a rush meeting for UVA or your sorority-local chapter only, regional, or national?

Prefs in person after only Zoom meet and greets might be better than nothing at all, but if a girl attends pref she is somewhere on the chapter's bid list.

Cookie, many gen.ed classes are already online so that wouldn't be a new thing, at least at medium-large colleges.

It was nationwide. There were reps from collegiate Panhellenic Councils, greek life offices, women who work at their sorority HQ's, etc. I was just an interested bystander. The woman who led the meeting is an Alpha Gam and she is a public speaker, so she speaks at a lot of greek events and different campuses.

[AnchorAlumna]

LSU just indefinitely postponed sorority recruitment registration.

[SweetHomeStL]

I was talking to another alumnae sister today (we both have collegiate aged kids) about the possibility of virtual recruitment......she laughed and brought up how lovely online dating turns out when the person you meet in person is NOTHING like what you thought they were online. If you have to put everyone on your bid list that gets to attend your in-person preference party, deferring recruitment seems like a much better option!

[BBH]

So Indiana just came out with their school plan and an hour later Ball State did. Similar to Purdue they plan to eliminate fall break and after Thanksgiving they will go online. For Spring, start out online then resume in person February 7th. With IU rush being in the Spring wonder how that will work. Classes will already be underway before everyone would be back on campus.

My younger D will start college in the Fall at Iowa State. She signed up for Primary Recruitment but haven’t seen anything about a virtual rush. So far it appears they are planning as normal but I’m sure will be subject to change. I’m sure she’ll do okay if it’s virtual but it just seems like both the chapters and the PNMs will be at such a disadvantage.

[BBH]

So Indiana just came out with their school plan and an hour later Ball State did. Similar to Purdue they plan to eliminate fall break and after Thanksgiving they will go online. For Spring, start out online then resume in person February 7th. With IU rush being in the Spring wonder how that will work. Classes will already be underway before everyone would be back on campus.

My younger D will start college in the Fall at Iowa State. She signed up for Primary Recruitment but haven’t seen anything about a virtual rush. So far it appears they are planning as normal but I’m sure will be subject to change. I’m sure she’ll do okay if it’s virtual but it just seems like both the chapters and the PNMs will be at such a disadvantage.

[Sister Havana]

Here’s the information on IU’s plan for next year. Dorms will be open, but all rooms will be single rooms. This is going to make for even more of a housing crunch, since temporary overflow housing in floor lounges is going to be out of the question. McNutt and Foster, two of the larger dorms, are reopening after being closed for extensive remodeling this year, so that should help. (Although Collins will be closed for remodeling and those residents are going to be housed in Foster next school year.) I wonder if they will temporarily waive the requirement for all freshmen to live on campus because of this.

I haven’t seen what the Greek houses are going to do besides (I would guess) having a lot less people living in. Many of the sororities and a few of the fraternities have cold dorms, so I wonder how that’s going to work.