After Interim, Wofford Greek life came alive for an active year. The 2023 Panhellenic and IFC Formal Recruitment ran from Feb. 16 through 19. However, both fraternities and sororities hosted many events throughout the first semester in hopes of attracting new members.
Wofford’s sorority life includes Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Delta and Zeta Tau Alpha. Their fraternal counterparts include Kappa Alpha Order, Kappa Sigma, Pi Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Phi, Sigma Nu and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
Camp Williams ‘23, IFC president, was proud of this year’s formal recruitment.
“We had a great time this year during rush,” Williams said. “Our executive team, Jackson Galbraith, Demir Degirmenci, Max Creasman and Matthew Lopez, did a great job all week and were a massive help.”
When asked how the recruitment process works on the Panhellenic side, Sophie Broome ‘23, vice president of recruitment, discussed the role and importance of Gamma Chis.
“Wofford Panhellenic does values-based recruitment that helps to align members with organizations that hold their same values,” Broome said. “Each night of recruitment, the Panhellenic Council and Gamma Chis were able to talk with potential new members to guide them to stay true to themselves and aid them through the process.”
Gamma Chis are the leaders from each sorority on campus. They apply for this position and are then chosen to help guide the potential new members through the recruitment process. They receive training to improve leadership and listening skills, along with skills needed to support others.
This year’s Gamma Chi group included eight representatives from Delta Delta Delta, 13 representatives from Kappa Alpha Theta, six representatives from Kappa Delta and 11 representatives from Zeta Tau Alpha.
The Gamma Chis received training from Perry Henson, director of counseling and accessibility services, Beth Wallace, interim dean of students and Ashley Owen, former assistant dean of students for leadership programs and fraternity and sorority life.
The Gamma Chis were able to create relationships with their potential new members to help aid them better along this process.
This year, members of IFC as well as Panhellenic started the recruitment preparation process much earlier than normal.
“Better planning and earlier training helped everyone be more organized creating a more exciting atmosphere,” Broome said.
With recruitment finished, it is now noted that 60% of women on this campus are involved with Greek life. While those in fraternities topping out to about 48% of campus. In total 54.5% of campus are involved in Greek life and shows that there is no sign of stopping the Greek life culture of Wofford.
Williams was able to give a brief summary of the number of members changing for this current semester for both fraternities and sororities. Kappa Alpha Order added 29, Kappa Sigma added 18, Pi Kappa Alpha added 19, Pi Kappa Phi added one, Sigma Alpha Epsilon added 25 and Sigma Nu added 16.
Sororities also saw increases in membership. Delta Delta Delta added 41 members, Kappa Alpha Theta added 36, Kappa Delta added 43 and Zeta Tau Alpha added 43.
Only two men were released from all fraternities during the rush process, out of the 110 registered while. Out of the 186 women registered for Panhellenic recruitment, only around 170 joined sororities.
