The 13 member sororities constituting the Panhellenic Council witnessed one of their largest recruitments in recent memory this fall, with 835 women expressing interest in joining a house.
While sorority recruitment was different from that of past years due to the significant increase in women expressing interest — 160 more than last year — the process also started earlier than usual and had a new sorority participate: the recently reinstated chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha.
Panhellenic recruitment coincided with the largest number of freshmen admitted in UC Berkeley history, so the increased numbers were hardly surprising, said Panhellenic adviser Christina Wellhouser.
“Cal is not the only school experiencing large numbers, nationwide Panhellenic communities are experiencing record numbers,” Wellhouser said in an email.
The sorority recruitment effort began earlier than usual this year, partly to avoid conflicts with events such as the Jewish High Holidays and football season.
Despite the high volume of women participating in recruitment, freshman Olivia DiBenedetto, a new member of the campus’s Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter, said many girls drop out of the process because they decide they don’t like sorority life or because they would prefer to meet people in a smaller community.
“At first, recruitment was very intimidating,” DiBenedetto said in a Facebook message. “You end up in a house that you feel comfortable in.”
Katie Hilton, a junior and the president of the campus’s Chi Omega chapter, said she saw the high number of recruits as necessary to maintain the current level of house membership. She acknowledged that many interested women drop out of recruitment and that the chapters needed to replace the large number of members who graduated last year.
“When last year’s graduating class left, it was a big loss,” Hilton said. “This process really helped balance (it) out. My chapter has about the same number of people as last year now.”
All of the sororities in the Panhellenic Council added between 40 and 49 women to their ranks. This included Zeta Tau Alpha, which participated in its first traditional recruitment since its return to campus last fall. That year, traveling leadership consultants for the sorority directed recruitment by meeting with students and holding information sessions. This year, it added 42 new members.
Ellie Perry, a junior who joined Zeta Tau Alpha last year, said the large number of recruits represents a greater diversity in the type of girls who are interested in joining a sorority.
“Personally, I never thought I would be part of a sorority,” Perry said. “Having more sororities in the (Panhellenic Council) provides more environments for people to find a house they feel comfortable in.”
There are two other governing councils for sororities at UC Berkeley besides the Panhellenic Council — the National Panhellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council. They recruit separately from the Panhellenic Council.
Contact Nico Correia at [email protected]