Trust Me: Recruitment sucks, but pledgeship does, too

Sam Bersh
Phi Kappa Sigma

All 19 sorority houses on campus can now breathe a collective sigh of relief as recruitment is now DONE. After weeks of preparation, multiple ‘parties,’ and lots of cold weather and snow, the hardest part of the sorority rush process is now over and the bid week fun can begin.

As I watched girls march down North Jordan in a giant haze of North Face jackets, leggings and Ugg boots, I couldn’t help but wonder how the process of rushing and pledging is so different between fraternities and sororities on our campus. Rushing for fraternities is incredibly informal and revolves simply on physically getting into the house and talking to the right people. On the other hand, sorority recruitment is incredibly formal and requires you to go to every house. This is obviously the ideal way to do rush, but it takes up a lot of time and you only get a brief glimpse into the house. Girls only meet a few sisters and their conversation topics are limited to major, where you live, and favorite Taylor Swift song. Fraternity rushing, in it’s informality, allows you to really get to know the brothers in the house and what the house is all about. You get to pick who you talk to and what about, and if you don’t like the house you don’t have to stay.

Now, trekking across campus in the snow and waiting outside of 19 sorority houses in freezing temperatures is not easy, but that’s nothing like pledgeship. Obviously each house does pledgeship according to their rules and history, but it’s a well-known fact that pledgeship is hard. Even despite what each fraternity does on it’s own, each fraternity on campus still has the same basic components and goals for pledgeship. Pledges are obviously required to work and drive during events, often have to follow a dress code, have to attend mandatory study tables, and have to report to the house on a frequent basis, just to name a few things. Basically, pledges are constantly held accountable for their responsibilities to the house for an extended period of time. Pledging becomes your nights and weekends.

Pledging was not made to be easy. Pledging was designed in a way to teach pledges about the house, the brothers, and why fraternities exist in the first place. Pledging also builds a lot of character and you grow extremely close to your pledge brothers because of all the time you spend together. There are some great benefits to pledgeship, but it’s a long and difficult process for everyone involved.

So trust me ladies, you may whine and complain about recruitment and how much time it takes out of your busy lives, but keep in mind that you don’t have to do anything close to what fraternities do for pledging. Ultimately, pledgeship is what defines you to the fraternity, whereas recruitment defines you to the sorority. Two very different processes, but both have their pros and cons. Being greek ain’t easy at IU, but we make sure that only the strong survive.

Sam Bersh is a sophomore studying communication & culture, and marketing. You may contact him at sbersh@indiana.edu and follow him on twitter at @sambersh