With campus buzzing back to life after the summer months, many new students are looking for the perfect organization to join. For some of those students, their perfect organization is a chapter in sorority life. Primary recruitment starts next week, and UNI Sorority Life has seen higher interest this year than they have in the last four years.
“Primary recruitment is ultimately a process to get to know people in the community. So it’s just a set of events where you get to go and meet women from every single chapter. You get to know them based on who they are, what they value, what they like to do, and it just allows you to connect with people that are like you.” explains Laura Harms, a senior at UNI, an active member in Alpha Phi and the current president of the Panhellenic Council.
Harms continues saying, “After primary recruitment, you get to meet people within the community within your specific chapter which is a really great opportunity. And then afterwards if you were to receive a bid, then you join your respective chapter and you’re able to make connections within that chapter but then you’re also now open to an entire community of women on campus.”
UNI Sorority Life has not seen recruitment interest numbers this high since before COVID. Josh Farris, Campus Programs Coordinator, in charge of overseeing the Panther Pantry and the fraternities and sororities on campus explained, “Basically from 2017 to 2021, total registration for sorority recruitment was declining. In 2017, I believe there were around 160 women that registered for a recruitment. In 2021 we were not even close to 100 so I think COVID played a factor because you’re trying to do an in person experience but you just can’t safely do that so the experience had to change and when I talked about intentional interaction, most of the things they do are very close contact and it just couldn’t really happen. We just didn’t see as much interest because I think people, maybe they were afraid maybe they just were just uncertain about what campus life was even going to look like or when campus shut down and then you can’t go home so even if you join then you’re in this organization where you can’t do anything so then maybe you leave the organization.”
Farris continued to explain how they’ve had to rebuild the program back up since the lack of growth during COVID times coupled with many students graduating and leaving their sororities led to a record low in members.
“I think just all of that impacted together we just saw a natural decrease of people in the community. Many individuals graduated during Covid and now we’re getting to the point where new people were not here during COVID, so we started from the ground up over the last two years. We are having to teach individuals all of the great things that we can do that we were previously doing. So, tying all of this back into the increase in interest, we’ve built that experience again so we can share all the things that make our community great on campus.”
The UNI sororities are excited to see such a sharp increase of interest in their organization. Harms explained that this renewed increase of interest isn’t just lucky, but rather a payoff after a long campaign from the 23-24 Panhellenic council.
“I served as Co-VP of Recruitment last year with Cassie Williams and it was such a great experience for us because we were able to kind of lay the foundation for stuff going forward. So we’ve done a lot more outreach in the last few years, and that does not come from one person; that comes from our entire group and all of last year’s work. It also comes from the continued work of the recruitment guides this year. So I don’t think it’s necessarily “lucky” but I think between all that work and with our advisor, Josh Farris, we were set up for success this year. He’s giving us the resources, he’s finding them for us. We’ve chosen to use them and we’re working to become a name on campus that people know.”
It’s not just the increase of outreach from the Panhellenic council that created this interest. Farris also said that many new panthers are looking for more “intentional interactions.” He explained this sentiment further, “I think today’s college students are looking for opportunities to grow and develop outside of the classroom. I think they’re also looking for a strong sense of just connection and belonging on campus. That can look different for everyone for what makes them feel like they belong but I think sorority life on UNI’s campus gives an opportunity for everyone to at least explore. Maybe not everybody’s gonna join and that’s totally fine but it gives them the opportunity to say ‘What is this? Can I find my people here?’”
This group isn’t losing steam; they have high expectations for the coming years. When Farris was asked what a freshman entering primary recruitment this year could expect the community to look like by the time they are a senior, he said, “Last fall semester we grew from the start of the fall semester to the end of fall semester the sorority community group by 55%. They had 100 members to start and then 55 joined, so 55% increase. We’re looking to continue that trend and if you continue that trend over a four year span the community grows exponentially. When there’s more people in the community that are proud of the community and are enjoying it it’s easier to tell more people about the community because you have more people doing the outreach and sharing their experience of why it’s impactful and valuable to them.”
When it comes to primary recruitment, Harms says be yourself, you never know just how far sorority life can take you. She went further stating that before joining Alpha Phi, she didn’t even know what her major was. “I’ll never get tired of talking about this! In high school I was always very involved. I was always seeking out leadership opportunities. My band director at the time really pushed me to look into bigger leadership roles and so when I came to UNI I was immediately like, ‘What am I gonna do? I’m a leader, I want to be a leader, how am I gonna get involved in that?’ Sorority life provided the perfect pipeline for me to get involved. It set me up for success, it got me leadership opportunities, got me leadership experience and just allowed me to network a lot more. It helped me find my major; I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I came to UNI. Honestly it has really set me up for success in the future. Truly my UNI experience wouldn’t be the same without it and I can say that completely honestly.”
Primary recruitment for this academic year starts Sept. 11. There are three ways for students who are wanting to join to reach out and get enrolled. Students can go to either @UNIFSL or @UNISororityLife on Instagram or students can go online to https://union.uni.edu/involvement/fsl. All of these online resources have a link to a sign up form where students can sign up to get involved in primary recruitment.
Harms’ final piece of advice to anybody thinking of joining but on the fence about making the leap is “Just do it. I think a lot of times it’s scary and you just are worried that it’s not for you but I would just recommend trying it because ultimately sorority life is for everyone. That is something that we have worked so hard to push here UNI. We want you to thrive with people that are going to push you to be your best and that’s what I’ve gotten out of this. I’m leaving UNI just feeling so proud of the community. I think take the chance, go through recruitment and you’re going see the results going forward. I’m leaving UNI with just so much love for not only the University but the entire community so I wouldn’t change it for the world, I’m just really proud of us and what we’ve done.”
