Meghann Anderson || Assistant News Editor
Sorority-bound women were the first to move into the residential colleges on Aug. 15.
Recruitment began at 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 15 and the week-long process began for the women wanting to join a sorority and for the women trying to find potential new members.
Renita Avery-Meriwether, director of Student Life, said recruitment went very well this year.
“Our numbers were higher this year than we have seen in a while,” Avery-Meriwether said. “We are very excited for all of our new members to the Panhellenic sororities.”
Don Robertson, vice president of student affairs, said this is one of the largest groups of young women that have gone through sorority recruitment at Murray State in years.
“I think this may be the largest group of young ladies we’ve ever had, largest we’ve had in many years,” Robertson said. “They quickly will find something to identify with and be involved with, which is critical for retention and adjustment, if you feel like you belong to something.”
Robertson said Greek Life plays a major role for the freshmen who are venturing off on their own for the first time.
“We have some of the current members back meeting the potential new members, and it creates an energy that shows we are gearing up for the school year,” Robertson said. “It’s an exciting time; everyone is having fun.”
“Recruitment also creates this air of excitement,” Robertson said. “We start to see activity and people on campus, the Curris Center has activities and lots of energy. Them coming back just like the other training programs, First Year Leaders, resident advisors and athletes, it gets everyone excited.”
Robertson said everyone including the faculty and staff are excited to see the students and start getting schedules underway.
Each sorority has GPA requirements that vary from incoming freshman to students who have already been in college. The Panhellenic Council removed GPA requirements last year.
The requirement is also different for incoming freshmen and students who are already in college and going through recruitment. Incoming freshman have a higher requirement.
Potential members must be full-time students. Full-time is 12 credit hours or more per semester.
Bethany Eschman, vice president of public relations and recruitment for Alpha Sigma Alpha, said, as a chapter, ASA is excited to get things rolling this semester.
“Recruitment went very smoothly this year, even though we had a larger amount of girls go through than normal,” Eschman said. “Alpha Sigma Alpha gave out 41 bids and they were all accepted.”
She said the new pledge class is filled with a mix of spunky personalities and they already fit in perfectly with the sisterhood.
“It should be a thrilling semester and Alpha Sigma Alpha is truly blessed to be sharing these moments with our 41 new sisters,” she said.
Each of the five sororities took approximately 40 new members.
Alix Bloodworth, sophomore from Murray, said recruitment went well with so many new girls.
“The Greek community is so excited to have these amazing new women and we can’t wait to see what they can contribute in their years at Murray State,” Bloodworth said. “This was my first time on the other side of recruitment.”
She said all the active sorority members want to congratulate the new members and wish them all a wonderful experience in Greek Life.
Said Bloodworth: “I still remember how nervous I was, but choosing to go Greek has been one of the best choices of my life.”