Sororities open houses for intro to Greek life

A series of sorority open houses have given freshmen women a glimpse into the world of Greek life over the past few weekends.

Each of the eight sororities on campus, including the recently recolonized Phi Sigma Sigma, held its own open house. All potential rushees were invited to come and speak with the sisters about Greek life.

But far from being a precursor to the spring rush period, where freshmen women decide which sorority they like best, the open houses were designed to give them a view of Greek life in general.

The open houses "are more about the whole concept," College senior and Panhellenic Council President Elizabeth Kimmelman said. "Rush is a time to figure out about the individual houses and where they fit. This is more about them saying 'being Greek looks like fun. I want to do that.'"

To that effect, the sisters of each house are not supposed to discuss their own sorority. Instead, according to College senior and Delta Delta Delta President Stephanie Yarcia, "the sisters just want to talk about being members of the Greek system, and promote sisterhood and the benefits of being part of the system."

A number of freshmen noted that the sisters did just that, wearing the same clothes -- T-shirts with a Panhellenic logo -- and doing their best to refrain from talking about their individual houses.

"They didn't want to talk about" their house, College freshman Kate Barnett said of the Tri Delt sorority sisters. "They were promoting the Greek system."

Though every sorority is required to host an open house, they can each determine the rules for their event separately.

For instance, some houses mandated that all sisters participate, while publicity for the events varied as well.

Different houses also experienced different levels of interest from potential rushees, varying from the Tri Delt house, which was packed with hundreds of freshman all Saturday afternoon, to the Phi Sig open house -- held in the former Palladium space -- which saw only a smattering of visitors.

This discrepancy can partly be explained, however, by the fact that Phi Sig did not have an on-campus presence in 2003. The organization disbanded last year because of low membership numbers, and is looking to re-establish itself in 2004.

Although the recent open house was one of the first public events that Phi Sig has hosted at Penn since leaving campus, the sorority's consultant Sharon Knaus said that it was not trying to draw girls specifically to their group.

She also said that, while the sorority totally supports Panhellenic rush procedures, it would not be participating in formal rush this winter.

Instead, come spring Phi Sig plans to host its own informal recruitment.

At open houses in the fall, unlike formal rush events, potential rushees were not required to go to every house. Instead, they could travel only to those events that interested them.

"The girls can go to as many as they want," Kimmelman said. Most used the opportunity to decide whether they wanted to register for rush or not or to reaffirm their commitment to the process.

Engineering freshman Michelle Jacobson went to about one half of the open houses.

"It was fun to see the houses and meet the girls before" rush, she said. I was pretty sure I wanted to rush before this, but it gives you a taste before it all starts."

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