Sororities select new pledges in Union Tuesday

With decorated signs and matching T-shirts, the sorors of the Pan-Hellenic Council cheered at… With decorated signs and matching T-shirts, the sorors of the Pan-Hellenic Council cheered at Tuesday’s bid night.

Members of the 11 sororities affiliated with PHC gathered on the steps of the William Pitt Union for more than an hour awaiting the arrival of their pledge classes.

“This has been the smoothest recruitment process I’ve ever seen,” senior Allison Marino of Sigma Sigma Sigma, said. “Our sisters have had a particularly high morale so that we can have a strong bond for our first-years.”

The potential pledges, who devoted almost an entire week to the rush process, sat on the floor of the ballroom with bids in hand.

Freshman Lydia Benn had been hoping for Delta Delta Delta.

“You know what you like, and what you want through the process,” she said.

After visiting all 11 houses, the hopeful students ranked their top choices each night, until they eventually spent the last night at only their top two choices.

“As soon as you walk in, you feel a connection, and you can tell if you’re in,” freshman Erin Dowdell said.

Delta Phi Epsilon President Katie Hayes said that the process from the sororities’ side involves more than simply picking a freshman class.

“We are preparing these girls to take our places,” she said.

Her soror, Kayla Richelmi, agreed, and added that she was excited to see the new pledges come back to the house to accept their bids.

“Tonight is all about them,” she said. “We basically just spoil our new little sisters.”

Dowdell and Benn, friends from high school, came to Pitt planning to join a sorority together.

“Things changed and we realized we liked different things,” Dowdell said. “I had the same top one all week.”

At 9:30 p.m., the new recruits met with their recruitment counselors, the judicial board and the Pan-Hellenic executive board to hear speeches and to wish each other luck.

After opening the invitation envelopes, the room became an uproar of screaming, jumping, crying and running to find new sorors.

“I feel so happy and so lucky,” transfer student Mckenzie Cassidy said, as she signed her bid for Delta Zeta. “I always knew they were the nicest, sweetest girls on campus.”

Pan-Hellenic Council President Lauren Cavallaro, a senior member of Delta Zeta, said that more students participated in this year’s rush than last year. Each sorority could hand out 16 bids, as opposed to last year’s 10.

“[A sorority] is everything you could ever want,” Cavallaro said. “I did more volunteering, and my grades went up when I joined. It’s the most amazing experience.”