During the  winter semester, sororities and fraternities at Oakland University hold  a second recruitment to attract any interested students who may have missed the opportunity to join Greek life in the fall.

 

Meet the Greeks

Oakland has 15 Greek letter organizations — 14 of which are governed by four different councils: the College Panhellenic Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council and Interfraternity Council.

OU’s only multicultural Greek organization, Zeta Sigma Chi Sorority, is not governed by a council and reports directly to the Greek Council, which oversees all of the Greek sororities, fraternities and other councils.

The College Panhellenic Council is the main sorority council at OU and consists of Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Sigma Tau, Gamma Phi Beta and Phi Sigma Sigma. The College Panhellenic Council exists to “promote superior scholarship, leadership development and dissemination of information important to women in general,” according to information on the GrizzOrgs website.

Men looking to join a fraternity may look to the Interfraternity Council, which is made up of Alpha Sigma Phi, Sigma Pi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Theta Chi and Tau Kappa Epsilon. The purpose of this council is “to assist the fraternity system in the development of fraternity members through intellectual, social leadership and humanitarian pursuits.”

OU also has five of the nine national Greek letter fraternities and sororities that make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.

The GrizzOrgs directory states the mission of the National Pan-Hellenic Council as “unanimity of thought and action as far as possible in the conduct of Greek letter collegiate fraternities and sororities, and to consider problems of mutual interest to its member organizations.”

According to Tyanna Moore, president of OU’s National Pan-Hellenic Council and Sigma Gamma Ro Sorority, this council is composed of Black Greek Letter Organizations, or BGLOs, which are traditionally black Greek organizations.

“Being a member of a BGLO, there are many different things to do,” she said. “Whether it’s a yard show, a party or planning a charity event, there’s always some business to take care of.”

OU is also home to one multicultural Greek org, the Zeta Sigma Chi Sorority. According to their mission’s statement on the GrizzOrgs website, this sorority seeks “to unify a group of women from diverse cultures for one common goal: success in education.”

 

How to join

Any student can go through the recruitment process for a sorority or fraternity. If a student accepts a bid, or invitation to join a Greek org, they must complete the requirements of the bid in order to be initiated into the sorority or fraternity.

In the fall, all of Oakland’s Greek organizations have their major formal recruitment period.

Allison Webster, assistant director of  student organization programs and Greek adviser, said a second wave of “informal” recruitment is taking place this month as well, which is common at the beginning of each winter semester. However not every Greek org will participate.

“All of the fraternities will be recruiting this month, as well as, two of the sororities,” she said. “The next major formal recruitment will not take place until the fall.”

Sarah Bacon, a member of Alpha Delti Pi, said Greeks may choose to recruit during this month if they do not have enough members to meet their goal.

“The certain Greek orgs who need more members in the winter will do their own recruitment within their chapter only,” said Bacon, a junior majoring in education.

The Greek life requirements and bid acceptance form can be found on OU’s Sorority and Fraternity Life website.

 

Who’s gone Greek

Webster said despite how vocal the Greek organizations are on campus, only about two percent of the student population is involved in Greek life.

According to Webster, recent sorority and fraternity recruitment added some students to this population. There are currently 419 students involved in Greek life.

“I’m sure the population seems larger than that because they’re so prominent on campus,” she said.

She said one of the reasons such a small percentage of OU students engage in Greek life is the fact that, according to OU Housing, about 90 percent of students commute.

“It’s hard to get OU students to commit to an org period, let alone a fraternity or sorority,” she said. “So many students just come to class and go home.”

 

To Greek or not to Greek

Going Greek, like joining any organization, requires students’ commitment.

Moore said although her sorority “plays hard, they work harder.”

“Being Greek isn’t all about the fun people pay attention to,” she said. “We put in a lot of hard work not only on campus but in surrounding communities and sometimes nationally.

Unlike most campus groups, Webster said there is a level of financial commitment as well. Greek students are required to pay yearly dues to their respective organization. This amount can range from $300-600 depending on the sorority or fraternity and covers fees, events, badges and more.

“It’s most expensive your first year,” she said. “You’re paying your new member fees, buying your badge and so on.”

According to Webster, many of the Greeks offer payment plans and scholarships to cover dues.

Tom Cruz, alumni and founder of OU’s chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon, said he believes the cost of Greek life is worth the benefits.

“You might want to join a community service organization, or an intramural sport, or an honors club, but Greek life is all of those,” he said.

Webstersaid  although not all students will join, she encourages everyone to investigate Greek life for themselves.

“It’s not something you do for four years,” she said. “It’s something you join for life.”

To read more about each individual Greek org, visit OU’s list of student orgs under “Greek.”