Unlike in previous years, sorority members on campus will be allowed to wear their house's letters through the winter, leading up to rush.
This semester, the Panhellenic Council has amended traditional recruitment rules to allow sorority sisters to wear clothing showing their sorority's insignia in the months leading up to recruitment.
In the past, sorority members were barred from wearing their letters toward the end of first semester. According to Panhel President Erica Shmerler, the rule was designed to discourage competition among the sororities and eliminate any advantages that houses may have had.
This semester, Shmerler hopes that the new rule will encourage sororities to wear their letters and be seen around campus.
"We thought one of the best parts of being Greek is showing spirit and showing that you are proud to be a part of a house," Shmerler said. "Hopefully, everyone will feed off of each other's good intentions and good spirits."
As freshman women and sorority sisters begin to think more about next semester's recruitment period, Greek insignia may take on new importance both by signaling the number of students involved in the process, and allowing freshman women to identify individuals as members of certain sororities.
College sophomore Rachel Berkowitz, who wore her Sigma Delta Tau hat in the library yesterday, did not think that the new rule will have a big impact.
She also emphatically denied that it would give one sorority an advantage over another.
Berkowitz stressed that she thought the higher visibility on campus would benefit the Greek system as a whole.
"Any visibility for the Greek system is good," Berkowitz said. She noted that it would be reassuring to freshmen during rush to see that "a lot of different girls and guys are in the Greek system."
Due to her workload, Engineering freshman Maureen Long expects that she will not take part in recruitment next semester. However, she said that seeing a large number of students around campus wearing Greek insignia may encourage her to reconsider.
"Seeing more people that are involved in [sororities] would get me interested," Long said.
Members of the Panhel Executive Council are still prohibited from wearing their sorority gear this semester, in the hopes that they will be seen by recruitment participants as promoters of the whole Greek system, instead of individual houses.
Shmerler said that the amendment to previous rules allowing sisters to "show their letters" was made by the eight executive board members.
