Penn State’s Panhellenic Council released further information about its fall recruitment process. After the tragic death of Timothy Piazza, Penn State drastically reformed Greek Life processes and regulations. Considering the implications of these new reforms, Panhel decided to move its main formal recruitment to the spring 2018 semester, and only hold an informal recruitment for fall 2017.

Informal recruitment, commonly referred to as Continuous Open Bidding (COB), occurs outside of the formal recruitment period. COB gives potential new members the opportunity to meet chapters in a relaxed, casual environment on a flexible schedule. Sororities will hold individual COB events throughout the fall, but there’s no set schedule all chapters must adhere to.

In order to participate in informal recruitment, potential new members must meet the following requirements:

• Have at least a 2.5 cumulative GPA.
• Have completed at least 14 credits at a Penn State campus, 27 transfer credits, or be classified as an adult learner by Penn State.
• Not be subject to any pending or current conduct violations.
• Attend a Sorority and Fraternity Life Informal Meeting.
• Register on ICS Recruiter through this link.

Several Panhellenic and associate chapters will participate in informal recruitment this fall. Chapters may chose to participate in COB for a variety of reasons. Most frequently, this is done to reach a total chapter number that’s encouraged by the organizations outside the chapters control. Chapters that are participating in informal recruitment include:

• Alpha Delta Pi
• Alpha Sigma Alpha
• Phi Mu
• Sigma Kappa
• Omega Phi Alpha
• Phi Sigma Rho
• Sigma Alpha

Potential new members who are interested in participating in COB can begin the process by reaching out to the recruitment chair of the chapter they wish to pursue further. Contact information for recruitment chairs and additional executive board members can typically be found on that chapter’s website.