Recruitment for the Greek community started this week with events being hosted around campus. Through these events, men and women of a variety of backgrounds and experience will have the opportunity to learn more about what it means to be a Greek at Saint Louis University.

Abby Kozeliski, vice president of recruitment for the Panhellenic council, believes that there is an average expected turnout this year. In past years, recruitment events have been primarily held in the Busch Memorial Center.

“It has definitely been more difficult to plan this year since the BMC is not available,” said Kozeliski. “We are having events all over campus.”

Locations for sorority recruitment events include the YWCA, Scottish Rite building, Parks basement, the St. Francis Xavier (College) Church basement and the Reinert banquet halls.

“There are so many interested women who are going through the process — more than 300,” said Sigma Kappa President Maria Baran. “It’s great to see so many SLU women interested in Greek life and the contributions that a sorority can have on a student’s collegiate career.”

“I think that this year’s recruitment is going to be a very strong one,” said Allie Burchett, membership vice president for Gamma Phi Beta. “All of the sororities, recruitment chairs and panhel dissafilliates have worked very hard to make this week happen.”

Sorority bid day will be on Sunday, Sept. 8. The event will be held in the chapel of DeMattias hall.

“I’m excited,” said Kozeliski. “It should be a lot of fun. It’s good to be Greek.”

According to Chris Keys, Interfraternity Council (IFC) president, the Fraternity Forum was held in the Quad earlier this week and rush will continue with each chapter hosting their own events each day until Friday, Sept. 13. Rush officially ends at 5 p.m.

“We aren’t exactly sure what the turnout will be, but we are hoping for 300 or more, as the Fall semester rush is usually the larger than the Spring,” Keys said.

Keys added that males are invited to attend any fraternity rush event throughout the week free of charge. Fraternities pay for each rushee to attend in hopes that person will want to join their organization.

Keys noted a change in the rush schedule that will be different from that of previous years.

“This year, with the first anniversary of 9-11, each fraternity is having either a community service event or will be attending the memorial service sponsored by SLU, instead of having a regular rush event,” Keys said.

According to the website of the Office of Student Life, the Greek community at SLU is governed by the Interfraternity Council (IFC), which oversees the men’s fraternities, and the Panhellenic Council, which oversees the women’s fraternities and sororities. These organizations are dedicated to the development of programs for the entire Greek community and the improvement of the Greek system.?

Some of the important character traits valued by the Greek system include scholarship, leadership and community service.

A sound academic support group is provided by the members of each fraternity and sorority. As a result, the all-Greek GPA typically surpasses the average for the University.

Sororities on campus include the following: Alpha Delta Pi,?Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta,?Kappa Delta and Sigma Kappa.

Fraternities include the following: Alpha Delta Gamma,?Beta Theta Pi,?Delta Sigma Phi,?Kappa Delta Rho,?Phi Delta Theta,?Phi Kappa Tau,?Phi Kappa Theta,?Pi Kappa Alpha,?Sigma Chi,?Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and?Tau Kappa Epsilon.