Active: A fully initiated undergraduate member of a sorority.

Alumnus: An initiated woman who has completed her course of study and has graduated from the university.

Bid: A formal invitation of membership that is extended to a Potential Member asking them to join their chapter.

Chapter: The local collegiate membership of a national fraternal organization.

Deferred Recruitment:  A form of recruitment where the formal recruitment process takes place after the completion of at least one semester of college.

Greek: A name/title applied to women who are members of a national sorority/fraternal organization.

Initiation: A formal ceremony, unique to each individual chapter, which inducts the New Member as an official Active Member of the sorority.

Legacy: A Potential Member whose grandmother, mother or sister is an initiated member of a sorority.

National Panhellenic Council (NPC): A national organization comprised of 26 member women’s fraternities.

New Member: A woman who has received a bid from a sorority and has accepted membership.  The term is used for the semester following recruitment, and is often used to indicate women who have not yet been initiated.

Panhellenic Council:  The collegiate governing body of all NPC sororities.

Panhellenic Open House:  An event each fall in which all interested Potential Members may visit each sorority as part of an organized Panhellenic delegation.

Philanthropy:  A charitable service project/event sponsored by a sorority.

Potential Member: A woman who is not a member of a sorority chapter and who could potentially participate in recruitment and receive a bid to join a chapter.

Recommendations: An official letter of recommendation from an alumnus of a sorority chapter. 

Recruitment: The process of recruiting women to become members of the Greek community.  Formal recruitment week consists of events hosted by each of the sorority chapters in which Potential Members are invited to attend.

Silence: The period of time when there is absolutely NO contact between potential members and sorority members.

Panhellenic

Vocabulary