Northern Kentucky University’s Greek Life welcomed its newest members during a formal recruitment period that officially ended Sept. 22.

Over 100 women underwent a five-day process of Panhellenic sorority recruitment that started Sept. 10. Five different chapters gave presentations to 131 girls, with 121 girls affiliating with these organizations.

After they made the initial cuts, the chapters invited their potential members to more presentations and interviews in order to get to know them better.

“The girls went to every sorority’s party on the first day of recruitment on Friday,” said Kappa Delta President Stefanie Carpenter.

“Then from there they decided with which groups they would want to be affiliated with. On Wednesday they found out where they got their bid at, and they became members of that chapter.”

The next step for these newly initiated members is a “new member program.”

“What’s next for them depends on what chapter they are affiliated with,” Carpenter said.

“Some chapters have new member programs that last six to eight weeks, and after that period they become full-fledged members of the organization.”

The recruitment process was different this year because of the addition of a new sorority on campus, Kappa Delta.

“Quota last year was 30 (girls), but we only had four chapters. It was 25 this year with five chapters. There was almost the same number (of girls), a little bit higher than last year but not much,” said Student Life Coordinator Tiffany Mayse.

Mayse said that each chapter’s recruitment went very smoothly and with little problems.

“Everything went really well,” she said. “We had a new chapter this year, so they did fine with recruitment, and overall everything panned out well. The quota was 25 and almost all the chapters took that number.”

Fraternity recruitment began Sept. 17, with significantly lower numbers than in years past.

“We had 70 pre-register and we are expecting 125, 130 people to show up,” said Dustin Lewis, Student Outreach Specialist in the Office of Admissions.

However, on Sept. 17, the first night of rush, less than the original number of the pre-registered 70 showed up.

Numbers were already expected to be lower for each individual chapter because of the addition of a new fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon.

“I don’t know why the initial numbers were low; it could be a few things,” Phi Kappa Tau Rush Chair David Pfaehler said. “It could be because rush started on Friday instead of a Sunday and people had other things to do on the weekend.”

Lewis said the reason for the new pre-registration process was to make it easier to organize who was eligible to rush.

“We are trying to get men more conditioned into pre-registering, that way it is a little easier on grade checks and everything,” he said.

The potential fraternity members will sign their bids on Sept. 22 and become associate members of their respective chapters.