Greek Lingo

ACTIVE MEMBER: someone who has been initiated into her chapter

ALTERNATIVE MEMBERSHIP RECRUTIMENT: lunchtime and evening activities for interested women who have schedule conflicts with formal membership recruitment

ALUMNA: any initiated member of a sorority who has graduated from college or left college prior to graduation

ALUMNAE: the plural form of alumna

BID: an official, binding invitation extended from a sorority to a potential new member to join the sorority

CHAPTER: group of collegians, officially chartered and recognized at a given college or university

CONTINUOUS OPEN BIDDING: process of issuing invitations to join a sorority anytime after formal membership recruitment ends

FORMAL MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT: two successive weekends in September where the three Whitman sororities recruit new members

FOUNDER: one who originates or establishes a fraternity or sorority

GREEK: term applied to all sororities and fraternities

HAZING: an activity of physical or psychological abuse that is degrading or humiliating to another person. Hazing does not encourage respect for others and is prohibited by Whitman College, the Panhellenic Association and the sorority chapters

INITIATE: a woman who has undergone the initiation ceremony into a sorority

INTER-FRATERNITY COUNCIL: the governing body of fraternities

LEGACY: a daughter, sister, or granddaughter of an initiated member of a sorority

NEW MEMBER: a woman who accepts a bid from a sorority

PANHELLENIC ASSOCIATION: an organization consisting of 3 nationally recognized sororities established to promote the Greek system and maintain relations among the sororities

PHILANTHROPY: active efforts to promote human welfare in a variety of ways

PREFERENCES: a system by which a potential new member ranks the three sororities as her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices

POTENTIAL NEW MEMBER: a woman not affiliated with any sorority participating in formal membership recruitment

QUOTA: the number of pledges any chapter may pledge during a specific rush period

RECRUITMENT COUNSELOR: a sorority woman chosen by Panhellenic to be disaffiliated from her group during the formal recruitment process to help answer potential new member's questions

RITUAL: the ceremonies celebrated and conducted by every chapter; the secret rites to membership

SECTION: a sorority's living facility in Prentiss Hall

SNAP BID: a 24 hour period after bid matching is completed where sororities who have not reached quota may extend a bid to any woman who has not received a bid from another sorority

STRICT SILENCE: the period of time between final preferencing and bid night, in which there is to be no communication between active sorority women and potential new members.