Sorority Lingo
ACTIVE: A fully initiated member of a sorority who is currently participating as a member
ALUMNA (PLURAL -AE): Members who are no longer active in their collegiate chapter
BADGE/PIN: The sorority membership insignia
BID: An invitation to join a sorority
BID DAY: the last day of recruitment when potential new members receive invitations (bids) to join chapters
BIG SISTER: An active member assigned to be the personal mentor for a new member
CHAPTER: A membership unit of a national or international sorority or fraternity
CHARTER: Documentation that an individual chapter is recognized and operates according to the national organization
COLLEGE PANHELLENIC ASSOCIATION: the cooperative campus organization of all collegiate members of NPC member organizations on a campus
COLLEGE PANHELLENIC COUNCIL: the governing body of a campus College Panhellenic Association. Each member chapter of the College Panhellenic Association chooses a delegate to sit on the College Panhellenic Council.
COLLEGE PANHELLENIC “EXEC”: short for “Panhellenic executive officers/committee”; the officers of a College Panhellenic Association responsible for running the day-to-day business of the College Panhellenic Association
COLONY: an NPC member sorority’s status on a campus before being installed and receiving a charter
CONTINUOUS OPEN BIDDING: (COB) an opportunity for chapters that do not reach quota during primary recruitment to bid to quota and/or for chapters that are not at total to bid to total; not all chapters will participate in COB
DELEGATE: the official representative of each NPC chapter to the College Panhellenic
DUES: cost of joining a sorority; generally covers chapter operations, events and activities
FORMAL SORORITY RECRUITMENT: A recruitment period during which a series of organized rounds are held by each National Panhellenic Conference sorority, organized and implemented by the Panhellenic Council.
FRATERNITY: A group of women who are bound together by rituals, beliefs, common goals, and values
FRATERNITY AND SORORITY LIFE STAFF (FSL): The department here at NAU that advises the three governing councils, College Panhellenic Council (CPC), Interfraternity Council (IFC), and the United Greek Council (UGC)
IFC: InterFraternity Council; the central governing body found on all campuses which have nationally recognized men’s fraternities.
INITIATION: A traditional ritual that brings a new member into full membership of the sorority
INTER/NATIONAL or EXECUTIVE OFFICE (“HEADQUARTERS”): a term referring to the central organization of a given sorority
JUNIOR COLLEGE PANHELLENIC COUNCIL (JCPC): an organization compromised of new sorority members which unite pledge classes and coordinates activities.
LEGACY: a daughter, sister or granddaughter of an initiated member of a sorority; each NPC member organization has its own definition of and invitation policies regarding legacies
MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT ACCEPTANCE BINDING AGREEMENT (MRABA): a binding agreement signed by a potential new member following the final preference event she attends during fully, partially or minimally structured recruitment; for a colonization and COB, there are specific binding agreements that should be used
NATIONAL PANHELLENIC CONFERENCE: (NPC) Conference composed of 26 national women’s fraternities, each is autonomous as a genera, Greek-letter society of college women, undergraduates, and alumnae
NEW MEMBER: A woman who has accepted a sorority bid, but is not yet an initiated member
NEW MEMBER CLASS: A chapter’s group of new members after the initiation process is complete
NEW MEMBER EDUCATOR: A liaison between the new member class and the chapter who is responsible for implementing and monitoring the new member program and preparing the new members for initiation
NPC AREA ADVISOR: delegate to NPC who provides guidance and counsel to either the College Panhellenic or the Alumnae Panhellenic
ORDER OF OMEGA: a honor society for members of Greek-Lettered organizations who have a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have junior standing, and are actively involved within their chapter and on campus.
PANHELLENIC: a Greek word meaning “all Greek”
PHILANTHROPY: a specific organization or cause to which members donate volunteer hours and money
POTENTIAL NEW MEMBER (PNM): any woman who is eligible to participate in recruitment
PREFERENCE: the final round of primary recruitment
PREFERENTIAL BIDDING: a mutual selection system for PNMs and chapters
QUOTA: the number of potential new members to which each chapter can offer bids during primary recruitment
RECOMMENDATION/REFERENCE: a form completed by a member of a sorority, recommending a potential new member for membership, this is not a requirement at Northern Arizona University
RECRUITMENT: a period of time during which events are held by each sorority for the purpose of selecting new members; recruitment is organized and implemented by the College Panhellenic
RECRUITMENT COUNSELOR: a neutral representative of the College Panhellenic who guides and supports the PNM through recruitment
RECRUITMENT EVENT: each chapter a PNM visits during a round of recruitment is an event
RECRUITMENT ROUND: a round is a day or days during recruitment when you visit a specific number of chapters; rounds typically have a theme, some examples of names you may hear a round called are 8-event round, open house round, philanthropy round or preference round
RELEASE: when a PNM’s stated willingness to receive an invitation or bid from a chapter does not match with that organization’s list of PNMs invited to its recruitment event or membership
RFM: Release Figure Management; an NPC methodology for recruitment release figures adopted by College Panhellenic Associations to manage PNMs’ expectations.
RITUAL: The ceremonies that bring together the beliefs and standards of a fraternal organization
SINGLE INTENTIONAL PREFERENCE (sip): when a woman lists only one chapter on her membership recruitment acceptance binding agreement following preference round but attended more than one preference event
SNAP BID: a bid that is offered to a PNM prior to the start of Bid Day by a chapter that did not match to quota; a PNM is eligible to receive a snap bid if she registered and attended at least one round of the primary recruitment process, however did not complete the recruitment process or did not match to a chapter after completing her MRABA
SOCIAL: a get-together with another group for a party, dinner or other fun occasion
SORORITY: A Greek-letter sisterhood that may aslo be called a fraternity
STRICT SILENCE: the period of time after the close of preference events and prior to the distribution of bids when there is no communication between potential new members and sorority women
TOTAL: the allowable chapter size on a campus, as determined by the College Panhellenic, which includes both new members and initiated member
UNANIMOUS AGREEMENTS: agreements to which the member groups of NPC have unanimously agreed and that lead to orderly and equitable conduct of their mutual functions. These unanimous agreements are binding on all member fraternities of the NPC. Each College Panhellenic (or the equivalent organization) and Alumnae Panhellenic must incorporate the NPC Unanimous agreements into its governing documents. The unanimous agreements are found on page UA1-UA11 of the manual.
VALUES BASED RECRUITMENT: an effort to eliminate high cost and time demands for decorating and entertainment; instead recruitment focuses on quality communication with PNMs