September 12, hundreds of women will run home to their new sorority after four days of recruitment events, just like the thousands of women before them. However, the women going through recruitment this year will be starting a new tradition.
The former Panhellenic Yell-In tradition consisted of sorority members running to greet new members, usually by hugging or tackling, known as “Bid Day”.
Senior Paulie Massey, Panhellenic Council president, says there have been incidences which resulted in severe injuries, so the Panhellenic Council voted last semester to prohibit tackling and took this opportunity to create a new tradition.
Massey says this year Greek Life is planning to hold the Yell-In at Stokes Stadium.
“We’re planning to do a balloon arch and have sororities sectioned in areas around the field — any spectators will be in the stands,” Massey says.
Massey says the new members in Gamma Chi groups will participate as well, but they’ll enter from the track.
Junior Rachel Imming, a member of the Delta Zeta sorority, says she still remembers her first experience with Panhellenic Yell-In.
“I was just so nervous with excitement,” Imming says. “I couldn’t wait to see my new sisters’ faces when I screamed, ‘I want to be a Delta Zeta!’ and they came running.”
Imming says the old tradition had been welcoming women into the Greek community for many years, and she feels it is truly loved by many Panhellenic women.
Sophomore Emily Schaeffler, a member of Sigma Kappa, says though the Yell-In of the past will be missed, she feels the women of the Greek community look forward to the beginning of this new tradition.
“No matter what we do on Bid Day, that love will still be there, and that’s what matters the most,” Schaeffler says.
For more information, be sure to pick up a copy of the Aug. 17 Index on Wednesday.
Great story Autumn! 🙂