Anna-Catherine Kueng ~ Assistant Editor
According to the Little Black Dress flyer, there will be a Little Black Dress event on Feb. 5, 2020, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Burton Dining Hall. The flyer states, “Throw on your favorite black outfit and come meet the amazing Greek women on campus! Last day to sign up for recruitment.”
Drew Pelkey, Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said, “Little Black Dress is an event for potential new members who are still deciding on whether to participate in recruitment or not. Potential new members can come and meet the Panhellenic sororities. The purpose of this event is to get a better understanding of what recruitment will be like, and if an individual is still on the fence, come and meet some sisters of the Panhellenic community.”
Amanda Linehan, Vice President of Recruitment, explained, “[Little Black Dress] is kind of a taste of sorority recruitment. There is free food. What will happen is there are affiliated sorority women, and [unaffiliated] women can come and chat with them, and eat some free food. It is a good time.”
There has been a lot of planning for the event. According to Pelkey, “The Little Black Dress Event is an annual event that happens the week before the primary recruitment period starts for Panhellenic sororities.”
Linehan remarked, “I have had it planned and organized since September. That is when everything was finalized. I worked over the summer as well. You have to reserve a room, you have to work with catering, you have to get the tables sorted as well as organizing all the affiliated women. It is quite a bit [of work].”
The reason the location is the Burton Dining Hall, according to Linehan, “is because it is a bigger space so more women would be able to come. [If we were in a different location], and we had too many come, we would have to turn people away, and we do not want to do that.”
About her favorite part of the event, Linehan replied, “My favorite part is probably being able to tell unaffiliated women all about why I love being a sorority woman, and what it means to me. Why I uphold myself to the standards to be the best I can be and what it can offer them.”
Pelkey said, “This is an effective event for students who are considering becoming involved in a Panhellenic sorority because it gives [them] a chance to meet some sisters from our four Panhellenic organizations. This is a glimpse into what the next week for primary recruitment will be like.”
As for the overall goals of the event, Linehan said, “My hope would be one, to have women interested in signing up. Two, for people to be comfortable and to experience a time where they can learn about things they are not familiar with, such as different fundraising and philanthropy, community service, why Greek life is here on this campus, and what we do.”
“If women have any questions or are hesitant about participating in Panhellenic Recruitment, then Little Black Dress is a perfect way to ask and better understand,” said Pelkey.
As to why interested women should join a sorority, Linehan answered, “Ultimately, sorority life is finding a place where you feel as if you belong because of your values. What you hold near and dear to you brings you close to other women. Through that, we can empower each other. It can be through academics, through community service, through philanthropy and fundraising, or it can be as simple as having someone there when you are having a bad day. That is why I joined, and that is why I stay.”
