Greek Life Vocabulary

You know the saying "it's all Greek to me"? That's how many people, including new members of Greek organizations feel when they hear words, acronyms and phrases used by older Greek life members. In order to keep you from feeling this way I have compiled a list and general definitions to use when you start hearing things that you don't know the meaning of!

 

Active: initiated member, enrolled in the university who pays dues to the organization

Alumni: initiated members of a men's fraternity who have graduated from college

Alumna/Alumnae: initiated member of a women's fraternity or sorority who has graduated from college, the latter is the plural form to be used when talking about several graduated members

Badge: a pin worn only by initiated members, each organization has their own special pin

http://www.tulsapanhellenic.org/taap-member-chapters/

Bid: a formal invitation to join an organization

Bid Day: the day a PNM receives their bid and finds out which chapter it they are invited into

Big: this is short for "big brother" or "big sister", a big serves as a mentor and friend to their "little". The primary reason is to help through the new member period and initiation but the connection often carries over past this period, even once both members are alumni/alumnae

Chapter: local group of the larger (inter)national organization, often distinguished from other chapters of the same organization by a special Greek name of their own. For example: Phi Mu, Epsilon Chapter

Composite: a single display with professionally taken photos of all of the members of that chapter

Continuous Open Bidding (COB): this is also known as informal recruitment, this is an opportunity for chapters that missed quota during formal recruitment to gain more new members in order to meet quota. Not all chapters will participate in COB.

Executive Council: the council of members with positions such as President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer

Founder's Day: a day that commemorates the date or approximate date in which an organization was founded. This can be accompanied by celebrations depending upon the chapter.

Infraction: consequences given to an organization that violates the rules of recruitment or rush

Initiation: official ritual or ceremony performed to transition the new members into actives, or full membership of the organization. This is often where any secrets of the organization are revealed.

Interfraternity Council: governing body of all men's fraternities. There is a national council and a council for each university.

Intentional Single Preference: when a PNM only lists one organization on her MRABA after Preference has concluded.

(Inter)national Headquarters: the central organization of a certain sorority or fraternity

Lavalier: a necklace bearing the letters of a Greek organization, these can be given as gifts. A man giving a woman a necklace with his letters is called a "lavaliering" which symbolizes a commitment of their relationship.

http://www.alisonandivy.com/greek-lavalier-necklace.html

 

Legacy: a family member of an initiated member of an organization. Each organization defines a legacy differently. Some only consider daughters, sisters, or granddaughters legacies while others are open to nieces or cousins. This May or may not affect a woman's invitations during recruitment. Being a legacy does not require an organization to extend a bid to that person.

MRABA: Membership Recruitment Acceptance Binding Agreement. Single year binding agreement that states if a PNM receives a bid to any given organization and she turns it down or quits before being initiated then she is bound for one year, or until the next formal recruitment period before accepting a bid to another organization. Once a member is initiated into one organization they can not be initiated into another. For example, you can not be a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and Alpha Delta Pi.

National Pan-Hellenic Council: the governing body of historically-black Greek organizations.

National Panhellenic Conference: the governing body of women's Greek organizations. There is a single national council and councils for each university.

New Member: someone who as accepted a bid to an organization but is not yet initiated and considered active. 

Panhellenic: all Greek affiliated women. This is also a mindset or attitude, being sisterly to those of other women's organizations.

Philanthropy: a charity or cause supported by the organization

Pledge Class: the group of members brought in during a certain year or recruitment period. Girls who received bids in 2013 are considered the pledge class of 2013, no matter what year they are in school.

Potential New Member (PNM): a woman who is eligible to participate in recruitment. Even if the woman has no intention of going through recruitment she is still considered a PNM until recruitment officially begins.

Preference: the last round of recruitment but also the process of a PNM selecting which organizations she would accept bids from.

Quota: the number of potential new members an organization can offer bids to during formal recruitment. This is determined by a formula that considers the number of chapter on campus and the number of women participating in the recruitment process.

Recruitment: the process of mutual selection between a potential new member and a chapter.

Recruitment Counselor: a sorority member who temporarily disaffiliated from her chapter in order to serve as a guide to PNM's before and during the recruitment process. Each PNM is assigned a recruitment counselor, PNM's may be placed into small groups assigned to a counselor.

Silence: a time period between the end of recruitment events and before bids are passed out. This means there can be absolutely no communication between PNM's and active sorority members.

Snap-bid: an option for chapters who did not make quota after preference but before bid day. They can offer bids to PNM's whose preferences were not matched, or they are not receiving a bid from a chapter listed on their MRABA. The woman would be contacted by the sorority directly and if she accepts will participate in the bid day festivities.

Social: a get-together with another group (Greek organization, club, sports team) for fun activities.

Throw What You Know: holding up the hand sign used by the sorority members to affiliate themselves in pictures

http://sites.psu.edu/caitlynhetrickblog/2015/03/18/were-all-secretly-gangs/

Unanimous Agreements: agreements between the 26 NPC organizations that ensure fairness and equality between the groups. Many of these agreements are about recruitment and recruitment procedures.