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Vocabulary
For all the words you may not understand but should know the meaning for! This is handy for both potential new members and for new members to a Panhellenic Greek lettered organization.
Some vocab courtesy of The Sorority Life
Active
A collegiate, initiated member of a sorority chapter
Big sister
An active member of a chapter who is paired with a new member as a mentor.
College Panhellenic Council
A council for all of the National Panhellenic Conference sorority chapters on a campus. This council serves as the governing body for all NPC chapters on campus and organizes the recruitment process. Each chapter chooses a delegate to sit on its College Panhellenic council.
Continuous Open Bidding (COB)
​An opportunity for chapters that do not reach quota during primary recruitment to bid to total and/or quota. The continuous open bidding process is less formal, and not all chapters will participate in continuous open bidding.
Chapter
​Another name for a specific greek lettered organization
Disassociation​
A sorority woman who has volunteered to give up her letters and affiliations to her own sorority for reasons like becoming a Rho Gamma.
Initiation
A traditional ceremony that brings a new member into full membership of a sorority or fraternity. Once you are initiated into an NPC sorority, you are ineligible for membership in any other.
Legacy
A daughter, sister or granddaughter of an initiated member of a sorority. Typically, different groups have different definitions of legacies. Being a legacy does not guarantee a bid to a particular sorority. Each inter/national organization has its own policy for invitations to legacies during recruitment
MRABA
The Membership Recruitment Acceptance Binding Agreement. This is a one-year binding agreement signed by a potential new member when ranking chapters after preference round. A PNM agrees to accept a bid from any chapter she lists on her MRABA. If a PNM receives a bid to a chapter she lists and declines it, she is bound to it for one year or until the next primary recruitment period, meaning she cannot accept a bid to any other organization. If a PNM signs an MRABA and does not receive a bid, she is eligible for continuous open bidding or snap bidding.
New Member
A person who has accepted a bid from a sorority but is not yet an active member of that chapter. Chapters will have some sort of new member process during which the new members learn more about the sorority and prepare them for initiation.
NPC
The National Panhellenic Conference, or the umbrella body for 26 international women’s fraternities and sororities.
Potential new member (PNM)
A woman who is eligible to participate in recruitment. On campuses that hold deferred recruitment during second semester, chapters might use the term PNM to refer to any woman eligible for recruitment.
Quota
The number of potential new members to which each chapter can offer bids during formal recruitment. This is determined with a formula involving the number of chapters and the number of women participating in bid matching.
Recruitment counselor (Rho Gamma)
A sorority member who is disassociated from her sorority to serve as a recruitment guide. Each PNM will be assigned a recruitment counselor during formal recruitment.
Relaxed Silence Period
A period of time from Freshmen move in until Bid Day where rho gammas are disassociated and social relations with PNMS and Rho Gamma's are limited.
Snap Bidding
An option available to chapters that did not fill quota. Chapters may offer bids to potential new members whose preferences were not matched, meaning they would not be extended a bid by chapters they listed on their preference rankings after preference round. This process takes place before bids are distributed, and a potential new member would receive a phone call or other contact by a sorority offering her a snap bid. If she chooses to accept, the new member would participate in normal Bid Day activities.
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Strict Silence Period
​A period of time from the end of preference night until the distribution of bids where there is no contact permitted between PNMs and sorority members.
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Total
The allowable chapter size on a campus, as determined by the College Panhellenic, including new and active members. Chapters that fall under total may be allowed to participate in continuous open bidding until they reach total.
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