“Overwhelming” might be understating how it feels to move from a high school, where you graduated with hundreds of classmates or less, to a sprawling university, where thousands call themselves freshmen.

The task of making new friends and establishing a social circle may seem daunting. But Kansas University’s greek system has a history of helping create lasting ties between complete strangers.

	Join the rush Incoming students can visit www.ku.edu/~greek for more details about which chapters are available and how to get involved. All formal recruitment for Kansas University’s 14 sororities is Aug. 22-27. Contact the Panhellenic Assn. office at 864-4643 for more information. Recruitment for the 22 fraternities is already in full swing. Contact the Interfraternity Council office at 864-3559 for more information. For more information about joining a Black Greek Letter Organization or Latino/Latina organization, call the KU National Pan-Hellenic Council office at 864-4872.

“As I talk to alumni year after year, I ask them what is the most rewarding part of being greek,” said Kelly Jo Karnes, KU’s assistant director for greek programs. “The No. 1 answer I’ll get is the friends that I’ve made, the friends that I’ve maintained throughout the years.

“KU’s a big place. Joining a fraternity or sorority gives you an opportunity to scale that number down.”

That’s been one of the greatest benefits for Emily Walz, a junior in the Delta Delta Delta sorority and vice president for recruitment for the Panhellenic Assn.

“There is always someone there for you,” she said. “In a house of 90 women, it is hard to be lonely.”

Although the social advantages are typically what lure men and women to fraternities and sororities, the benefits of being greek don’t stop there, Karnes said. As a sorority or fraternity member, students are held to high academic standards and receive ample opportunities to hold leadership positions and perform public service.

Of course, you don’t have to be greek to make friends, excel academically, be a leader or volunteer. In fact, the greek system isn’t a good fit for everyone, Karnes said.

“But you’ve just got to give it a shot,” she said. “You’ve got to be willing to open yourself up to something new.”

Roughly 3,300 undergraduate men and women participate in KU’s greek system each year, said Andy Knopp, a sophomore in the Theta Chi fraternity and Interfraternity Council president.

Getting into the system typically involves going through the recruitment process, which is different for men and women and different for students entering Black Greek Letter Organizations or Latino/Latina organizations.

Each fall this year it will be Aug. 22-27 women interested in joining a sorority go through what most people know as rush, though it’s now called fall formal recruitment. It’s sort of an intense get-to-know-you session during which women narrow down from 14 the chapters they like while the chapters are picking out women they’d like to see as new members.

“Recruitment is just a way to meet the most amount of people you can in each chapter, to see if it is something you would like to be a part of,” Walz said. “It’s also a mutual selection process as the chapters choose you, you choose the chapters.”

For men, the process is a lot more informal and gets started a lot earlier. In fact, if you’re a senior in high school, you may have already visited a few of KU’s 22 fraternity houses or even signed with one. Interested men fill out information cards that are sent to the Interfraternity Council, and individual chapters invite prospective members to events throughout spring and summer.

There’s also a week-long formal recruitment July 13-16 to accommodate men who perhaps live further away and can’t visit multiple houses on multiple weekends.

Each of the eight Black Greek Letter Organizations and the two Latino/Latina organizations is responsible for its own membership intake, and new members often must have some college credit under their belts before joining.

Making the grade

Not just anyone can get involved in a greek organization. Sororities and fraternities have grade-point average requirements. And to be sure members continue to make academics a priority after they’ve joined a chapter, things like attending house social events and getting initiated are contingent upon maintaining a certain grade-point average.

“Many chapters have computer rooms, libraries, fax machines, copy machines, Internet access,” Karnes said. “So, members have virtually everything at their fingertips to make sure they are successful with their academics.”

Being greek also opens doors to leadership, both within a chapter or more widely in the greek community.

“These positions are great learning tools for later in life,” Karnes said.

Another component of greek life that can be useful later is public service. Each chapter donates time and money to a national philanthropy, Karnes said, and the greek community often works together on events. One example is Rock Chalk Revue, an annual variety show dominated by greeks, which raises about $50,000 each year for the Douglas County United Way.

Knopp said opportunities in public service and leadership were the greatest benefits he’d enjoyed by being in a fraternity.

“I think a lot of people have an image of just big parties and a lot of fun and it definitely is but once you get involved, you realize there’s a lot more to it,” he said. “It’s what comes between the parties that ends up being the most fun and what you get the most out of.”