The specifics of next year’s new house model came as a surprise to some freshmen who participated in sorority recruitment last month.
Some new sorority members said the Panhellenic Association was unclear in communicating housing requirements before and during recruitment. Freshman Kayla Bakhshian, a new member of Alpha Phi, said she was first informed of her sorority’s housing requirements in late January.
“The sororities were not allowed to talk about housing during rush because they didn’t want it to factor into the decision-making process,” Bakhshian said.
Junior Kelsey Woodford, incoming Panhellenic president, wrote in an email Wednesday that Panhel encouraged sororities not to mention any aspects of housing—such as placement of the houses, apartment layouts and the chapters’ attitudes toward the houses—that could cause competition with other sororities.
“The motivation for this was to eliminate any unfair advantages in recruitment,” Woodford said.
Bakhshian noted that omitting housing details was a good decision on Panhel’s part.
“Ultimately, you should pick a sorority based on how you click with the girls, not based on anything else,” she said.
The location of sororities on Central Campus did not factory into discussions of housing during recruitment, Woodford said.
Freshman Aly Breuer, who asked not to disclose her sorority, recalled that before rush, she was told that not all new members would have to live on Central in the sorority’s section.
“A lot of people say that a good part of Duke sororities is that they don’t live together,” Breuer said. “I kind of liked that, so that’s kind of a big reason why I did decide to rush.”
A small number of seniors opted to live in section, though, meaning that more freshmen had to live with the sorority, Breuer said. Although she said she is not opposed to living on Central Campus, Breuer noted that living on West Campus is an essential part of being a Duke student.
“I don’t have anything against living on Central,” Breuer said. “For me, I just can’t imagine going to Duke and never living on West. West Campus is Duke. It’s the heart of where everything is.”
Sarah Loge, program coordinator of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, wrote in an email Thursday that Panhel representatives hosted information sessions prior to formal recruitment, adding that chapters had not finished determining their housing requirements in time for the sessions.
“In an ideal world, there would have been enough time between the chapters knowing they received housing and recruitment to have policies about housing in place, but without time for those policies to be developed... it was better to not offer half-truths and maybes,” Loge said.
Loge noted that this year’s numbers for recruitment were similar to last year’s numbers. This year, 554 women registered for recruitment and 504 participated. Last year, 530 registered and 511 participated. Loge said she believes that housing neither positively nor negatively impacted the recruitment process.
Sharing specifics about the individual policies was difficult due to the fact that sororities did not previously have housing, said Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residence life and housing services.
“The reality is that this was the first time that this situation applied to the sororities, in terms of having a house and filling the house,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of this has been developed as the process has occurred. In future years it’ll be a smoother process because it’s not new any longer.”
Although she is now part of Alpha Phi, Bakhshian said she chose to live with her selective living group, Mirecourt, in the Fall. She noted, however, that other girls in her sorority’s pledge class are excited about the opportunity to live in section.
“All the girls I know who are living in the house next year are doing so because they want to—not because they have to,” Bakshian said.
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