Greek Terms

• Active: a member who has been fully initiated and is currently in college.
• Alumnus : an initiated member who is no longer in college.
• Associate: a non-initiated member in a fraternity which employs the associate-member program.
• Bid: a formal invitation to join a Greek chapter.
• Brother/Sister: a term used by actives when referring to one another.
• Chapter: a local group of a national or international Greek organization.
• Continuous Open Recruitment: the period in which any group may recruit and offer bids outside of the formal recruitment process. *Students at Hanover are not eligible to participate in Continuous Open Recruitment until after they have completed one semester at Hanover College .
• Fraternity/Sorority: a name that applies to all social Greek-letter organizations.
• Gamma Chi: (see Recruitment Counselor)
• Greek: a member of a fraternity or sorority
• Independent: a student not affiliated with a Greek-letter organization
• Initiation: the formal ceremony in which pledges/associates become full members of a Greek organization.
• Interfraternity Council (IFC): the governing body of all fraternities designed to be a resource for all fraternities and to strengthen the fraternity system.
• Legacy: a potential member who has a family member that is an active or alumnus of a fraternity/sorority.
• New Member: the title given to a potential member from the time he/she accepts a bid, until the time he/she is initiated.
• Panhellenic Council: a local organization affiliated with a national counterpart and composed of representatives of each local sorority chapter.
• Philanthropy: a charity/service project sponsored by individual chapters.
• Potential Member: a person interested in becoming a member of a fraternity/sorority.
• Preference Card: card a potential new member signs at the end of formal recruitment, indicating the order of his/her preference for the organizations from which he/she will accept bids.
• Recruitment: the activity by which Greek organizations seek new members.
• Recruitment Counselor: sorority member serving as a counselor to potential members during women's recruitment.
• RUSH: see Recruitment

Last Updated: December 2, 2005
Expiration Date: May 2008
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