Fraternity & Sorority Life

Terminology

Active: A formal initiated member of a fraternity or sorority
Affiliation: The fraternity or sorority to which an individual belongs
Alumnae: A sorority member who has graduated from college (plural: alumnae)
Alumnus: A fraternity member who has graduated from college (plural: alumni)
Badge (pin): The insignia that designates your fraternity or sorority
Bid: A formal invitation to join a fraternity or sorority
Bid Matching: A system for matching the choice of potential new members with the choice of the chapter (CPH)
Big Brother/Big Sister: An active member assigned to be the personal mentor for a new member.
Brother: A term used when referring to other members of a fraternity
Call/Chant: A vocal sound used by members of cultural based fraternities and sororities to acknowledge one another
Chapter: Name for the local organization of a national fraternity/sorority
Chapter Advisor: An alumnus/alumnae or faculty/staff member who serves in an advisory role to provide guidance to the organization.
Colony: A newly formed affiliate of a national organization that has not yet received its charter. The members of a colony are referred to as "founders."
Crossed: The actual date of initiation into a cultural fraternity or sorority.
Dues: Membership and other fees paid to the local chapter of the fraternity or sorority
FIPG: Fraternity Information and Programming Group, a group of large inter/national fraternity that have grouped together to form a uniform risk management policy.
Formal Recruitment: The recruitment process for CPH sororities which takes place during the beginning of the spring semester.
Fraternity: The name that applies to men’s Greek letter organizations and is characterized by a ritual, pin, and a strong bond of sisterhood and/or brotherhood.
Informational: A meeting held by a chapter for prospective members who are seeking more information about the organization. An informational is typically the first step in the Membership Intake Process for MFSC Organizations.
Initiation: The traditional ritual, which brings the new member into full membership
Intake/Membership Intake: The membership recruitment and induction process culturally based fraternities and sororities
Inter/national Organization: A common way to refer to the larger fraternity or sorority with a chapter on a college campus. For the business center of these organizations Headquarters, Central Office, or Executive Office is appropriate.
Legacy: A prospective member who has a family member in the same fraternity or sorority
Line: Individuals going through the Membership Intake Process of a MFSC organization.
Membership Intake: Intake is the process by which many MFSC organizations take in new members. This process begins with an information meeting or formal rush and concludes with initiation. Each organization does membership intake on their own schedule and not necessarily every semester.
National Panhellenic Conference (NPC): The national group of 26 women’s sororities in North America and the Umbrella Organization for the Panhellenic Council. Representatives from each national sorority meet regularly to advocate for sororities, make common agreements about how Panhellenic sororities should function, and provide resources to collegiate and alumnae members.
National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC): Refers to the national coordinating body for 9 historically African-American fraternities and sororities commonly referred to as the Divine 9. Hofstra has 4 of these national organizations and they are members of the Hofstra Multicultural Fraternity & Sorority Council (MFSC)
Neophyte: A newly initiated member of a cultural fraternity or sorority
New Member: A member who has not been initiated (Some organizations use other terms such as ASSOCIATE, CANDIDATE, OR LINE BROTHER/SISTER) - One who has been accepted as a probationary member of a sorority or fraternity but has not yet been initiated. Collectively, the New Members who join the same semester are called the NEW MEMBER CLASS OR LINE.
New Member Education Process: The time period in which candidates for active membership (or new members) learn about the organization and participate in brotherhood/sisterhood activities.
New Member Pin: A pin that designates a new member of a fraternity or sorority
New Member Presentation: A show where newly initiated members of MFSC organizations introduce themselves to the community and highlight what they have learned about the organization during their intake process.
New Member Recruitment: The continual process of recruiting members for a fraternity or sorority (usually CPH, IFC, and PFC)
NGLA: Northeast Greek Leadership Association. NGLA holds an annual leadership conference for fraternity and sorority members in the Northeast region of the United States.
North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC): The national trade organization of 75 men’s fraternities in North America and the umbrella organization for the Interfraternity Council. Unlike the other umbrella groups this group does not have any governing authority over its members. National representatives meet regularly to advocate for the fraternal experience, and make common agreements about minimum standards for member organizations.
Philanthropy: The chapter's specific charitable organization(s) that they donate money to.
Potential New Member (PNM): A term for men or women being recruited by a fraternity or sorority; anyone not affiliated with a fraternity or sorority is a PNM
Prophyte: A member of an MFSC organization who has been in the organization long enough to initiate a new line of members.
Quota: The number of new members that CPH sororities may accept during formal recruitment. This is determined by CPH based on the number of PNMs participating in formal recruitment and is not determined until after the Preference Round.
Recruitment (sometimes called RUSH): The action of finding new people to join an organization
Recruitment Counselor: A disaffiliated member of an organization who assists potential members through the recruitment process (only in CPH sororities).
Ritual: The traditional ceremonies of a chapter, which are usually secret
Signs: A unique display expressed by hand symbols. Please do: Enjoy the viewing of various signs. Please don’t: imitate an organization’s sign. It is a sign of disrespect.
Sister: A term used when referring to other members of a sorority
Snap Bidding: An option available to CPH sororities that did not receive quota. This occurs during Formal Recruitment, after bid matching, but before bid day.
Soror: The term used to refer to a sister of the sorority.
Sorority: The name that applies to women’s Greek letter organizations and is characterized by a ritual, pin, and a strong bond of sisterhood and/or brotherhood.
Stepping: A performance involving dance, marching and traditional culture of a cultural organization.
Stroll: Organizational members move together in a line expressing pride for their organization. In this line, members may express their pride through use of their organization’s call, sign or historical information, ritual/custom dances, etc. All of this is done through movements that are unique to a particular organization. Please Do: Enjoy watching, as each organization has a unique way and style of strolling. Please Don’t: imitate the stroll or cut in between members of the line. That is considered a sign of disrespect.
Stroll/Step Show: A line dance done by members of cultural fraternities or sororities (usually at a party or step show)
Total: The allowable chapter size determined by CPH. Chapter under this number are allowed to participate in informal recruitment.
Yard: A term used by NPHC groups to indicate that campus.