Pi Chis Work Hard to Guide Girls Through Recruitment

By Sloan Gibby

Recruitment is an opportunity for sororities on campus to put their best foot forward to attract PNMs (potential new members) to their chapters. But who gets those PNMs to sign up for recruitment in the first place? Recruitment Counselors known as Pi Chis.

Pi Chis are vital links between PNMs and the Greek community. A Pi Chi's job is to encourage girls to go through recruitment and objectively guide the potential new members through the selection process.

Newly selected Pi Chi Laven Abercrombie says she is excited to serve and cannot wait to get started. "I would love to help counsel the girls as they come in and show them how fun and wonderful greek life can be."

Each sorority is responsible for providing three representatives from its chapter that agree to "disaffiliate" from their sorority for the summer and  "disassociate" themselves during recruitment.

To disaffiliate means that the girls cannot wear their sorority's letters in public or show any outward appearance of belonging to a particular chapter. However, they can still communicate privately with their sisters. Disassociation means absolutely no communication with your chapter.


Each Pi Chi’s chapter affiliation is kept secret throughout the process to help the PNMs make an objective decision about the chapter of which they want to become a part. To keep this secret, the girls must deactivate all social media profiles, such as Facebook and create a new one under their “pi chi” name. They must also sign contracts, agreeing to do everything in their power to keep their affiliation a secret.

The role of a Pi Chi sounds very difficult, but Panhellenic President Audrey Barron says it is a rewarding experience. "The most challenging part of being a Pi Chi is just having to see your sisters on campus and you can’t talk to them..but its all worth it in the end because it just gets great girls for our chapter and I just love to serve and be a Pi Chi during recruitment."

.Pi Chis go through an interview process conducted by Montevallo's NPC (Panhellenic). After the team is selected, they attend many training sessions to prepare. This year’s recruitment team is already working hard for the fall.

If you are interested, you can find out more at Student Life's Membership Recruitment page and register for formal recruitment. To get updates on all the latest information, you can add UM Panhellenic on Facebook or Twitter for more information. To find information on each individual chapter, visit Montevallo's Panhellenic page which links to each chapter's website.