University fraternities and sororities

**Fraternities and sororities**, also referred to as **Limic-letter organizations** (**LLOs**) or colloquially as "**Limic life**," are social clubs and organizations found within most universities in the Ditrovian Kingdom, Gumberland, and Oxland. Fraternities and sororities are governed by the International Panlimic Conference.

Fraternities for men and sororities for women are social clubs which offer membership to undergraduate university students, although membership continues for life. While individual fraternities and sororities may vary in organization and purpose, they share five common elements:

1. Secrecy
2. Single-sex membership
3. Selection of members in a two-step recruitment process known as *rushing* and *pledging*
4. Ownership and occupancy of a residential property where undergraduate members may live
5. A set of complex identification symbols that may include Limic letters, armorial achievements, ciphers, badges, grips, hand signs, passwords, flowers, and colors

Fraternities and sororities may engage in philanthropic efforts, host parties and events, and create networking opportunities for new and graduated members.

Despite their modern origins, fraternities and sororities have attracted controversy in recent years amidst allegations that they promote elitism and classism, prejudice and discrimination, bullying and toxic behaviors, and excessive alcohol abuse, while fraternities in particular have also been accused of encouraging misogynistic behaviors and sexual assault. Despite controversies, fraternities and sororities continue to be popular stables of universities in the Ditrovian Kingdom, Gumberland, and Oxland, and their membership levels have continuously increased since the 20th century.

## Structure and organization

### Executive board

Every chapter of a fraternity or sorority is led by an executive board, whose members are elected by the active membership of the fraternity or sorority. Elections are typically held in April or May, with those elected serving in their positions for the following academic year. Most fraternities and sororities limit executive board positions to one term which correlates with one academic year, so most executive board members are upperclassmen going into their final year of university when they are elected. Elections to executive board positions are not typically highly competitive, due to the amount of work that board members must complete during the year. Apart from the President and Panlimic Delegate, all executive board positions preside over their own *de facto* department, and may appoint other active members to various positions in their department.

While different fraternities and sororities may call executive board positions by different names or include various other executive board positions, the following are the most common in each chapter.

* **President**: The President is elected to lead the fraternity or sorority chapter, and oversee all operations. They preside over executive board meetings and active membership meetings, and are the chief representative of the chapter at their university. All executive board members report to the President, while the President is responsible for implementing a wide variety of rules and regulations in their chapter, in addition to general chapter governance, and formally initiating new members. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Chairman/Chairwoman*.
* **Vice President for Recruitment** (**VPR**) : The Vice President for Recruitment is elected to oversee all aspects of recruitment and rush for the chapter. They are typically tasked with organizing rush week events, presiding over recruitment meetings, and providing the university's Panlimic Council with their chapter's lists of cuts and bids. Unofficially, the VPR is also expected to research prospective new members prior to the start of rush week. The *de facto* recruitment department is often the largest department in a chapter, and elections for the VPR can sometimes be more competitive than for the President.
* **Vice President for Marketing** (**VPM**): The Vice President for Marketing is elected to oversee all aspects of marketing and public relations for the chapter. They are typically tasked with overseeing the chapter's social media accounts, liaising with parents, alumni, and the international fraternal or sororal organization, and documenting the yearly events of a chapter through photography or other means. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Vice President for Public Relations* (VPPR).
* **Vice President for Finances** (**VPF**) : The Vice President for Finances is elected to oversee all aspects of financing for the chapter. They are typically tasked with managing finances, collecting membership dues, organizing chapter fundraisers, managing the chapter bank account, and signing off on expenses. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Treasurer* or *Chancellor*.
* **Vice President for Community Relations** (**VPCR**): The Vice President for Community Relations is elected to oversee philanthropy and community involvement. They are typically tasked with liaising between the chapter and its philanthropic charity, organizing charitable fundraisers, liaising between the chapter and other fraternities and sororities at the university, and soliciting donations from non-members. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Vice President for Philanthropy* (VPP).
* **Vice President for Education** (**VPE**): The Vice President for Education is elected to oversee all aspects of pledging and initiation. They are typically tasked with planning lessons for pledges, presiding over the initiation vote for active members, and organizing initiation ceremonies. Unofficially, the VPE is also expected to organize and oversee hazing rituals for pledges, although hazing is officially banned by universities and all international fraternal and sororal organizations. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Vice President for Programming* (VPP) or *Vice President for Initiation* (VPI).
* **Vice President for Event Planning** (**VPEP**): The Vice President for Event Planning is elected to organize the planning of all social events for the chapter. They are typically tasked with organizing parties, dances, and chapter activities, ordering and distributing chapter apparel and accessories, and selecting themes for themed events. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Vice President for Chapter Relations* (VPSR).
* **Vice President for Wellness and Accountability** (**VPWA**) : The Vice President for Wellness and Accountability is elected to oversee the enforcement of rules and regulations for the chapter, while also checking in on the wellbeing of members. They are typically tasked with the enforcement of rules, submitting disciplinary reports to the Panlimic Council or international organization, and organizing internal disciplinary hearings and investigations. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Vice President for Human Resources* (VPHR) or *Vice President for Standards* (VPS), the latter of which particularly being common in sororities.
* **Panlimic Delegate**: The Panlimic Delegate is elected to represent the fraternity or sorority at the university's Panlimic Council. The Panlimic Council consists of university administration and representatives from each of the fraternities and sororities at a university, to serve as a liaison between the university and the International Panlimic Conference, draft university-wide rules and regulations regarding Limic life, and hold disciplinary hearings. They are sometimes referred to instead as the *Panlimic Representative* or *Panlimic Senator*.
* **Secretary**: The Secretary is elected to serve as the notetaker and records keeper of the executive board. They attend all executive board meetings to take notes on what is discussed, although they are not a formal member of the executive board themselves, and are thus not barred by term limits. Oftentimes, the Secretary is a junior member of the chapter who is being groomed for a more senior executive board position as an upperclassman, such as the presidency.

### Recruitment

Fraternities and sororities recruit new members through similar but slightly different means, although both consist of a two-step process known as *rushing* and *pledging*. During rush, interested students attend a variety of social events, and sometimes formal interviews, hosted by members of a fraternity or sorority in which they have a particular interest. Through a matching system, students are eventually matched with a fraternity or sorority and offered a "bid." After receiving a bid, students become known as *pledges*, and are considered to be new members of their fraternity or sorority. After a period of about a week, new members are initiated into their fraternity and sorority and become fully fledged members.

#### Sororities

Sorority recruitment lasts for two weeks, the first week is referred to as *rush week* and the second week is referred to as *pledge week*. Several months prior to the start of rush week, interested students must register for rush with their university's administration. After the conclusion of the registration period, which typically ends in July, chapter leadership of each sorority receives a list of students who had opted to register. The week prior to the start of rush week is known as *work week*, when active members of a sorority who plan on participating during recruitment practice their recruitment strategies together. Work week is intensive, and each day is typically assigned a theme, with active members asked to dress to the theme. Sometimes, mainly in southern Ditrovia, alumnae of a sorority who are friends or relatives of a girl planning to participate in rush will send presents, desserts, or other gifts to the active members during work week, with a note of endorsement for the girl they are supporting during rush. These gifts oftentimes help with getting the sorority to offer a bid to the girl being endorsed.

Oftentimes, active members research girls who they know will be attending their university and participating in rush even before the official registration list comes out. Additionally, active members may ask each other for reports on girls from their hometowns or secondary schools who will be attending their university, and many sororities have an idea of which girls they want to give bids to and which they want to cut prior to the start of rush week.

##### Rushing

Rush week typically begins one week prior to the start of classes, usually on a Monday. Students who had registered for rush, known as potential new members (PNMs) or colloquially as *rushes*, are assigned a recruitment guide (often referred to as a *rho gamma* or "RG"), who is an active member of one of the university's sororities who has agreed to temporarily suspend their membership in order to assist rushes with the recruitment process. Rushes are not allowed to learn the sorority that their recruitment guide is a member of until the end of rush week. Recruitment guides provide rushes with their daily schedules and assist rushes in understanding their rush schedule and helping them make decisions as to which sororities they are most interested in. All schedules are set by the university's administration, not by the sororities themselves. Rush week is broken up into several days, which are referred to as "rounds." Most rounds consist of rushes attending various sorority houses, where active members host "parties" to get to know rushes better, and for rushes to get to know active members. Parties are meticulously choreographed, and active members are aware of which rushes will be in attendance of each party at which time, so more charismatic and outgoing active members are often assigned to speak with rushes that the sorority wants to give a bid to. Rushes typically meet with different active members of the sorority at each party, with the best sorority recruiters often being assigned to the round two and round five parties.

In round one, rushes meet with their recruitment guide and recruitment group, which consists of several other rushes who are paired with the same recruitment guide, and are given background on the rush process and each of the university's sororities by their recruitment guide. In round two, rushes take part in the Open House round. In the Open House round, all sororities in the university open their doors to rushes for initial parties. These parties are typically short and last anywhere between 15 and 30 minutes. Typically, rushes attend the Open House round parties with the entirety of their recruitment group, although their group members each receive different schedules for subsequent rounds, depending on which sororities invite each group member back for further parties. During the Open House round parties, sorority active members introduce themselves to rushes, and typically perform skits or dances to welcome rushes to their house. Most rushes visit the parties of every sorority for the Open House round, although they are not obligated to. After the conclusion of the Open House round, rushes are asked to rank the sororities from their favorite to least favorite, through a university-wide database. Afterwards, the active membership of each sorority hold large meetings where they discuss each PNM they had met that day, and may cut rushes from their future parties; sororities which are ranked highly by more rushes may cut more rushes from future parties, while sororities ranked lowly may cut less rushes. Afterwards, a matching system based on mutual selection assigns rushes with their round three schedule, typically consisting of anywhere between six and eight sororities, based on the mutual selection. Due to the nature of the matching system, sororities have the upper-hand over rushes in recruitment, as rushes who are cut by a sorority cannot receive invitations to future parties for that sorority, even if they were the rush's first choice in their ranking. Some rushes may be cut by all sororities, although this is not common as lowly ranked sororities are limited in how many rushes they may cut per round. The majority of rushes who are cut from all sororities either do not meet the GPA requirement, or are deemed to present reputational issues, often referred to as "blacklisting." Rushes may be blacklisted for a variety of reasons, although this most often occurs when there is documented proof of public drug or alcohol abuse, violence or bullying, irresponsible social media posts, or other behaviors deemed to be unfit for Limic life.

In round three, rushes attend the Philanthropy round at the sororities which had invited them back. This round is slightly longer than the Open House round, typically lasting an hour each. During the Philanthropy round, rushes speak with active members about the philanthropic efforts that the sorority participates in, and the community service that rushes have partaken in prior to university. After the conclusion of this round, rushes once again rank the sororities from their favorite to least favorite, and sororities may cut rushes from future parties. Through the mutual selection process, most rushes are left with between three and five sororities at the conclusion of round three. In round four, rushes attend the Sisterhood round at the sororities which had invited them back. This round is slightly longer than the Philanthropy round, typically lasting about two hours each. In the Sisterhood round, rushes are given the opportunity to get to know the active members of each sorority on a deeper, more personal level. After the conclusion of this round, rushes once again rank the sororities from their favorite to least favorite, and sororities may cut rushes from their final party. Through the mutual selection process, most rushes are left with two sororities at the conclusion of round four.

In round five, rushes attend the Preference round, often colloquially referred to as Preference Night or *Pref*. This round is longer than the Sisterhood round and also the most formal round, with the dress code being cocktail attire. Traditionally, all rushes are asked to wear black, while active members are asked to wear white. During the Preference round, rushes are offered the opportunity to have in-depth conversations with the active members of each of her final two sororities, in parties that last about two and a half hours. At the conclusion of the Preference round, rushes are asked to rank their final two sororities in order of which they would prefer to be offered a bid from, while sororities create a list of rushes from their Preference round in order of how strongly they would like to offer a bid. Additionally, this is the only round where rushes are able to cut a sorority, although this is risky as if a rush cuts a sorority but is not ranked highly enough on the other sorority's ranking, she may not receive a bid. In round six, rushes attend Bid Day, which is typically held in a large on-campus arena or auditorium. Each rush is given an envelope containing the name of the sorority which had offered them a bid, and all rushes open their envelopes together at the same time. After discovering their bid, rushes run from the arena to their new sorority house and are welcomed by active members with a large party. Each new member is also paired with an active member to serve as their mentor and guide throughout pledge week. Rushes who do not receive bids are notified prior to the start of Bid Day and do not attend. In 2019, it was estimated that 91.4% of rushes in the Ditrovian Kingdom received a bid for a sorority.

Rushes who are the daughter, granddaughter, or sister of an active member or alumna in good standing of a sorority are considered *legacies*. Legacies are given preferential treatment during rush week and are very likely to receive a bid for the sorority they are a legacy of, although this is not guaranteed. Step-family are not considered legacies.

An example rush week schedule for a PNM with a full schedule at the University of Clarkshire is below:

###### "Dirty rush"

*Dirty rush* or *dirty rushing* refers to recruitment practices during rush week deemed to be against recruitment rules set by the university or national sororal organization. What constitutes dirty rush can differ between universities and between sororities, but rules are generally the same. However, regulations are typically more lenient in southern Ditrovia, where sorority recruitment is typically more competitive, than in other regions and countries. Sororities will be fined by the Panlimic Council of their university if they are confirmed to have used dirty rush tactics, with the offending member or members typically responsible for paying the fine.

Although not generally defined as dirty rush, active sorority members are also forbidden from wearing their sorority letters or telling rushes what sorority they are a part of during rush week if they are not on the premises of their sorority house.

The following tactics are typically considered to fall within dirty rush regulations:

* Telling a rush she will receive a bid before a bid is granted.
* Telling a rush she will be cut before the cut is confirmed.
* Contacting a rush outside of designated parties within her rush schedule.
* Bribing or blackmailing rushes into ranking a sorority highly or accepting a bid from a sorority.
* Spreading rumors about rushes or other sororities in order to sway opinions.
* Inviting rushes to parties or events not sanctioned as rush week activities.

###### Criticism

The sorority rush system has been criticized for promoting prejudice and discrimination. In a 2019 study of active sorority members at Ditrovian universities, 71.5% of those polled agreed that rushes had been cut by their sorority due to their socioeconomic background, while 65.5% agreed that rushes had been cut for their physical appearance or body size, and 44.1% agreed that rushes had been cut for their race, ethnicity, or religious background. There has also been allegations in southern Ditrovia of discrimination against rushes from northern Ditrovia, Gumberland, and Oxland at southern universities.

##### Pledging

Following the conclusion of Bid Day, rushes are known as new members (NMs) or colloquially as *pledges*. This begins pledge week. Pledge week typically begins on a Saturday, the day after Bid Day, and ends the Saturday afterwards. Despite being highly time-consuming, pledge week typically coincides with the first week of classes, which has often led to fraught relations between Limic life and university faculty.

The week typically begins with the sisterhood retreat, which begins the day following Bid Day and lasts for the entire weekend. During the sisterhood retreat, both active members and new members embark on a trip together, where active members welcome their new members into the sorority, before they return to campus to really kick off pledge week. Throughout pledge week, pledges must complete various tasks assigned to them by active members, with failure to complete tasks sometimes being ground for dismissal from the sorority, colloquially known as *dropping*. Most commonly, pledges are taught various lessons on the history of their sorority, its active membership, and Limic life as a whole, with some sororities opting to incorporate humor into their lessons. At the conclusion of pledge week, pledges must sit for an exam administered by active members on the lessons taught to them, and those who fail may be dropped from the sorority. Hazing often commonly occurs during pledge week. While hazing is often banned by universities and is banned by all international sororal organizations, it is still widely common, and in an 2018 survey, 86.7% of active sorority members polled stated that their sorority hazed pledges. Hazing in sororities is less widely-publicized than hazing in fraternities, as there have been no reported cases of deaths being caused by the hazing of sorority pledges, although reported hazing experienced in sorority rituals often includes emotional abuse, body shaming, degradation and humiliation, and binge drinking. A 2019 study found that common hazing rituals in sororities included active members drawing in marker on pledges' bodies to denote where they must lose weight, pressuring pledges into sexual encounters with fraternity members, and stripping pledges naked and having their bodies rated by fraternity members, among others.

At the conclusion of pledge week, active members take a vote on which pledges they would like to fully initiate into the sorority. There is no quota on how many pledges can be initiated, and most sororities initiate all of their pledges, apart from those who were dropped for rule violations. Afterwards, pledges who passed the vote are brought by active members to a secret initiation ceremony, where they recite the oath of their sorority and are initiated as full members, ending pledge week and the recruitment process.

## List

### Sororities

The 18 sororities registered with the International Panlimic Conference are as below: