RECRUITMENT

Welcome to the Alpha Chi Omega website, and thank you for your interest in our chapter and the Columbia University Panhellenic community!

As a first year, I came into Columbia during the pandemic when learning was still entirely remote. I felt disconnected from my peers and was searching for a community. I wasn’t initially going to go through recruitment, but joining Alpha Chi Omega has no doubt been one of the best decisions of my college career and has allowed me to meet ambitious and inspiring members of the Columbia community. The sisters in our chapter truly embody Alpha Chi Omega’s values and are genuinely “Real, Strong Women.” The beautiful thing about our chapter is that there is no uniform definition of what it means to be an Alpha Chi. Our sisters are athletes, dancers, actresses, engineers, artists, and so much more. My favorite thing about Alpha Chi is that each sister has their own unique interests and backgrounds, but our passion for our chapter and our philanthropy is what brings us together.

By joining Alpha Chi, I have made some of my closest friends, joined a lineage who have truly become my family at Columbia, gained mentorship and professional support, and connected with students across grades, schools, and majors. From lineage movie nights, Butler study sessions, early-morning workout classes, Taco Thursdays, and leaning on my sisters for emotional support, I can enjoy the company of my sisters without feeling the need to sacrifice my time working towards my degree or involvement in other activities.

At Alpha Chi Omega, we recognize the historical exclusivity of Greek Life and are committed to promoting equity and inclusion within our chapter and the greater Columbia Panhellenic Community. We strongly believe that true structural change starts with each individual member of our chapter, by recognizing and improving our implicit biases, prejudices, and privileges. We encourage our sisters to have difficult but necessary conversations, and one way this is accomplished is by conducting DEI Real Talks twice a week—Real Talks are small-group discussion-based meetings which cover topics such as body bias, religious intolerance, and racial/ethnic discrimination. Our recruitment team works closely with our DEI committee to ensure that we work against the cyclical exclusivity and ingrained biases against marginalized communities embedded in traditional recruitment practices. We also acknowledge that joining a sorority can pose a financial burden, and so our chapter has worked hard to promote scholarship programs and funds to eliminate these barriers. Our ultimate goal as a chapter and recruitment team is to not pressure anyone, especially those from a historically minority community, to go through recruitment, but rather to make our chapter an inclusive space where no one feels uncomfortable or hesitant based on their identity.

I hope you can see just how amazing of a community Alpha Chi is, and that you can imagine our chapter as your home. I look forward to meeting you all during recruitment!

Sincerely,

Anda Gravlin

Vice President of Recruitment, Theta Psi Chapter