This year’s Bid Day at The University of Alabama continued the trend of increased minority involvement in formal sorority recruitment. The University has worked to diversify the Greek system over the last few years.
“Every student that comes to The University of Alabama deserves to find a home within our Greek community, if that’s where they’d like to be,” said Ryan Powell, associate director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. “So we’re really proud of what our students have done in terms of supporting the inclusion initiatives … and that we’ve been able to communicate to students that [the Greek community] is a place where everyone is welcome.”
This Bid Day, Sat. Aug. 19, diversity among the young women who received bids from 16 Panhellenic sororities increased by close to 5 percent from last year. Of the women who received bids, 258 self-identified as racial or ethnic minorities, an increase from the 246 women in 2016.
“And, the number of African-American students who received bids was 36, which is up 11 compared to last year,” Chris Bryant, assistant director for the Office of Media Relations, said in an e-mail.
Minority participation in the Greek system has been on the rise since the publication of a 2013 Crimson White article which explained how black women going through formal sorority recruitment were repeatedly dropped. Before 2014, only one black woman, Carla Ferguson in 2013, had ever received a bid from a Panhellenic sorority during formal recruitment at The University of Alabama.
Just over 2,300 women received bids this year, meaning that 90 percent of the 2,589 women who attended the first round of recruitment events were accepted to a sorority. The numbers are lower than last year, but the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life said involvement in greek life is consistently proportional to the enrollment of the University.
“We’re really happy with the way that Bid Day turned out,” Powell said. “And seeing all those women celebrate is something we’re really proud that we were a part of in helping them find the organization that was a good fit for them.”
To the unknowing onlooker, the streets surrounding Bryant-Denny Stadium on Bid Day looked strikingly similar to most fall semester Saturdays. With people flooding the streets and security on hand, it could be any game day morning. That is except, that instead of thousands of people rushing into the stadium, thousands of young women ran out.
Starting in the early hours of the morning, chants of “Bid Day, Bid Day, Bid Day!” can be heard around campus as thousands of young women head to Bryant-Denny Stadium, where they’ll have their “fate” handed to them in a manila envelope.
In the stadium, girls find out what sorority they’ve received a bid from. After that, each sisterhood gets a turn to rush out of the stadium, sprinting to their new house, chanting their sorority’s chants and saying things like, “I can’t believe this,” “this is so exciting,” and “I really hope I don’t fall!”
Hundreds of spectators filled the street for the event, some running along the girls, all with smiles on their faces and high-energy levels to match. Alyssa Delia, a junior biology major and member of the Greek community, describes the day as the “best kind of crazy” and encourages people to experience it for themselves to have a better understanding of the pride in the Greek community.
“Anyone who hasn’t [been to a Bid Day] should come out,” Delia said. “Even if they’re not Greek, they’ll get to see why we love it so much and the excitement we have with it.”
