With both the movement to abolish Greek life and the pandemic hindering membership numbers, several Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association organizations extended recruitment into Spring Quarter through continuous open bidding.
COB, an informal recruitment process, allows fraternities and sororities to hand out bids at their discretion. This year, PHA sororities recruited exclusively by COB and IFC fraternities shifted to a COB process starting Spring Quarter.
For sororities, the decision was necessary after Panhellenic Association’s canceled formal recruitment because of concerns about virtual recruitment and the uncertainty of chapter status due to the Abolish Greek Life Movement.
Spearheaded by an anonymous Instagram account and as part of a larger national reckoning, the Abolish Northwestern Greek Life Movement led to mass deactivations and calls to disband in the past year.