Fall recruitment is the busiest time of the year for the Panhellenic sororities at MSU and this year three sororities will continue holding recruitment events.

Continuous open bidding, or COBs in sorority speak, is the time when sororities who may not have reached a certain member count can hold informal recruitment events to gain new members.

Although COBs are not as popular as they once were, with over 1,000 girls who go through fall recruitment and only 14 chapters, sororities still take the opportunity to invite interested girls into their house when they are looking to add more sisters.

The COB events usually follow fall recruitment and are planned and organized by the chapter.

Vice president of recruitment logistics on the Panhellenic Council Camaryn Self said only sororities with membership below the required campus total are capable of holding events.

“The only requirement is there is no alcohol involvement because that’s not part of regular recruitment,” Self said.

Events could follow a certain theme ranging anywhere from a movie night to an ice cream social. Sigma Delta Tau,   Alpha Omicron Pi and  Pi Beta Phi are among the sororities continuing recruitment.

Open bidding may come off as a plea for new members, but Self said it is not negative.

“It’s just (the sororities) are not, number-wise, as large as others,” Self said. “COBs improve the amount of women they have.”

Marketing sophomore and member of Sigma Delta Tau Marisa Jonna said Sigma Delta Tau will be holding events this week and are excited to have more members.

“I think it will be fun. We’re still excited about the girls we did get,” Jonna said. “It’s great we’re able to keep adding people if they’re still interested.”

Self said any woman who is a full-time student can participate, even those who may have dropped out of formal recruitment in the past.

“They only wouldn’t be allowed to ... (participate) if they’ve recently received a bid from a chapter,” Self said.

If a woman received a bid, she would not be permitted to join a sorority for a full calendar year.

Jonna said continuous open bidding will be a more relaxed environment as opposed to the consistently busy fall schedule.

She said she felt hesitant to participate in recruitment during the fall semester and joined her sorority during spring recruitment when the number of girls who participate is much lower.

“(Continuous open bidding) is giving the girls who also felt hesitant the chance to be able to go through the sorority experience,” Jonna said.