A new petition for fall sorority recruitment has garnered nearly 150 signatures in the past two days.

Freshman Juliette Firla created the petition because she was unable to rush due to Elon’s 2.8 GPA requirement.

“I had issues adjusting to school here,” Firla said. “I took too many classes, I got involved in too many things [that] I could [not] handle.”

Firla wouldn’t have the chance to rush until the following winter. As a result, she created a petition advocating for sorority recruitment in the fall.

The petition would give female students an earlier second opportunity to rush—an opportunity already extended to male upperclassmen.

“The end goal for me is just getting equal opportunities for both the boys and girls on campus.”

Freshman Elise Granath is a member of Sigma Kappa who signed Firla’s petition.

“I think that fall recruitment could be beneficial to those girls who were specifically not able to go through recruitment because of GPA requirements,” Granath said.

Firla feels fall recruitment would be beneficial both for the new members and for the sororities.

“I feel like this would give me kind of a sisterhood, people to rely on, and just something to do with my time other than academics,” Firla said.

While Granath believes fall recruitment may be beneficial to female upperclassmen, she says that it may not be feasible.

“There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of recruitment that you really don’t see until you’re on the other side of it,” Granath said. “In order to make it just as special and as big a deal as spring recruitment...rehearsals would probably have to take place in the summer or a couple weeks before school started.”

However, Granath still thinks all students should have the chance to experience Greek Life.

“It’s for some people and it’s not for some people,” Granath said. “But if you think it’s for you, I think you should have the chance to be in one.”

Dan Faill, Director of Sorority and Fraternity Life, says that he appreciates Firla’s “spirit and passion” for the petition, but would have preferred she contacted the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life before publishing the petition.

“There are some areas that I would have liked her to reach out to our office for prior to writing it so we could have given more context and better informed her stance,” Faill said. “Recruitment during any time of year is possible, however FSL helps administer the process, which is controlled by the National Panhellenic Conference...and the Elon Panhellenic Association.”

Furthermore, Faill stands by the Panhellenic Association's decision to enforce a 2.8 minimum GPA requirement, a .05 point increase made this year.

“Being a part of a fraternal organization at Elon is a privilege, not a right,” Faill said. “If there are students that do not meet the minimum expectations of the University, the governing councils, or the respective chapters, I support that decision to hold themselves to a higher standard.”

Elon News Network will continue to update this story as it develops.