PNM: PNM stands for Potential New Member and is anyone who is interested and eligible for sorority recruitment that has not yet received a bid.

Primary Recruitment: Membership recruitment period in the fall semester that is coordinated by the FAU Panhellenic Association and begins with orientation and ends on bid day

Bid: A formal invitation to join an organization

Rho Gamma: Active members in good standings that are selected by the Panhellenic Executive Board to dissociate from their chapter to guide groups of PNMs through the recruitment process.

MRBRA (Membership recruitment acceptance binding agreement): Binding agreement document signed by PNM. The binding agreement signed by a potential new member (PNM) following the final preference event she attends during fully structured or partially structured recruitment. A PNM agrees to accept a bid from any chapter she lists on her MRABA. If she receives a bid to a chapter she lists and declines it, she is ineligible to join another organization on that campus until the beginning of the next primary membership recruitment period. If she does not receive a bid to membership, she is eligible for continuous open bidding. The MRABA also is used for continuous open bidding and colonization bids

Philanthropy: A charitable cause that a sorority supports through fundraising, awareness, and hands-on service.

Sisterhood: The lifelong bond of friendship between members of the same sorority, built on shared values, traditions, and experiences.

Strict silence: The period of time after the close of preference events and prior to the distribution of bids when there is no communication between potential new members and sorority women

Chapter: A local designation of a national fraternity or sorority

Big Sister (“Big”): A member of a chapter who mentors a new member, guiding her through her new member program and helping her navigate sorority life.

Initiation: A ritual ceremony that brings new members into full membership of a sorority including its lifelong benefits. Once a woman is initiated into an NPC sorority, she is ineligible for membership in any other NPC sorority

NPC (National Panhellenic Conference): The council and governing body that oversees all 26 national and international panhellenic womens fraternities and sororities. FAU has 7 of these chapters

Continuous open bidding (COB): An opportunity for chapters that do not reach quota during primary recruitment to bid to quota and/or for chapters that are not at total to bid to total. The COB process is not structured by the College Panhellenic, and only chapters with available spaces in quota/total are eligible to participate in COB

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