#BamaRush insanity: Alabama sorority wannabes bag 1 billion TikTok views

Sorority Rush Week has returned to the College of Alabama campus — a lot to the fascination of social media.

The sorority recruitment course of — also referred to as “speeding” — is a interval of a number of weeks during which fraternities and sororities hunt for brand spanking new members.

It’s been a long-standing custom throughout numerous US faculties and universities, however Bama’s Greek life marketing campaign caught the eye of gawkers worldwide final 12 months — with the hashtags #bamarush and #rushtok having amassed a couple of billion views mixed on TikTok presently.

So get your Kendra Scott jewellery and tote bag prepared as a result of it’s time to observe increased ed’s most grueling recognition contest but.

Related clips on the social media platform provide a peak into the lifetime of a College of Alabama Greek life hopeful as they share their outfits of the day (#OOTD, for brief), exhibit their their on-trend — and sometimes monogramed — tote luggage and focus on recruitment necessities and recommendation on stepping into the best sorority.

In line with the Alabama Panhellenic Affiliation, this 12 months’s recruitment formally begins on August 6 for potential new members — dubbed “PNMs” — who’ve been making ready for weeks (if not their complete lives), all of the whereas documenting the method on-line.

PNMs are competing to hitch one of many 18 Nationwide Panhellenic Convention chapters at Bama. In July, the panhellenic affiliation introduced that 2,575 college students had signed as much as rush, as reported by AL.com

PNMs have to be prepared for something throughout rush “week,” which normally spans about 9 days. Despite educational coursework, the ladies should attend a battery of obligatory occasions, every of which requires a special costume code — therefore the #OOTD ritual posts and totes bag crammed with on-the-go necessities.

TikToker Gracyn Edmonson, who’s speeding this week, confirmed off what she’s carrying n her pink Longchamp bag in the course of the demanding course of, together with a transportable fan, a toiletry bag, stitching equipment, compact mirror, flip-flops, moleskins for blisters, hairspray, two varieties of deodorant, ponchos and a bag of mints.

“There’s actually a lot stuff on this bag, my shoulder’s going to interrupt off earlier than the tip of the week,” she stated within the clip that’s been considered over 3.2 million instances. “I hope that I’ve every thing.”

The primary occasion of the week, known as convocation, will introduce PNMs to energetic members of assorted sororities, adopted by presentation and tour of the sorority home, the place they’ll study a however extra concerning the mission, construction and, in fact, events provided by that chapter.

That is adopted by group service occasions and extra alternatives to bond with potential sisters, earlier than deciding which home fits them finest on Choice Day.

All of it leads as much as Bid Day, at which level the ladies discover out in the event that they have been accepted into their sorority of selection.

Final 12 months’s course of propelled some PNM’s into TikTok stardom because the web grew captivated by a fancy and secretive recruitment course of that was as soon as solely recognized to these in-the-know.

Alabama’s Greek life has turn out to be notorious among the many traditionally segregated Nationwide Panhellenic Convention chapters — to not be confused with the Nationwide Pan-Hellenic Council, the umbrella group for traditionally African American fraternities and sororities — with many on social media noting that the majority rushees look like white, blonde girls. Certainly, Alabama’s Greek system solely desegregated their NPC sororities in 2013, dragging far behind most faculties throughout the nation.

Alabama Panhellenic Affiliation guarantees “equitable alternatives” in its recruitment rulebook. However, College of Alabama sororities remained about 89% white in 2021, in response to The Crimson White campus newspaper.

The exercise can be an expensive one, with the typical value of charges for a brand new member at $4,170 per semester, in response to college information. Those that dwell within the chapter home are charged meal charges on prime of that, about $7,465 per semester.

In the meantime, these on the skin get to expertise the frenzy of rush totally free by way of social media.

“Finest time of the 12 months,” one person declared as many echoed the sentiment. “Completely satisfied bama rush to all who rejoice,” agreed one other.