Pledging schedules for fraternities and sororities have been delayed to next semester with rushing scheduled to conclude prior to the end of the fall semester.

In two separate emails sent to the presidents of each sorority and fraternity, Robin McPherson, senior coordinator of fraternities and sororities, gave respective schedules showing a calendar of events regarding rushing, bids, and the start and end dates to pledging.

Virtual rushing for fraternities is scheduled from Oct. 28 to Nov. 11 with pledges scheduled to receive their bids on Nov. 15.

However, virtual rushing for sororities is scheduled from Oct. 28 to Nov. 15 to allow for two rounds of invitation rushing. Pledges are scheduled to receive their bids on Nov. 22.

Bid day is planned to take place on Jan. 9 and allows fraternities and sororities to have six hours for bid day activities any time between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Pledging will officially last from Jan. 10 to Jan. 27 with pledges being made new members by the last day of pledging.

Robin McPherson, senior coordinator of fraternities and sororities, addressed the possibility of having to conduct virtual pledging within the emails, allowing fraternities and sororities to have time to plan for this during the winter break.

“Fraternities and sororities will use the winter break to ensure thoughtful planning for virtual pledging, but our goal is to provide as many in person experiences as possible,” McPherson said. “We also believe having the ability to pivot from in-person to virtual is critical, and there are aspects of pledging that can be conducted in a hybrid model.”

Tamara Long, vice president for enrollment management, said that allowing time for a virtual pledging plan from each officer was done to allow pledging to be done next semester no matter the circumstances.

“If the officers were gonna be placed in a position to have pledging done virtually, they were going to need time to create a plan,” Long said. “They have an in-person plan based on safety. So, giving them the winter break to create virtual plans is what we did so they can pivot to allow pledging to be finished safely once they return no matter what.”

Although she hopes to keep pledging in-person, McPherson said every decision that was made was done to consider the safety of the students.

“We would love to do all of it in-person, but in the end we are going to do everything we can to ensure that everyone is safe,” McPherson said.