Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL):
The Pitt equivalent to the term “Greek Life”. In recent years, universities throughout the United States have shifted away from using the word “Greek” in order to differentiate the Greek ethnicity from the activities of Fraternities and Sororities
FSL 101:
An information session designed to educated Pitt students about FSL. In order to join an FSL organization, FSL 101 must be attended once. A schedule of sessions can be found here
Potential New Member (PNM):
Students who are interested in receiving an invitation for membership to a Fraternal organization
Recruitment:
A program (and period of time) of membership recruitment by Fraternal organizations. Recruitment (formerly called Rush) is the time when fraternities and sororities recruit new members. For NPHC groups, they recruit, called “intake” when each chapter decides (each NPHC group will conduct recruitment separately)
Formal Recruitment:
The major recruitment period of the year with specific scheduled events. The most concentrated period within formal recruitment for entertaining and selecting new members is sometimes known as “Recruitment Week”. IFC formal recruitment lasts 10 days
Informal Recruitment:
A year-round period of continuous, open rush with no specific, scheduled, system-wide activities of rushing and pledging. Bids may be extended and accepted at any time. This is also known as “Open recruitment.” Not all Fraternities participate in informal recruitment, but more are starting to adopt the practice. If you want to learn if a chapter participates in informal recruitment, their contact information can be found here
Bid:
An invitation to join a Fraternal organization
New Member:
A person who has been accepted as a probationary member of a sorority or fraternity. After the recruitment period, new members learn the history of their national and local chapters, learn the ideals and principles of the group; get to know their fellow new members and get to know the initiated members
A list of more terms can be found here