COMMONLY USED GREEK TERMS AT TCNJ

ALUMNI/ALUMNA/ALUMNAE: A member of a Greek organization who is no longer a matriculated student at TCNJ.

BID: A formal invitation from an organization to join their organization. By accepting a bid, a PNM is now considered a new member of that organization.

BID DAY: The culmination of the week or 2 week long recruitment process for the 7 NPC sororities at TCNJ. At this program, the potential new members are revealed as new members of their new chapters.

BIG BROTHER/BIG SISTER: An active member of a chapter assigned to advise, guide, and watch over a new member.

CHILL NIGHT: An event sponsored by the MGC or IFC to meet potential new members in a relaxed, fun setting.

CO-ED: An organization that has both male and female members. TCNJ has 1 co-ed business fraternity.

COMMUNITY SERVICE VS PHILANTHROPY: Community service is a volunteer activity where members of a chapter actually go out and actively work on a volunteer project. Philanthropy is a way to raise money for a particular cause that the chapter has interest in.

CONTINUOUS OPEN BIDDING (COB): When a NPC chapter does not reach total after a formal recruitment period, that chapter is allowed to continue accepting new members.

CUBE: A set of couches in the Brower Student Center atrium that a particular fraternity or sorority has unofficially claimed as their own.

DEFERRED RECRUITMENT: At TCNJ, no first semester freshmen or a transfer student below 30 TCNJ credits, is allowed to join a Greek letter organization. This allows new TCNJ students their first semester to become acclimated to TCNJ/college life before making a commitment to Greek Life.

INITIATION: A formal ritual marking the acceptance of a new member as a fully initiated brother/sister of an organization, with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that come with it.

INTER-FRATERNITY COUNCIL (IFC): The Inter-Fraternity Council is a subcommittee of the Inter-Greek Council that oversees TCNJ’s 7 social fraternities.

INTER-GREEK COUNCIL (IGC): The Inter Greek Council is the name of the governing council for the 27 Greek letter organizations at TCNJ.

LEGACY: A potential new member who has a biological or adopted brother/sister, father/mother, and/or grandfather/grandmother that is an initiated member of a Greek organization.

LOCAL: A chapter who has no affiliation with a national organization and is usually the only chapter of that organization. TCNJ has 2 local fraternities.

MEET THE GREEKS: A program sponsored by the Inter-Greek Council that allows members of the TCNJ community to meet all 27 chapters at one time and location. This event normally takes place within the first 2 to 3 weeks of a semester.

MEMBERSHIP INTAKE PROCESS: The term used by NPHC organizations to describe their new member orientation process.

MULTICULTURAL GREEK COUNCIL (MGC): The Multicultural Greek Council is a sub committee of the Inter-Greek Council that oversees TCNJ’s 12 multicultural organizations.

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF LATINO FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS (NALFO): The national umbrella council for Latino Greek letter organizations. Currently NALFO has 23 member organizations, of which TCNJ has 4 member chapters.

NATNIONAL PANHELLENIC CONFERENCE (NPC): The governing body of the 26 national social sororities. The College of NJ has 7 NPC sororities who are governed by the TCNJ Panhellenic Association.

NATIONAL PAN-HELLENIC COUNCIL, INC. (NPHC): The governing body for the 9 historically African American Greek letter organizations. This group is also referred to as the Divine 9. TCNJ has 5 NPHC chapters.

NEW MEMBER: More commonly known as “pledges”, new members are individuals who are going through the six week new member orientation process to become a fully initiated brother/sister of a TCNJ chapter.

NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION: The six week orientation season that all new members of a Greek letter organization go through prior to becoming a fully initiated brother or sister.

NORTH AMERICAN INTERFRATERNITY CONFERENCE (NIC): The NIC serves to advocate for its member fraternities through a variety of programs and initiatives. Currently, TCNJ has 8 NIC fraternities.

ORDER OF OMEGA: The national Greek honor society; membership is based upon leadership, service, and scholarship.

PLEDGE: see “NEW MEMBER”

POTENTIAL NEW MEMBER (PNM): A potential new member is anyone who is not affiliated with a Greek letter organization and who wishes to join one during the informal/formal recruitment process.

PREFERENCE NIGHT: The ceremony before a chapter determines who they would like to extend bids to. It is a special night where the chapter showcases themselves to PNMs and for PNMs to really reflect to determine if they see themselves as a brother/sister of this particular organization.

RECRUITMENT: The 1-3 week time period during the beginning of a semester when potential new members may seek membership into any of the 27 TCNJ chapters accepting new members during that time.

RHO GAMMA: The name chosen by the TCNJ Panhellenic for their Recruitment Counselors. Every potential new member is assigned a Rho Gamma, a disaffiliated sister of one of the 7 NPC chapters, to help the PNM through the informal/formal recruitment process.

ROUND ROBIN: The name of the all day kick-off event for the 7 NPC sororities recruitment season. Every new member spends approx. 20 minutes in each of the seven chapter’s rooms in order to be introduced to each chapter and be given information on what to expect for the next 1-2 weeks.

QUOTA: The number of potential new members an NPC chapter is allowed to accept as new members during a formal recruitment period. This number is set by the Greek Advisor and Released Figure Specialist after all potential new members have signed their preference cards.

SNAP BIDDING: For NPC chapters, immediately following bid matching, if a chapter knows they are not at total, they can “snap bid” a PNM who was not matched with another organization. Snap bidding runs until the Bid Day ceremony. After Bid Day ends, the Continuous Open Bidding period begins. (see “Continuous Open Bidding” for details).

TOTAL: The optimum numbers of women NPC chapters are allowed to have on a particular college campus. At TCNJ, that number is 50.
 

MEETINGS:

IGC

First and Third Wednesday of each month. 1:00pm, BSC Room 202 West.

Panhell

Second & Fourth Wednesday of the Month. 4:00pm, BSC Room 211.

IFC

Second & Fourth Wednesday of the Month. 1pm, BSC Room 202W.

MGC

Second & Fourth Wednesday of the Month. 2pm, BSC Room 202W.

Order of Omega

TBD

Check the google calendar to verify meetings

Inter-Greek Council ▪ Brower Student Center ▪ PO Box 7718 ▪ Ewing, NJ 08628 ▪ IGC@tcnj.edu