Frequently Used Terms

Active Member—An undergraduate fraternity member who has been initiated by his chapter.

Alumnus—A fraternity member who is no longer a member of a collegiate chapter (plural is alumni).

Bid—A formal invitation to join a fraternity.

Brother—A term used by members of a fraternity when referring to one another. Also a term used interchangeably with Active Member.

CampusDirector—The recruitment software used to facilitate formal recruitment.

Chapter—A local membership unit of a national or international fraternity.

Daily Selections—each day Potential New Members will list all available fraternities in order of their preference within the CampusDirector system.

Event—A recruitment occasion hosted by a fraternity. The CampusDirector system will schedule events for you.

Formal Recruitment—A designated membership recruitment period comprised of a series of events hosted by each IFC fraternity, scheduled and governed by the Interfraternity Council.

Fraternity—Greek-letter organizations that are characterized by a ritual, badge, and a strong tie of friendship.

Initiation—The formal, secret ceremony that brings a new member into full membership.

Intentional Single Preference (ISP)—When a Potential New Member intentionally selects only one fraternity in the CampusDirector system at the conclusion of Preference Night.

Interfraternity Council (IFC)—The IFC is a cooperative campus organization of collegiate members of North-American Interfraternity Conference recognized fraternities.

Interfraternity Council Executive Board—The leadership elected to serve the Interfraternity Council member fraternities. The Executive Board facilitates the governance of the fraternity community.

Interfraternity Council Advisor—The University of Tennessee professional staff member that assists and advocates for the fraternity community.

Legacy—A man whose father, brother, or in some cases grandfather, is an alumnus or active member of a fraternity.

Multicultural Greek Council (MGC)—MGC is a cooperative campus organization of culture-based fraternities and sororities.

Mutual Selection Process—The process in which both the Potential New Members and the individual fraternities are making membership selections throughout Recruitment. Potential New Members will make decisions regarding fraternities they want to join and the fraternities will make decisions regarding the men they want to invite to their events.

National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations (NALFO)—NALFO is the national governing body composed of the 24 Latino Greek-letter organizations.

National Panhellenic Conference (NPC)—NPC is the governing body composed of 26 national women’s fraternities.

National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)—NPHC is the governing body composed of the 9 national historically African-American fraternities and sororities. NPHC also is the name of the cooperative campus organization of collegiate members of NPHC fraternities and sororities.

New Member—A man who has accepted a fraternity bid but is not yet an initiated member. Also referred to as Pledge, Associate Member, Candidate, etc.

North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC)—NIC is the national trade association composed of the 64 member organization fraternities.

Open Recruitment (365)—Open Recruitment bids may be extended and accepted at any time during the school year other than Formal Recruitment.

Philanthropy—A service project undertaken by Greek organizations at the campus, community, or national level. Each fraternity has a designated cause to which they serve.

Potential New Member (PNM)—Any man interested in becoming a member of a social Greek-letter organization who is eligible to join according to specific council requirements.

Recruitment Captain—A Greek man carefully selected and trained to guide potential new members through the IFC formal recruitment process.