Willamette University offers the best of both worlds: a personalized liberal arts education combined with ample opportunities to get involved in campus life. Each student can get connected and find new friends through the 100+ student-led clubs and organizations available on campus. One rich element of Willamette’s campus community is its Fraternity and Sorority Life (FSL), offering opportunities for leadership, belonging, and service.
Willamette’s four active FSL chapters — Alpha Phi, Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Chi, and Kappa Sigma — stand out as places for community, philanthropy, and excellence.
The FSL recruitment process makes it easy to get involved. Each semester, students host open houses, bringing together interested students and current members. Recruitment events offer the possibility of involvement in a new community full of friendship and rooted in excellence.
At Willamette, there is no timeline or competitive formal recruitment process influencing a student’s decision. Rather, FSL’s continuous open bidding style of recruitment creates a low-pressure and supportive environment focused on relationship-building, which reflects the close-knit nature of Willamette’s student body.
"Our FSL community is unique in that students can join at any time during the academic year,” says Lisa Holliday, who serves as associate dean of students and director of student engagement & leadership. “That approach serves Willamette students well because there is no pressure to join, and sometimes they wait until they have become academically established or have a chance to learn more about what FSL can offer them.”
A place for belonging, leadership, and service
Each semester, FSL chapters put on philanthropic, recruitment, and social events. Willamette’s FSL chapters commonly partner with on-campus and locally-based organizations through volunteer and charity events. For example, students from Alpha Chi Omega collaborate with Salem’s Center for Hope and Safety to advocate for domestic violence awareness. Members of the Sigma Chi Fraternity host Derby Days each Spring, a community fundraising event that supports the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
“Being a part of a sorority at Willamette has elevated my experience as a student and as a person by bringing me closer to people outside of my major and allowing me to meet students who I would never interact with otherwise,” says Marie Tarrab-Dabbah BA/BS’26, former Panhellenic President, student-athlete, and member of Alpha Phi.
Leadership is at the heart of the FSL experience, as each chapter has an executive board that facilitates chapter engagement. Through leadership positions, students can refine their soft skills and build experience in community outreach and collaboration across campus. Members are encouraged and supported through their time at Willamette and beyond as fraternity and sorority members. As alumni, there are many opportunities to remain involved in the lifelong bonds of Greek life, through professional development, chapter advising, leadership opportunities, and networking.
“FSL’s continuous open bidding style of recruitment creates a low-pressure and supportive environment focused on relationship-building, which reflects the close-knit nature of Willamette’s student body.”
Ultimately, Willamette’s FSL is about community. “When I ask students why they join FSL, the number one reason is community,” Holliday says. “Students find a supportive group of people in their chapter.”
Tarrab-Dabbah agrees. “We are students with a large support group to celebrate our wins and console our losses. The compassion, community, and commitment I found in FSL is something I would never trade from my time here at Willamette.”
