Greeks lead more than half of UK’s campus organizations, but until this year, it was more difficult for them to get involved with one of the biggest events of the year.

The kickoff of K Week, a nine-day introduction to UK filled with free food and activities, traditionally has coincided with sorority bid day celebrations.

But this year, potential new sorority members underwent a four-day recruitment process for time first time, a change from a historically five-day Greek introduction week. That means women interested in going Greek didn’t have to give up any campus-welcoming activities, and current sorority members could participate in K Crew, the student group of K Week leaders, without much conflict.

The Panhellenic Association, comprised of all campus sororities, voted to implement the changes, but K Week organizers did not have to alter their schedule.

A lot of discussion preceded the decision that would “allow sorority members full access to K Week,” said Robert Mock, vice president for student affairs.

He said that the new system doesn’t allow sororities to do as they have historically done, but this compromise was logistically easier than moving recruitment to the following week or starting it a day early.

Those other options would interfere with residence hall move-in and parents transporting new students to campus, said Susan West, assistant dean of students and director of fraternity and sorority affairs.

“It has a real ripple effect on everyone,” she said.

With the change, the open house part of recruitment was condensed from two days to one, West said, and the time each woman spent with each chapter fell from 45 to 25 minutes.

So far, though, she has not heard negative feedback about the changes, and she said many schools in the South, like Alabama and Auburn, already successfully use a similar process.

The chapters “might have concerns individually,” West said, “but I haven’t heard anything.”

Jared Tippets, director of New Student and Parent Programs, said that conversations with West about K Week focused on wanting to keep sorority women involved.

He called the change of policy a “good faith effort” on the part of the Greek community.

The K Week organizers did not make any concessions regarding the recruitment adjustment, but Mock said a compromise had been years in the making and that, overall, K Week impacts more students.

“I can’t speak for them,” Mock said of sororities, but “I would imagine that they felt like they were the ones to give.

“Most of the decisions that are made are not going to make 100 percent of people happy.”

West said it was an adjustment for the chapters, figuring out how to meet women for 20 minutes less than they were used to, but in the long run, a shorter open house might have put less pressure on recruits, not requiring them to come back to a second night before committing.

Some sorority recruitment chairs, however, disagreed.

For potential new members, “it was really overwhelming because they had to visit 13 houses in one day,” said Jordan Osborn, Kappa Kappa Gamma recruitment chair.

Kappa Delta recruitment chair Hope Hodges said that by the end of the day, sorority members and recruits were worn down and “probably not into it as much.”

Hodges said the open house change from two days to one made it more stressful for sororities to talk to more women in a shorter amount of time.

But the new process also had its positives for sororities and recruits.

“I liked it because we had a lot more time with girls on bid day,” Hodges said. “It wasn’t cut short from K Week activities.”

Osborn liked that, since the practice of sorority skits was cut out this year, potential members made decisions based on conversations they had with women in each chapter rather than on who performed the best skits.

“It gave them more of an open mind,” Osborn said.

The changes also freed up schedules for Friday, allowing women to attend K Week events without the risk of missing mandatory recruitment activities.

Fraternities, whose rush week starts with open house the Sunday after freshman move-in, have not experienced similar K Week conflicts. The only rush change this year was that chapters held open house in White Hall Classroom Building, instead of in their respective houses and using buses as transportation among them all, West said. The feedback she has received so far is that it has worked better this way, she said.

About 22 percent of female students are Greek, West said, but their minority status does not undermine their purpose. Mock stressed sorority and fraternity focus on leadership, service and academic achievement at UK. He said 65 percent of registered campus organizations are led by Greeks.

Leadership could potentially include K Crew positions, with which Tippets would like to get more interested sorority women involved.

Tippets said that now, sorority women can have their celebration the night of bid day but also attend mandatory K Crew training and Friday’s K Week events. He said there was never any messaging from his office that sororities were being forced to change their schedule.

“We want to find ways for members of sororities to serve on K Crew,” he said.