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sorority up the hierarchy so that the group has its pick of the fraternities at mixers and at the following year’s Greek Week—unless the winner is a perennially unpopular group like State U’s designated “loser sorority,” which won Greek Week a few years ago only to find that no one cared.
    Shannon, a recently graduated West Coast Delta Zeta, remembered this time of year fondly. During Shannon’s tenure, several weeks before Home-coming, fraternities would call the Delta Zeta president and tell her they wanted to invite the sorority. As part of the courting process, each fraternity sent representatives to bring gifts and entertainment to the sorority. In front of the sorority membership, the men had to sing songs, read funny poems, or perform a skit, and bring ice cream or extravagant floral arrangements. Usu-ally the Delta Zetas would have quite a few of these offers to sort through. But if a fraternity they considered beneath them courted them, they would laugh. “As soon as they left,” Shannon said, “we’d say, ‘Oh, how cute that they asked us. How sweet and pathetic. There’s no way in hell we’re going with them!’ We would pick the fraternity by how cool it was, not by the gifts we got.”
    “Serenades” are a popular form of this kind of courtship: the fraternities are expected to sing to the sororities and vice versa. Some sororities take this opportunity to adopt a sweetly teasing tone, as do the girls who serenade with “Pink Pajamas”:
    I wear my pink pajamas in the summer when it’s hot,
    and I wear my flannel nightie in the winter when it’s not,
    but sometimes in the spring time and sometimes in the fall
    I jump into the covers with nothing on at all.
    Don’t you wish that you could be there,
    Don’t you wish that you could be there,
    Don’t you wish that you could be there,
    In the spring time and the fall (clap, clap)
    With nothing on at all (clap, clap)
    I’m sure we’d have a ball (clap, clap)
    With nothing on at all. (clap, clap)
    Other groups opt for a more delicate, ladylike tone, such as that of an Alpha Sigma Alpha chapter’s serenade:
    Take me up to a fraternity house,
    take me up to your room.
    Buy me some beer and vodka too.
    Get me drunk and I’ll surely screw you,
    for it’s grunt, grunt, grunt goes the Alpha Sig as the [fraternity name] shoves it in.
    For it’s one, two, three times a night, thanks for getting me laid!
    Many sororities and fraternities use similarly sexual songs—the more  boisterous, the better—and incorporate suggestive gyrations into the routine.
    The Courting Fiasco
    SEPTEMBER 14
    AMY’S IM AWAY MESSAGE
    longest meeting ever
    AT STATE U, ALPHA RHO WAS ON SOLID GROUND THIS YEAR. Last year the sisters had done Greek Week with Delta Lambda, always a fairly strong house. This year, the girls expected to be courted by multiple groups, so they weren’t surprised when Omega Phi, a decent fraternity, stopped by on Monday with a rose and a note for each of the 130 sorority members. On Tuesday, Zeta Sigma came over and spelled out “Zeta Sig craves A-Rho” in protein bars on the patio. By the time the boys left, they had also hung sloppily sketched posters saying “Zeta Sigma wants Alpha Rho!” on the columns in front of the house. The girls were delighted—house chatter all week revolved around the two fraternities vying for their attention.
    Most of the Penthouse girls were rooting for Omega Phi. Fiona, the Penthouse gang leader, had a boyfriend in Omega Phi who was always visiting the room. Bitsy, the pierced Pent, constantly reminded her sisters that she had recently hooked up with an Omega Phi who was “so incredibly hot.” Even Charlotte, the president, had a crush on an Omega Phi. As a result, Omega Phi was quickly becoming known as the “hot” house. Sabrina, Amy, Caitlin, many of the juniors, and the girls living outside of the house were leaning toward Zeta Sigma. Zetas’ gifts were, as the sisters described with their