After only a year as a member of the Panhallenic sorority Pi Beta Phi, Caylee Pugh became inactive. A year later, the senior anthropology major from Naples, Fla. rejoined Greek life but as a sister in Xi Delta — and she didn’t regret her decision.

Pugh said the close-knit relationships in Xi Delta were a huge factor in her decision to rush again, especially compared to the large chapter sizes of Panhellenic sororities, which often have over 200 members.

“It’s harder in a big sorority to make friends easily because it’s just so huge,” Pugh said. “There are cliques – and that’s fine, it’s just more intimidating. And so that’s what was appealing about this. It wasn’t intimidating because it was so small.”

Xi Delta is a local social sorority founded at the University in 1991.

Julia Spitler, a junior anthropology and political science major from Marietta, is Xi Delta’s president.

“We were actually a colony of Alpha Xi Delta, [a Panhellenic sorority],” she said. “They were trying to reestablish and then later on we decided that we just wanted to be our own thing.”

Without a national governing body, Xi Delta has freedom to tailor members’ experiences to their wants and needs, but that also means they lose visibility on campus by not being affiliated with a national Greek council.

The fourteen active members are close to each other though.

“I can say, personally, that I know something personal about every single person who’s in this room,” Spitler said.

Xi Delta does most of the same things as other sororities, including philanthropies, rush and social events.

As Xi Delta’s social chair, Pugh is in charge of scheduling social events like formals and “Xi Delta and Friends” events.

“We recently paired up with Zeta Beta Tau, and we started things with them a lot this semester,” Pugh said. “They’re kind of smaller like us, and so they contacted us, and we’re having a Valentine’s Day party with them.”

Paige Hutchens, Xi Delta’s recruitment chair, said this week’s spring rush with Xi Delta is more subdued than Panhellenic rush.

“It’s not supposed to be a stressful event at all,” said the junior public relations and political science major from Warren, Mich. “It’s very relaxed, so we just enjoy it.”

The sisters meet potential new members in the MLC on Monday through Thursday, with Bid Day at the end of the week at Rooker Hall’s fireside lounge.

“This year we’re doing a tea party since the theme is Keep Calm and Rush Xi Delta,” Hutchens said.

Victoria Arnold, a freshman mass media arts major from Atlanta, rushed this week with the hopes of becoming a sister in Xi Delta on Friday.

“I’m here because I met one of the sisters at the beginning of the year and she and I became really good friends,” said Arnold. “She introduced me to the girls and I fell in love with all of them immediately. I’ve definitely decided that I want to become a part of this sorority.”

Arnold said she was turned off from rushing a Panhellenic sorority because of the amount of effort and stress involved in rush week.

“All the girls on my floor rushed and it was so intense and they would wake up at 4 a.m. to do their hair and everything, and I just didn’t want to do that,” she said.

It’s the intimacy and sincerity than has drawn girls to Xi Delta in the past, and it is what they consider their most important asset.

“It’s all about creating these personal bonds from the very beginning,” Pugh said.