DBY2017 - it is only fraternities that have disaffiliated or tried to disaffiliate. They are in a snit about not being able to rush in the Fall semester. Some of those fraternities did “illegally” rush freshmen. However, the Panhellenic sororities have not disaffiliated. There was some legal informal recruitment by sororities in the fall for sophomores only and limited to those sororities that wished to participate. That is the same kind of informal recruitment that used to occur in the Winter term when formal recruitment was in the Fall.
Sororities do not haze. Fraternities, however, seem to continue to believe that you can’t have fun without abusing people. I would not encourage a son to join a fraternity at Michigan. My daughter, however, is a member of a sorority and it has been a great experience for her. She has been on Panhellenic Exec board so I hear everything about the Greek system at Michigan; some of the fraternities’ behavior has been troubling to say the least.
OP - as another poster noted, formal recruitment for this academic year is over. Some houses have Continuous Open Bidding because they did not fill quota. You can look into those. Or try as in the fall with informal recruitment as a sophomore if there are openings in houses. Formal recruitment is definitely competitive and it is best to go in with an open mind.