Sorority Evictions Raise Messy Issue of Looks and Bias

[swag]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/25/education/25sorority.html?em&ex=1172552400&en=c5e6be264104de9e&ei=5087%0A

GREENCASTLE, Ind. — When a psychology professor at DePauw University here surveyed students, they described one sorority as a group of “daddy’s little princesses” and another as “offbeat hippies.” The sisters of Delta Zeta were seen as “socially awkward.”

Worried that a negative stereotype of the sorority was contributing to a decline in membership that had left its Greek-columned house here half empty, Delta Zeta’s national officers interviewed 35 DePauw members in November, quizzing them about their dedication to recruitment. They judged 23 of the women insufficiently committed and later told them to vacate the sorority house.

The 23 members included every woman who was overweight. They also included the only black, Korean and Vietnamese members. The dozen students allowed to stay were slender and popular with fraternity men — conventionally pretty women the sorority hoped could attract new recruits. Six of the 12 were so infuriated they quit.

“Virtually everyone who didn’t fit a certain sorority member archetype was told to leave,” said Kate Holloway, a senior who withdrew from the chapter during its reorganization.

. . .

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

1. ironic

[elfrangel]

2. BRAVO!!!!

:applause: :applause: :applause:

Kudos to those 6 young ladies who left b/c of this.

[BreweryYardRat]

4. That's quite the surprise, I agree.

Points to them for not going along like good little sheep.

[Nikia]

8. Not really, the 6 women knew the meaning of the word sisterhood

The people at nationals who kicked out the majority of the chapters members did not know the meaning of the word.
It is not suprising that they got such a small group of new members either.
The ironic thing is that they thought that they would increase membership this way, but it is more likely that the chapter will close over this.
On edit: I actually meant to reply to post #4

[Chan790]

11. Bingo.

Their nationals should feel ashamed.

Further, besides shooting themselves in the foot at that school, I can guarantee that they lost any prospective colonies they might have gained any time soon. Student Life officials from universities pay attention to this sort of thing and so do IFCs, PHCs, and Greek Councils. If I was still president of the Inter-Greek Council at my alma mater they wouldn't be getting on our campus anytime soon.

[BlueIris]

3. "They also included the only black, Korean and Vietnamese members."

Disgusting.

[CharmCity]

5. Why is anyone even remotely surprised by this?

Seriously.
Isn't the POINT of "Greek Life" to avoid people who aren't just like you?

[Chan790]

10. Wow...

that may be one of the more-offensive blanket generalizations I've heard since I graduated from university.

Yes, there are religiously-bigoted, racist, classist, looks-discriminating and sexist Greek organizations. There are also individuals, companies, organizations, politicians (and yes, even some of whom are Democrats), DU-members, religious institutions,... who are religiously-bigoted, racist, classist, looks-discriminating or sexist. Take any population sample and you'll find morons.

That doesn't make all individuals, companies, organizations, politicians (including Democrats), DU-members, religious institutions, (and so on.) religiously-bigoted, racist, classist, looks-discriminating or sexist.

Hate of any form is rather unbecoming, dude.

Sincerely,

Chan790
3-term President ('99, '00, '02)
Inter-Greek Council
Catholic University

[bridgit]

6. same thing happened to me when i rushed: Katherine Delta Zeta Jones...

i was told to pick up a slimy old quarter owned by the founding sister with my butt cheeks after scooting across a floor strewn with broken, rotten eggs & busted up egg shells...they somehow found it less than amusing when i told them that the new shiny one i already had stuffed up my ass was better than theirs as was my milkshake go figure :shrug:

[philosophie_en_rose]

7. Really?

I never pledged a sorority and wondered if I missed anything.

Apparently not.

Seriously, I don't understand how someone could associate (let alone be friends) with people that haze them?

[Nikia]

9. Our sorority had a strict anti hazing policy

Nationals even told us that some things that we didn't think were hazing actually were. They also pressed us to tell the Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council that the traditional Saturday night after bid day activities were hazing, which included new members doing a song and act dance at each of the fraternity houses, and that we wouldn't be participating.

[swag]

12. Follow-up - Jesus' General writes to the head of Delta Zeta

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2007_02_25_archive.html#3636748585260383019

Dear President Raziano,

Kudos to you for going down to DePauw University and culling all the overweight and brown sisters from the Delta Chapter. You've given the remaining sisters a special gift; you've given them hope of becoming popular once again.

I wonder, however, if the National Council is doing enough to prevent the same problems from occurring elsewhere. I counted at least three brown and ten overweight sisters in the latest issue of The Lamp. Although 13 is a relatively small number when compared to the hundreds of other sisters who appeared in the same issue, it isn't zero, and it's not what we would call that old Delta Zeta standard of slim, white perfection.

If you're going to allow any chapter to accept brown or overweight pledges, you might as well do away with other cherished Delta Zeta traditions like purging and Jew baiting. We certainly don't want to see that happen, do we.

. . . more

[PVnRT]

13. ...and that's one reason I didn't go to DePauw

despite a nearly full ride scholarship. They're almost universally a bunch of fake-ass wannabe Ivy League assholes, 90% of whom go Greek, as they proudly told us during a campus visit. It's a fantastic liberal arts school tainted by a bunch of cockstains.

And I wonder about this "survey" that was originally done up there that said the women of this sorority were "socially inept." Who exactly were they asking? Given that most of the male population is in fraternities, and likely horny little cockhounds, I can't help but wonder if this sorority was the one that didn't put out as much as the others, or weren't quite hot enough to bust a nut on.

Yes, I know not all frat guys are jerkasses, but there are a high percentage of them at DePauw.

[LostinVA]

14. Good for the six members -- I'm happily surprised

[HuffleClaw]

15. this is newsworthy?

'sorority is selective, pictures at eleven'???

it'd be newsworthy if a sorority WASN'T selective.

[swag]

17. This is the lounge, mate, not LBN.

[Burma Jones]

16. From Animal House.....

Neidermeyer: Hi there, fellows. Meet Ken and Lonny.
Larry: Larry.
Neidermeyer: Ken, Lonny, l'd like you to meet Mohammet Jugdish, Sidney and Clayton. Grab a seat and make yourselves at home. Don't be shy about helping yourselves to punch and cookies.

[idgiehkt]

18. "certain sorority member archetype"

"archetype"?

So they are an archetype now?

[eridani]

19. More commentary

http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2007/02/heroines-of-week-or-sisterhood-is.html

I love Ms. Holloway, and all the De Pauw women who decided not to put up with Delta Zeta's sexist bullshit. If you read in between the lines of the news story, it's fabulous: they kicked out a computer science major with the research skills to go track down evidence of past discrimination in the library; a junior with the organizational skills and chutzpah to put together an open meeting at the student union to tell the DePauw student body what had really happened; and the editor of the DePauw student paper (what were they thinking?!?).

If Delta Zeta wanted to do a scientific experiment to raise the consciousness of smart, ambitious, accomplished young women, they couldn't have done a better job. I predict that the DePauw students will go on to kick ass and take names for the rest of their lives.

(I couldn't find pictures of the entire sorority chapter; the university--which is on the side of good here--seems to have disabled or moved the page, understandably enough. The two pictures above were the only ones I could find of women named in the article. Meet Kate Holloway (top left), a media fellow at DePauw and the former chapter president, she of the John Lennon glasses and wig--the picture's taken from an announcement that she's doing an internship at USA Today, leading me to suspect she's got something to do with the story hitting the NYT; and Erin Swisshelm, a science research fellow at DePauw, for chrissake (take note, Larry Summers), who is one of the six that quit out of feminist solidarity. Kudos, ladies: you're an example to us all.)

http://grabapple.net/entry/343

I never had any interest in sororities when I was “rushed” by DZ; but it was full of women I knew and admired, smart, straight-A types. And yeah, some of them were overweight, or butch, or just not the bowhead sorority type. That’s why I joined. That’s why I put up with the exorbitant fees, the asinine social events (dances, balls, cutesy-pie fundraisers), the ridiculous initiation (learning DZ history, memorizing the founding members and being quizzed, for god sakes, and learning a secret handshake—sorry, nothing more exciting than that), the sneering of other Greeks on campus who thought of us as rejects. (whereas we thought of them as airheads, with a few exceptions). The stupid colors (pink and green) and mascot (turtle) which we were supposed to decorate ourselves with on various occasions. I liked the girls, who were funny and sarcastic and weird and supportive. I could put up with pink and green turtles if I had to.

But it was a bad fit, Geek and Greek, at least if you were a woman. We had the highest GPA of any sorority on our campus; we raised money for good causes; we paid our dues. But we weren’t big enough, and we weren’t bringing in enough money, and in the end, that did us in.

Social sororities are nothing but money-sucking organizations that claim to be dedicated to vague goals of do-gooding and sisterhood, but are not really about anything but the dues. They sell exclusivity, based on a code of looks and behavior straight out of the 1950s, which was the last time they were truly powerful. The girls in our group, like those in the NYT article, tried to change that, to make them about the ideals sprinkled throughout their literature, of upstanding behavior, sisterly support, community involvement, and fun. We thought it would work, because we were naive and young and took what we were told at face value. And so we got closed down.

http://www.alternet.org/stories/48611/

These are the bad beans that have everyone's stomach in knots. Is this what anyone imagined their little girl growing up to be? A ballerina, an astronaut -- or a student locked in her bedroom by her "sisters" because they think she's too ugly to come downstairs? Even Cinderella wouldn't pass that gas.

[philosophie_en_rose]

20. Here's a picture of the ejected girls.

They look normal to me. :shrug:

Then again, I'm brown and round, so apparently not Delta Zeta material. :eyes:

[petronius]

21. I hate to be an objectifying jackass,

but that looks like a crowd of serious hotties to me... Yowza!

The part about this story that stikes me as odd is: who are these people who work for and stay with the sorority at the national level? I understand an undergrad pledging a Greek organization, and I'm not surprised by a certain degree of ignorance or immaturity among undergrads who are still growing up, but what kind of person chooses to essentially stay in the frat/sorority even after graduation, and become a 'professional' Greek? :shrug:

[philosophie_en_rose]

25. Looks like the sorority really lost out here.

From what I've read, these women have excellent grades, are heavily involved in prestigious activities, and some even have jobs or internships with huge companies.

These are the kind of alumnae that would be great connections for future generations and would likely be able to contribute financially too.

:shrug:

But I suspect that you've hit the nail on the head. THe national office does not relate to women that have more going for them than being in a sorority.

[petronius]

26. Indeed - when I first read the story I was thinking that these are the students

that every university or program boasts of having and scrambles to attract/retain. And yet they're not the 'right material' for this sorority? :shrug: There is a serious disconnect, there...

[Orsino]

22. The ex-members should start their own sorority...

...to be called, naturally, Phi Delta Zeta.

[ironflange]

23. The university I went to didn't have sororities

In an insanely misguided attempt at political correctness, they were called "female fraternities." Somebody decided that "sisterhood" was a sexist term. Woo.

[fladonkey]

24. Can't these girls....

appeal to the Panhellenic Council? This doesn't happen in all sororities. I am a member of Sigma Alpha Iota.

[ironflange]

29. I hate to admit, it was a long time ago

I don't know if they still do it. I'll try to find out.

edit: It's OK, they're called sororities now. Both of them.

[jpgray]

27. What is the benefit of living in a sorority?

Especially one that would can you because you're too uggo?

[philosophie_en_rose]

28. You live together with your friends.

Have a network of contacts and mentors. Get to know like-minded people?

It sounds like these women formed a fairly inclusive and supportive group. I'm sure they didn't know that they'd be kicked out for not being bimbos.