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Twenty-three members of the DePauw University chapter of Delta Zeta sorority were expelled by representatives of the national chapter in hopes of being able to attract new, “conventionally pretty” recruits, The New York Times reports.
The sorority expelled every woman who was overweight as well as the only black, Korean and Vietnamese members. One of the women expelled was the chapter’s president.
The sorority officers decided to reorganize after a psychology professor’s survey announced that the members of Delta Zeta were seen as socially awkward. The national officers interviewed 35 DePauw members in November, and considered them “insufficiently committed” and told them to leave the sorority house.
The Times reports that the sorority had decided to conduct the “review” due to declining recruitment. This year 11 women were offered membership and only three accepted.
The 12 women allowed to stay were considered to be slender and popular with fraternity men. They were told that the national chapter hoped that the remaining members would attract a different type of recruit. Six of the 12 members deactivated after the reorganization.
The Times reports that this is not the first time an incident like this has occurred at the DePauw chapter of Delta Zeta. In 1982, the sorority refused to let a black student to join, drawing accusations of racial discrimination. The DePauw, the student newspaper, has also received letters from alumni who graduated in 1970 that say the sorority had attempted to keep a woman with a black father and white mother from joining the sorority.
“Virtually everyone who didn’t fit a certain sorority member archetype was told to leave,” Kate Holloway, a senior who withdrew from the chapter during the incident, told the Times. “I sensed the disrespect with which this was carried out and got fed up. I didn’t have room in my life for these women to come in and tell my sisters of three years that they weren’t needed.”
Robert Bottoms, the university’s president, sent a two-page letter reprimanding the sorority. The Delta Zeta sorority national headquarters has posted a response on its website.
“Delta Zeta finds it offensive that recent reports have suggested that decisions at DePauw University were related in any way to our members’ races and nationalities,” the statement said.
The Times reports that several students who were forced to resign from the sorority withdrew from classes citing depression as the reason.
CBS News reported that Delta Zeta is not the only member of the Greek system in trouble with DePauw University. Three fraternities have been on probation for varying hazing incidents in the past few years.
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5 Comments
As a sorority woman myself, it is appalling that the media is being so one-sided in their coverage of this story. EVERY single sorority has rejected women that the media could misconstrue as being for wrong reasons, but in reality, girls are rejected for reasons of academia, character, etc. I think it should also be known that Delta Zeta National Headquarters has commented to the media about this multiple times, but the news (specifically The New York Times) has refused to cover their side of the story. In fact, a member of Delta Zeta was interviewed by the New York Times. In her interview she stood behind the decisions made by Delta Zeta, conveniently enough, they chose to leave her testimony out of the story. The media needs to stop being so INCREDIBLY biased themselves. I also think you all should know that the girls were not “expelled” as the media wants you to believe, the girls simply became alumni members. They are still Delta Zetas, just not active members anymore. You all should know that recruitment is an INCREDIBLY important part of Greek life. We work year-round to be prepared to select each girl that we believe can and will represent our sorority in the best and most positive way possible. I SUPPORT MY DELTA ZETAS COMPLETELY!!!!!!!! All of you should go to Delta Zeta and read our side, then make your decision on the topic.
Yes, they can’t be active. They can’t participate in chapter activities except in a limited way. They got kicked out of the house. Those facts are not in dispute. Good grief, how could the national put a positive spin on kicking someone out of their home mid-year? If the purpose was to increase membership, why didn’t they let them stay?
Why in the world would you want to stay active with an organization that doesn’t truly support you?
Kara, I’ve read DZ’s attempt to explain this, and they are just incoherent. If you think there is a significant difference between being expelled and being “placed on alumnus status” then you probably aren’t trying very hard to see how DZ looks to most normal people — you’re just circling the wagons mentally around a position that you already held. As Tanya points out, it doesn’t make any sense to normal people to explain that you are trying boost members by reducing the number of members. It just makes DZ sound two-faced and dishonset.
I was greek at W&M and I now regret every moment of it. What a colossal waste of time for an organization that was utterly useless.
I am disappointed by this simple regurgitation of national news, and the opinions it spurs. As was noted in a comment above, there is more to the story that is left untold. I can’t delve into a full defense of Delta Zeta because I just don’t know enough. I, like most, am just a second and third-hand observer. However, I did find a few interesting pieces of information on the Delta Zeta site that I thought relevant.
First, the membership size of 35 was less than half the average chapter size at DePauw and there was long standing pressure to recruit more members. Apparently, the chapter voted in August to close at the end of the academic year, relieving them of the need to recruit or function as a chapter. (How long had that pressure been brewing and how had they responded previously?)
Second, the communication and behavior of DePauw University has not been critically assessed or reported on. It sounds less that ideal with “reports” of professors making issue of the incident in class, poor campus press and un-collaborative administration. (What really happened?)
Having experienced a membership review first-hand at William & Mary I have my own opinions, particularly since ours was a painful success. Yet, where is the reporting about reorganizations. Have they been done at DePauw…elsewhere…successfully? What cultural chapter issues spur them: recruitment, alcohol-abuse, hazing? What does “alumni status” look like for members vs. alternative actions? All questions whose answers would provide great context.
All I can say is that harsh criticism and staunch defense on controversial events like this should be based on facts and not limited reporting or selective interviews. Perhaps it’s true that Delta Zeta perpetrated an egregious wrong at DePauw, but it appears the ground this story stands on is societal stereotype and what sells in the news. I would love instead to read a story that tries to reconcile the differing accounts of members within the very chapter, all the facts available and the pretext leading up to the event.