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Sorority cleans house
National team booted overweight, non-white members at DePauw
By Sam Dillon
New York Times News Service
Published February 27, 2007
GREENCASTLE, Ind. -- When a psychology professor at DePauw University 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 increasing 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.
"I sensed the disrespect with which this was to be carried out, and got fed up," Holloway added. "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."
Holloway is not the only angry one. The reorganization has left a messy aftermath of recrimination and tears on this rural campus of 2,400 students, 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
The mass eviction battered the self-esteem of many of the former sorority members, and some withdrew from classes in depression. There have been student protests, outraged letters from alumni and parents, and a faculty petition calling the sorority's action unethical.
DePauw's president, Robert Bottoms, issued a two-page reprimand letter to the sorority. In an interview in his office, Bottoms said he had been stunned by the sorority's insensitivity.
"I had no hint they were going to disrupt the chapter with a membership reduction of this proportion in the middle of the year," he said. "It's been very upsetting."
`Plan to relocate'
The president of Delta Zeta, which has its headquarters in Oxford, Ohio, and its other national officers declined to be interviewed. Responding by e-mail to questions, Cynthia Winslow Menges, the executive director, said the sorority had not evicted the 23 women, even though the national officers sent those women form letters that said: "The membership review team has recommended you for alumna status. Chapter members receiving alumnae status should plan to relocate from the chapter house no later than Jan. 29, 2007."
Menges asserted that the women themselves had, in effect, made their own decisions to leave by demonstrating a lack of commitment to meeting recruitment goals. The sorority paid each woman who left $300 to cover the difference between sorority and campus housing.
The sorority "is saddened that the isolated incident at DePauw has been mischaracterized," Menges wrote.
Asked for clarification, the sorority's public relations representative e-mailed a statement saying its actions were aimed at the "enrichment of student life at DePauw."
This is not the first time that the DePauw chapter of Delta Zeta has stirred controversy. In 1982 it attracted national attention when a black student was not allowed to join, provoking accusations of racial discrimination.
Despite that incident, the chapter appears to have been home to a diverse community over the years, partly because it has attracted brainy women, including many science and math majors, as well as talented disabled women, without focusing as exclusively as some sororities on potential recruits' sex appeal, former sorority members said.
"I had a sister I could go to a bar with if I had boy problems," said Erin Swisshelm, a junior biochemistry major who withdrew from the sorority in October. "I had a sister I could talk about religion with. I had a sister I could be nerdy about science with. That's why I liked Delta Zeta, because I had all these amazing women around me."
Negative image
But over the years DePauw students had attached a negative stereotype to the chapter, as evidenced by the survey that Pam Propsom, a psychology professor, conducts each year in her class.
That image had hurt recruitment, and the national officers had repeatedly warned the chapter that unless its membership increased, the chapter could close.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...ck=1&cset=true
National team booted overweight, non-white members at DePauw
By Sam Dillon
New York Times News Service
Published February 27, 2007
GREENCASTLE, Ind. -- When a psychology professor at DePauw University 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 increasing 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.
"I sensed the disrespect with which this was to be carried out, and got fed up," Holloway added. "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."
Holloway is not the only angry one. The reorganization has left a messy aftermath of recrimination and tears on this rural campus of 2,400 students, 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
The mass eviction battered the self-esteem of many of the former sorority members, and some withdrew from classes in depression. There have been student protests, outraged letters from alumni and parents, and a faculty petition calling the sorority's action unethical.
DePauw's president, Robert Bottoms, issued a two-page reprimand letter to the sorority. In an interview in his office, Bottoms said he had been stunned by the sorority's insensitivity.
"I had no hint they were going to disrupt the chapter with a membership reduction of this proportion in the middle of the year," he said. "It's been very upsetting."
`Plan to relocate'
The president of Delta Zeta, which has its headquarters in Oxford, Ohio, and its other national officers declined to be interviewed. Responding by e-mail to questions, Cynthia Winslow Menges, the executive director, said the sorority had not evicted the 23 women, even though the national officers sent those women form letters that said: "The membership review team has recommended you for alumna status. Chapter members receiving alumnae status should plan to relocate from the chapter house no later than Jan. 29, 2007."
Menges asserted that the women themselves had, in effect, made their own decisions to leave by demonstrating a lack of commitment to meeting recruitment goals. The sorority paid each woman who left $300 to cover the difference between sorority and campus housing.
The sorority "is saddened that the isolated incident at DePauw has been mischaracterized," Menges wrote.
Asked for clarification, the sorority's public relations representative e-mailed a statement saying its actions were aimed at the "enrichment of student life at DePauw."
This is not the first time that the DePauw chapter of Delta Zeta has stirred controversy. In 1982 it attracted national attention when a black student was not allowed to join, provoking accusations of racial discrimination.
Despite that incident, the chapter appears to have been home to a diverse community over the years, partly because it has attracted brainy women, including many science and math majors, as well as talented disabled women, without focusing as exclusively as some sororities on potential recruits' sex appeal, former sorority members said.
"I had a sister I could go to a bar with if I had boy problems," said Erin Swisshelm, a junior biochemistry major who withdrew from the sorority in October. "I had a sister I could talk about religion with. I had a sister I could be nerdy about science with. That's why I liked Delta Zeta, because I had all these amazing women around me."
Negative image
But over the years DePauw students had attached a negative stereotype to the chapter, as evidenced by the survey that Pam Propsom, a psychology professor, conducts each year in her class.
That image had hurt recruitment, and the national officers had repeatedly warned the chapter that unless its membership increased, the chapter could close.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...ck=1&cset=true
