Subscribe"Delta Zeta’s national officers....judged 23 of the [DePauw University] 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."Many at the university are not happy.
Cynthia Winslow Menges, the executive director, said the sorority had not evicted the 23 women . . . . Ms. Menges asserted that the women themselves had, in effect, made their own decisions to leave by demonstrating a lack of commitment to meet recruitment goals.But other than that, the sorority officials here showed pretty much the bad judgment you'd expect when you expel the smart ones. It sounds like Delta Zeta trashed its reputation on campus, and that its moves to boost recruitment had exactly the opposite effect. Kicking out twenty-three members to gain three is a pretty bad tradeoff.
To the world,–– Dorothy Mumford Williams, Alpha Zeta (1939)
I promise temperance and insight and courage,
To crusade for justice,
To seek the truth and defend it always:
To those whom my life may touch in slight measure,
May I give graciously
Of what is mine;
To my friends,
Understanding and appreciation;
To those closer ones,
Love that is ever steadfast;
To my mind,
Growth;
To myself,
Faith
That I may walk truly
In the light of the Flame.
If the leadership of the chapter can be blamed for anything at all, it was in not standing up to the national organization when they saw the writing on the wall. I've never been in a sororoity though, so I have no idea if this is easier said than done.
"Elizabeth Haneline, a senior computer science major who was among those evicted, returned to the house that afternoon and found some women in tears. Even the chapter’s president had been kicked out, Ms. Haneline said, while “other women who had done almost nothing for the chapter were asked to stay."
"Did Delta Zeta cull all but the prettiest sisters from its DePauw University chapter? The sorority's former president on why she was asked to leave."
"...As a result, it has become clear that the values of DePauw University and those of the Delta Zeta National Sorority are incompatible. Therefore, effective immediately, I have severed future ties with the Delta Zeta national, and I am including here my letter of notification to them. I wish to emphasize that our problem is with Delta Zeta national, not its local members, who have handled themselves with extraordinary poise and maturity in difficult circumstances, nor our Delta Zeta alumnae, many of whom have expressed dismay about their national's behavior and support for DePauw. We will continue to work closely with these students and alumnae as we go forward."~ Robert G. Bottoms, President
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posted by ericb at 3:01 PM on February 24, 2007