Thursday, June 7, 2007

Just when I was going to start looking for a new t-shirt with my sorority's letters on it, I come across this....sheesh! I know, I know...it's old news but my dh forgot to tell me that he had heard it on the news...I blame him!




Anywho...here's my thoughts on the matter.

I can't speak for Delta Zeta as a whole but I can tell you some about my chapter. We were a bunch of "strange" girls...no one wanted to ever have mixers with us. Later I found out that a lot of my "sisters" were lesbians and that pretty much led me to figure out why we weren't included in social events...not because people were homophobic (they may have been, I have no idea) but because they wouldn't be able to "hook up" with a lesbian! Makes sense to me!! There were only four of us that dated regularly...that went to the fraternity houses for rush...that became "little sisters"...that partied at Richard A's. (Sorry Dad...I know it's not pretty! lol!!)What made us even more strange is that we weren't "Bow Heads"...girls that wore big bows plopped right there on top of their heads. Usually, these gals also wore polka-dotted grosgrain ribbon as belts...

During Rush, we would put on a great show because we knew that we needed to get good quality girls to join so that the group would thrive and survive. This happens with all groups but it's still unsettling to me.

I remember after one night of Rush, all of us who were qualified to vote met in our suite to pick and chose rushees to invite to Pref Night. So how did we do this?? We were given slides of all the girls that had picked us as one of their choices for Pref Night...we sat there and looked at these girls projected on the wall...and we chose...based on APPEARANCE! Yep, appearance. I remember one gal who was in a wheelchair, not particularly pretty, she looked worried...we discussed whether or not she would "fit-in" with the group and if she would give us a bad image. We decided that we would not ask her to Pref Night because we didn't want to be known as the sorority that took all the losers. Pardon me while I puke....I can't even believe that I was involved with all that! At the time, I did feel a bit uneasy about it but what was I supposed to do? I wanted to be in a cool sorority!! Shallow...shallow...shallow.

Eventually I became the VP of Rush and as I was gearing up for a super fantastic Rush, we got the news that the National Council was closing our chapter. We just weren't strong in number and we really needed to get some good quality girls into the group. We were given a little over a month to capture our beautiful girls. We were able to talk several gals into pledging but we didn't get enough and they weren't "quality". National Council sent us letters stating our move to alumna status...we had our little ceremony where we were given a white rose. We were encouraged to go around the circle and share our feelings about becoming an alumna...and we did...and it was not pretty, my friends!

What it all boils down to is this: We were not considered beautiful and popular enough to be able to represent Delta Zeta Sorority. At the time, I really thought it was about numbers...but I bet we would have been encouarged to stay if we all had been slender and pretty. Maybe if we were bow heads we could have stayed....




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2 comments:

Karen said...

I am so sorry you had that experience. Mine was amazing. My pledge class doubled the size of our chapter, and we formed such great and long lasting friendships. I am still involved as an alum. and haven't seen that in any of the chapters or AA's I have been involved with. (I'm a KD) Our nationals is in Memphis where I am from and I know and have met so many people everywhere we have lived, and they are all fabulous women. I am happy to say that I am proud of my sorority and I encourage everyone I know to at least go through rush for the experience.

Anonymous said...

Wow that really stinks. I did not belong to a sorority. I was invited but a few, but I turned them down. I had no desire to be part of a sorority.