This just in: A new Greek chapter is coming to campus!
We were there to catch this breaking news as it happened. Last Tuesday marked a new “chapter” in Greek Life history. Each chapter was given a vote on whether UM should invite a new Panhellenic sorority onto campus.
As Dean Singleton put it, this is really a win-win situation. At the previous meeting, he told Panhellenic that the decision was up to them and that from the University’s point of view, it was time.
The last chapter to colonize was Delta Delta Delta [Tri Delta]. UM was committed to seeing the success of the Greek system and said that expansion was out of the question until Tri Delta was viewed as being stable.
However, being stable was no issue for any chapter on campus this year, according to Greek Life administration. The six NPC sororities all currently hold at least 100 members. The Panhellenic community currently holds 692 sorority women.
With the vote for expansion set as a positive, action is now taking place to recruit a new Panhellenic sorority. The process is a bit long, but will prove to be worth it in the end, said Greek Life administration.
Kara Miller, the new coordinator for Greek Affairs, explained the process at the meeting.
“There are 26 National Panhellenic Conference sororities. We already have six of them on our campus. Therefore, this fall we will be sending a solicitation letter to the remaining 20 that are currently not found on our campus,” Miller said. “We will collect their interest, and a review process which will include members of each sorority on campus will begin.”
Miller said that by spring 2004, she hopes to invite the final three candidates to campus for presentations, at which point a vote will be conducted and a new sorority invited to campus.
“We plan to have the sorority the expansion committee chooses colonize at UM in fall 2004,” Miller said.
Stay tuned to be informed as new developments occur. Please send any questions, suggestions or comments to greekhurricanes@yahoo.com. Your organization may be featured in an upcoming Greek Gossip column.