By Jake SpringThe Daily Northwestern
After beginning the search for a new sorority last Spring Quarter, the Panhellenic Association and Northwestern administration have narrowed the pool to three candidates.
The search began when the Alpha Delta Pi chapter closed at the end of the 2005-06 academic year due to low membership, said Lisa Juarez, Panhel President and a Communication senior. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Panhel solicited applications from organizations not currently on NU’s campus, and selected Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Xi Delta and Zeta Tau Alpha as the three finalists. The selection was first announced to the 11 chapter presidents at a round table on Oct. 4.
“To finish up the process, these three organizations will come to campus on different dates to make presentations. There are separate meetings with the Panhellenic chapter delegates and presidents in addition to the Panhellenic community,” Juarez said.
A formal presentation on each of the candidates will be held in the next 30 days and will be open to all members of the Greek community. Based on the presentations and input of the Panhellenic community, delegates will vote to invite one of the sororities to colonize on campus, Juarez said.
If the chapter is approved by NU administrators, the sorority will then begin recruitment in Winter Quarter.
“I want to see an organization come to campus that is going to be successful, and there are a lot of different ways to be successful,” Juarez said.
A Zeta Tau Alpha representative plans to give a general overview of the women’s fraternity, highlighting what sets it apart, said Laura Mauro, national president of ZTA.
“We’ll give them an overview of the fraternity, foundation and housing corporation,” she said. “I’d say of the three entities, we’re the strongest nationally.”
Representatives of Sigma Delta Tau and Alpha Xi Delta could not be reached for comment.
Panhel decided to start the process of adding a new Greek chapter to campus to keep membership size and pledge class quotas manageable, Juarez said. A pledge class quota is the maximum number of bids that a chapter can offer, and quota is determined by dividing the number of women participating in recruitment by the number of sororities. Recent quotas have generally been in the thirties.
“There are currently 11 chapters heading into formal recruitment with the largest (freshman) class Northwestern has ever had,” Juarez said. “In previous years we had 12 chapters and a smaller freshman class.”
If recruitment goes as projected, at least 400 women will join sororities Winter Quarter, said Erin Huffman, assistant director of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
The new sorority will receive housing in one of the vacant buildings in the Sorority Quads, she said.
The new chapter will not participate in formal winter recruitment, but national representatives of the sorority will conduct an informal recruitment later in the quarter, Juarez said. The exact procedures will depend on which sorority is selected.
Regardless of the organization that is selected, it will offer opportunities that existing sororities cannot, Huffman said.
“It can be very exciting for these women to start something new,” she said. “(Some) people like to be entrepreneurs. This is a great way to do that.”
Reach Jake Spring at [email protected].
