Speaking to new members is the main way in which current sorority members participate in recruitment and, according to the op-ed, “the selection of specific members over others” sidelined many women of color in this process.Ī heated argument ensued when they raised this concern with a member involved in planning the recruitment process. “There were other people getting multiple assignments, whereas they were not.
These women “looked around the room, and they were like, ‘wait a minute, everyone who wasn’t assigned was Black or Asian,’” said M., a former Theta member familiar with the matter who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation or harassment. This prevented several women of color, who had signed up to participate in recruitment, from interacting with new members. In the fall of 2019, during the tenure of previous leadership, “women of color, and dark-skinned women specifically, were excluded from the process of meeting new members from day one and told explicitly to go home throughout the process,” the op-ed read. UChicago ThetaĪccording to an op-ed penned by five former members of Theta’s leadership-all of whom have since disaffiliated from the sorority-UChicago Theta’s most recent reckoning began with an incident in the fall 2019 recruitment cycle. The catalysts for these movements have varied from school to school, but one common thread runs through them all: the belief that Greek institutions are rooted in classism, racism, and exclusivity. Hundreds of students reportedly disaffiliated from Vanderbilt Greek life institutions in July, the University of Richmond’s entire Panhellenic Council resigned over the summer, and “Abolish Greek life” Instagram accounts sprung up at campuses nationwide. UChicago is one of many universities across the country to see a mass exodus from Greek life in recent months.
During the 2019-20 school year, UChicago’s chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta (better known as simply Theta) had more than 180 members. Now, in January of 2021, it has just over 30.
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