When a Closed Group Re-forms
 

https://smudailycampus.com/1063328/n...a-think-again/

Article in the Southern Methodist campus newspaper about the closing of Kappa Alpha Theta in 2022 and the way they re-formed as "The Society". The article also discusses how the campus (both admin and Greek Life) has responded to the new group.

Wow this is a mess. I do wonder what the national organization itself will do once the suspension is lifted and they (could) return to campus. Considering how popular the house was for a long time, I bet they'll return soon. It sucks that just on the PKT think that has been the thing on SMU's campus for ages lead to this underground organization to exist, as some of these students would rather be in an org that could potentially do harm to them than join one on campus that is seen as "beneath" them.

I rant about this because the exact same thing happened to Tri Delta at Penn State. Hazing incident occurs, chapter gets suspended, and an underground organization called Trilogy forms in its place. Tri Delta had the opportunity to recolonize in 2013, but nationals declined to due to Trilogy being in place (and Penn State was dumb enough to recognize them as a campus organization rather than say don't join this.) Here is more about "Trilogy"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-se...y-hazing-party

This was wordy as hell. Were the pledges initiated? If so, why on earth did Theta nationals allow them to be initiated when hazing allegations were going on?

Re Trilogy at Penn State, there must be something more to it than just drinking and hazing or they wouldn't still be around after 10 years (that included COVID, a system shutdown and lots of other shit).

On their official campus page they are touted as a philanthropy group that helps with Penn State's THON, which is the biggest charity event on campus. They still do function as a "sorority" with cheaper dues and social events.

https://orgcentral.psu.edu/organization/trilogy

Similarly:
At UCF in 2015 the Lambda Chi Alpha chapter closed and resurrected as “The Gazoni Family”
https://www.reddit.com/r/ucf/comment...gazoni_family/

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/u...family-2410536

Still dealing with it in 2021:
https://fsl.sdes.ucf.edu/wp-content/...2021154736.pdf

It's a tale as old as time that the good old mix of money, power, rules and prestige will likely rule the day over the women in The Society.


Theta's been on campus since 1929. They operated a multi-million dollar mansion for their membership. Despite the new arrival of Alpha Delta Pi to campus, Theta's eventual recolonization before their 100th anniversary is a likely Theta target.


SMU has turned their backs on The Society by passing rules against groups such as theirs in favor of Theta eventually returning.


Theta has indicated it will not return unless The Society is completely expunged.


Even the Interfraternity Council President is quoted: "...The Society is a blight on Greek life...".


IMO SMU is attempting to get rid of The Society because The Society is preventing the return of an old, dominant and prestigious sorority back onto campus.


It matters not that the women of The Society are not those who performed hazing while members of Theta, nor are they accused by anyone of hazing after having formed The Society.


Did The Society once HAVE campus recognition, then lose it? If they had recognition, what legitimate reason caused The Society to lose recognition by SMU?

The question is, do the chapter alumnae view The Society as their sisters or not? Is there anyone left in The Society who is also an initiated Theta?

The thing I find the most shocking about this is that the *mothers* of the Spring '22 Theta New Member Class founded The Society so that their daughters could continue to have the sort of social life their mothers deemed appropriate for their mostly wealthy, entitled daughters. And, to top that they incorporated it as a non profit organization. This will make it much harder for SMU to get rid of them, especially if the women were not initiated members of Theta. If not, they have no real ties with KAT nationally.

I do believe Theta when they state that they will not reorganize at SMU as long as The Society exists. As long as their mortgage is paid they can remain inactive for as long as they wish.

I truly do believe that Theta did everything they could to end hazing in that chapter up until they were forced to pull their charter.

Hopefully time and the efforts of the university will cause The Society to die a natural death sooner, rather than later.

I'm totally not surprised that the helicopter parents founded this group for their daughters.

Same rhing happened at UT Austin SAE and KA went local and survived for years. uT Fiji told the International to go take a hike years ago and has a cery cold relationship with rhe national organization as well.

Sorry fot the typo's.

If I was a student on that campus preparing to go through recruitment, I would be much more interested in joining an existing NPC rather than a local group that has ties to an NPC that used to be on campus. This "Society" may be a short-term thing, and if it goes belly-up in a few years they miss out on the benefits of lifelong national sorority membership and having somewhere to go for Homecoming. But that's just me. Was Theta really that big of a deal on that campus?

Maybe I'm mistaken, but from the article it sounds as though Theta's nationals pulled their charter after hazing accusations, and that's why the consequences seem more severe than they were for the other orgs who were also accused of hazing. Those national groups didn't pull their charters at SMU.

I do think it's kind of shady how SMU is trying to thwart this new group. Freedom of association and all that. Just let them do their thing if they're not hurting anyone and stop threatening the Greek orgs who want to have social events with them. Maybe they can do this because SMU is a private school?

That was the second serious hazing incident in 2 years for Theta, I think Theta Nationals had had enough. I believe that the hazing incident with Pi Phi was their first. The DDD chapter at UVA was put on a semesters probation for similarly writing on New Members bodies with Sharpies.

Sometimes I think that female hazing is worse now and so much of it appears to be the "cutesy" stuff that they've heard about in social media, like the Sharpie crap. I've heard of PNMs showing up on campus excitedly asking to be hazed. Sad.

I think I might be missing something here - what was the purpose of forming The Society? That sounds like a dumb question; but, surely all parties involved realize that The Society is NOT Kappa Alpha Theta and will never be Theta. It seems the idea was possibly born out of a feeling disgruntled over the closure of the chapter. But as for the mothers who formed the group......that doesn't make your daughters Thetas.

It's ok to be upset. It's ok to feel angry. It's ok to feel let down. I'm sure the new members were thrilled when they opened their bid cards. I can only imagine the heartbreak they felt to have that opportunity taken away. But who is to blame here? The mothers et al say it's not fair that a few graduating seniors did the hazing and everyone is punished. Uhm....yeah....that's how this works. Haze and everyone pays the price. This wasn't the chapter's first time getting caught hazing. And if their daughters had died of alcohol poisoning, would that have been ok because at least they died pledging Theta?

The logic escapes me.

More about Tri Delta at UVA: During an investigation into reports of potential hazing behavior, Tri-Delta Sorority acknowledged hazing associated with events attended by their new members. The sorority held an event on February 4, 2022, known as “The Scare” which featured a mixer with St. Elmo fraternity where pledge class members attended and alcohol was provided. The event was intended for pledges to get to know current members. During the event, the pledges were required to watch a presentation that included information about current members. During the slideshow, a Tri Delta sister ran into the room and said someone in the pledge class had reported them for an alcohol violation. She then announced she was going to take a picture of the pledge class, and that someone needed to disclose who had reported them. After time passed the Tri Delta sister returned to the room to explain the situation was a joke. The event’s purpose was to scare the pledges. The investigation also revealed that new members had words written on their bodies.

I have to agree with you and I don't understand why the mothers formed "The Society?" I do feel for their daughters who were impacted by the decisions of the older members, but creating an unrecognized group isn't a safe or smart decision IMHO.

I know that SMU is considering—or has decided—to have sorority recruitment in the fall rather than the spring. So—is The Society taking a “pledge” class? Are they “rushing” girls who want a pseudo-Greek experience without the behavior requirements or dues?

Just wondering if anybody knows. This clearly has happened at other schools.

Wow! I just looked and The Society has an Instagram featuring college women—not sure if they are former Thetas, Theta alumnae or actual “Society” members?
The most recent post is 4 days ago.

Their site is: thesocietydtx

Holy Hannah. I took a quick look at their Insta and it screams M-O-N-E-Y. Their gala looks like a New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe gala.

They're still using black and gold as their colors. Oh, but they're "not affiliated with Theta". Things that make you go hmmm...

My understanding is that these are mostly all previous Thetas who are now "converted" into The Society members. It's not clear how many are new members pledged straight into The Society without being Thetas first.

Judging from their social media, they probably won't be going anywhere for a while. I imagine they will attempt to position themselves as a high society group that is a tier above the "regular sororities". For that reason, I expect a number of girls will want to join the chapter.

So these groups have found loopholes in which to operate. I may be looking at this simplistically, but it appears to me that PSU not allowing Trilogy to participate in THON, and especially not allowing them to pair with a fraternity, might make Trilogy a little less attractive to join. The admins could also make the consequences greater for groups who socialize with rogue organizations, and despite this age group being risk takers, the groups might decide it’s not worth the risk to fraternize with them.

This is how some of the not-sororities at UPenn roll. They easily attract the candidates they want.

And the interesting thing with Trilogy is that they were present on the night that Tim Piazza died, and all of the reforms that Greek Life has undergone at Penn State does not apply one bit to Trilogy, because they're technically NOT a sorority. Makes you wonder...

SMU sorority recruitment begins in early January 2024, just a few weeks away. It’ll be interesting to see what “The Society” does: will they conduct an “underground recruitment”? Will they actively encourage young women NOT to pledge other groups still in good standing? Or…will they just let their current “membership” play out till they all graduate?

If anyone has any connection and can keep us filled in, it’ll be fascinating to see.

Many groups other than sororities and fraternities participate in THON (list here) so it would be very difficult for them to find a way to prevent Trilogy from doing so. Also there are far more fraternities than NPC sororities. One fraternity pairs with GSS, one with Phi Sigma Rho, and one paired with a dance company.

If Penn State Panhel was smart, they'd invite Trilogy to become a member instead of deriding them as a "fake sorority" and the women who join as wannabes who couldn't get bids elsewhere. Instead they just contribute to Trilogy's reputation as "outlaws" and the women who join are the ones attracted by that reputation. Ditto the fraternities that THON pair or socialize with them. As far as the Tim Piazza situation, if a university of this size didn't have any sort of procedure in place to discipline a non-Greek group that they find contributed to a student death - be it Trilogy, the basketball team or the Anime Club- that truly is their own dumb fault and yet another example of the kind of tunnel vision that says "if we crack down on Greeks all the bad things will go away." Mistaking campus culture for Greek culture.

Yeah, I have to say they don't look too upset about not being part of NPC.

I know that women these age have grown up with computers just as I did with the radio and they think about it almost as much...but when I see all these professional level pages it blows my mind. (Or else they have enough $$ to pay actual professionals.) It makes me miss sticking my film from blind date party in an envelope at the bookstore and praying that at least one picture of me would come out decent.

Definitely reminds me of the groups at Penn, as Low D Flat said.

They have their own networks of private schools, camps, socialite friend groups, etc that will refer daughters and friends.

People always talk about stuff like this happening in the south, but it goes on, to a certain extent, in many other places.

Tiffany Trump is a Kappa Alpha Theta alumna in good standing. She matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania, not Penn State.

Sorry. I will edit my post.

However, the rest is about the University of Pennsylvania, not Penn State.

Is Theta going to void the memberships of any initiated Thetas who are also participating in The Society? I can see how The Society may appeal to college students and PNMs who aren't thinking beyond the next 4 years. Unfortunately, affiliating with this group would be a huge mistake for anyone who truly wants to be in a sorority for life and not just for college. I think as adults they may regret it. The alumnae connections and lifelong opportunities for friendship and service are such an important part of the sorority experience, and I've found that many of my friends are leaning a lot more into this as we approach our 40s.

If I were a member of another (recognized) sorority at SMU, I wouldn't be too concerned about The Society poaching PNMs. It sounds like the girls The Society wants (and the girls who want The Society) are from a very specific social set and likely wouldn't have pledged anything else anyway.

I saw videos of their recruitment which they happened to have at the same time as official sorority recruitment.

And I think if Theta decides to return, they won't let any of the society girls join, as this is preventing them from coming back sooner (the suspension was suppose to only last until this year.)

I saw videos of their recruitment which they happened to have at the same time as official sorority recruitment.

And I think if Theta decides to return, they won't let any of the society girls join, as this is preventing them from coming back sooner (the suspension was suppose to only last until this year.)

So what are these “Society” members doing in their “rush” video: lounging around in Chanel and Louis Vuitton while sipping Dom ?

I'll certainly share if I see anything on social media. I just hope those who wisened up to all this are in primary recruitment or are hoping to help bring ADPi back to campus.

As I just said on another post, the first thing that showed up on TIktok when I searched for "SMU Sorority Rush 2024" was "The Society". The video was labeled SMU Rush and it was about them "being out and about" and they did OOTDs.

If Theta terminates their memberships, that would just be affirming the Society's status & that they are a Theta "replacement." Kind of along the same lines as Congress not mentioning the Mafia because it confirms there is a Mafia. As long as they are not outright disparaging Theta in their activities or media, Theta is wisest just to let them be.

They could wait till the former members graduate (the ones that were given Theta bids before the suspension.) then restart from there. I do know they'll be back, especially since the house was so popular and has such a supportive alumni base.

Theta has said they won't come back while the Society is still there, and part of the reason they were so popular was the old money, tradition and connections. If those things have transferred en masse to the Society, it is beyond naive to think that a recolonized Theta will instantly regain its place in the SMU pecking order. As I've asked before, who are the chapter alumnae supporting - Theta or the Society?