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Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Thetalady. I, too, am grieving for these girls. Upper leadership within the chapter may have had some ideas, but after talking to some friends with daughters in the chapters, it appears the general membership did not. They were just blind sighted.
One one hand, I understand that if your chapter is struggling on a campus, it can be discouraging for the girls. I am thinking of one chapter on my daughter's campus. During recruitment, several PNMs were downright rude to the ladies of that house. My daughter was so mad at this...and her momma too. Part of me hurts for the girls of these two schools who were subject to some of the ugliness the ladies of this chapter experienced. There is nothing worse than opening your home to guests that spit in your face (figuratively) and then with RFM, you are required to invite some of them back over and over again. This taints the experience for the girls who truly want to be at your parties.
I'm not sure the Clemson or Ole Miss leadership ever got a break as I am sure they were constantly pressured to COB. This is not an experience any girl should encounter and if I were a betting girl, I would guess that this was at the forefront of the Grand Council's mind when they were assessing the situation.
On the other hand, Theta encourages leading women and in some cases have been trailblazers. From what I understand, some of the women in these chapters were not "traditional sorority girls." They were smart women who valued the 4 points of the kite as is evident in the fact that they were top fundraising chapters despite their size relative to other chapters on their campus. They valued sisterhood above social status and may have just been ahead of their time in areas that are slow to change. It's a sad fact that sometimes the best people are often overlooked because they don't march to the beat of everyone else's drum.
I am just so sorry for the way this was handled. I am glad that they are giving the Clemson girls the ability to select their closure date. Part of me wondered if it were possible to allow a chapter to "age out" by simply not participating in recruitment, but then my brain starts spinning with the negatives of that option...
This last weekend, I attended an event at my daughter's chapter. They are very strong and highly respected on their campus and that is what I wish for every chapter. Hopefully some good will come from all of this. I can only assume that Grand Council has a great amount of wisdom and they see things we do not. I hope that this is the last time I will see Theta and closure in the same sentence on Greekchat for some time and that my sisters at Clemson and Ole Miss find new and unique ways to celebrate their sisterhood.
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