Article about sororities at Harvard

[aephi alum]

From The New York Times:

http://nytimes.com/2005/02/20/fashion/20SORO.html

It's in the fashion section

A snippet:


Cambridge, Mass.

AT 9 Wednesday night about 150 undergraduate women gathered in the cool mist just off Harvard Yard in front of the university's science center. They formed three groups and began shouting, chanting, clapping and singing loudly enough to draw curiosity-seekers from across the campus, which has been unsettled in recent weeks over comments by the university president, Lawrence H. Summers, about possible differences in "intrinsic aptitude" between men and women. The women's voices, though, were neither angry nor strident. They were giddy high-pitched squeals like those that might punctuate an appearance by Justin Timberlake or the Olsen Twins.

"What is this?" asked Laurie Korens, a longtime Cambridge resident who was walking her dog near campus.

Ms. Korens was told that it was a bid-night ritual for Harvard's three sororities, whose members were welcoming new pledges with cries like "Welcome to Theta!"

A puzzled look crossed her face. "Really?" she said, "I thought it was a protest."

Though they often meet with similar reactions, sororities of the traditional state-college variety have taken root at Harvard, a place where for years the biggest social event for women was the annual Take Back the Night rally. Kappa Alpha Theta, the sorority of Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney, was the first to arrive on campus, in 1992. Delta Gamma followed in 1994, and Kappa Kappa Gamma opened its chapter in 2003. But while Harvard sororities share the same Greek letters as their party-hardy sister chapters at Michigan, Texas and Ole Miss, their social agendas are startlingly wholesome, perhaps giving new meaning to the phrase Harvard Square. They hold kickball tournaments and pajama parties and take apple-picking trips. Their recruitment meetings take place not at bars but at the local Finagle a Bagel and Au Bon Pain. And far from being catty and exclusive, they strive to welcome any woman who might hope to join.

[PhiPsiRuss]

Thanks for posting that. It is a reasonably positive article. I would have liked it to flesh out the substance of the sororities, but there is only so much that you can expect from the Fashion & Style section.

[ASUADPi]

This might sound like a dumb question, but wasn't it at one point joining a sorority was a "no no" at Harvard?

I say this because one Founder's Day we had a speaker here and she went to Harvard (at least I'm 99% sure it was Harvard). She was on scholarship and what not. She was offered a bid to DG but in the end she had to drop out because Harvard threatened to pull her scholarship for joining a social sorority. She said at the time if you (a student) joined a social sorority that it was kept "hush hush" because the school wasn't supportive of them.

Now if this is true it doesn't make any sense to me at all. She went to school in the late 90's early 2000's. I don't understand why a school would say stuff like this for sororities that they willingly brought onto their campus. I don't know if this is true or not.

On another note, 150 girls gathered for bid night of 3 sororities is pretty good numbers. That is at most 50 girls per chapter, that is a pretty good size chapter (although I don't know the undergrad size, but since Harvard is a private institution I would guess like 15, 000 if even that much) for the amount of undergrads.

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by ASUADPi
That is at most 50 girls per chapter, that is a pretty good size chapter (although I don't know the undergrad size, but since Harvard is a private institution I would guess like 15, 000 if even that much) for the amount of undergrads.

6,500 undergrads, roughly the same as most of its peer institutions. About half of those students are female.

[Glitter650]

Umm, they don't hold recruitment events at bars ?? If they had bothered to get any substance for their article they woudl've found out that probably never happens at any school for an NPC org.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by Glitter650
Umm, they don't hold recruitment events at bars ?? If they had bothered to get any substance for their article they woudl've found out that probably never happens at any school for an NPC org.

Yeah, I think that the last three or four sentences were kind of negative especially:

And far from being catty and exclusive, they strive to welcome any woman who might hope to join.

I find it ironic since Harvard is one of the most exclusive institutions in the world.

[exlurker]

It's my understanding that the sororities (and fraternities) were not invited by Harvard. They are not recognized by the College as student organizations; neither are the "final clubs" or the women's societies (equivalent to the men's final clubs). The rationale, I believe, is that Harvard will not recognize single-sex student organizations. However, back in December 2004 The Crimson ran a story reporting that the Committee on College Life's subcommittee on Harvard Student Organizations was hoping to devise a new or updated recommended policy concerning fraternities, sororities, final clubs, and women's societies.

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=504791

They were looking at spring 2005 as a possible time for the revision. Where that proposal may go is anyone's guess; right now it's my impression that the uproar over President Summers is taking precedence over anything else in the workings of the school's bureaucracies.

[Tom Earp]

Is Stupid does is Stupid is?

Maybe some sensibility is coming to the Ivied Walls.

"WE" are just better than you dont get it any more do it?

Hell, brick and mortor does not a College make.

[IvySpice]

Harvard threatened to pull her scholarship for joining a social sorority.

That can't be right. There are no scholarships other than need-based aid, and the need-based aid is guaranteed unless your family's income changes.

The school certainly does hate the sororities and very strictly enforces its rules against their using campus space or advertising on campus. But it does not actually punish students for joining, and if it did, financial aid would never be the weapon of choice.

[Steeltrap]

One of AKA's city chapters includes Harvard. I have an acquaintance who came through that chapter.

[exlurker]

Update April 21 '05 -- The Crimson just ran another editorial supporting recognition (limited) of single-sex organizations, and recommending that chapters of national fraternities and sororities be included in the limited-recognition category. The editorial, "Including Exclusivity," is in the April 21 '05 issue:

http://www.thecrimson.com/today/article507242.html

___________________________________________
An editorial in The Crimson (Feb.23, 2005) encourages the College to find ways to work together with the single-sex organizations. Although the editorial chiefly mentions the (male) final clubs -- plus Sigma Chi -- the possibility of a change in Harvard's stance would probably apply to the sororities too.

Excerpt:

However, two weeks ago Assistant Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin II and Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd held a meeting with leaders of many of the same-sex organizations at the College to discuss the possibility of working together with these groups in the future. This dialogue represents a welcome thawing of relations between Harvard’s administration and its top social clubs. It has been far too long in coming.

Entire editorial:

http://www.thecrimson.com/today/article505908.html