Sorority Evictions Raise Issue of Looks and Bias

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GREENCASTLE, Ind. — When a psychology professor at DePauw University here
surveyed students, they described one sorority as a group of "daddy's little
princesses" and another as "offbeat hippies." The sisters of Delta Zeta were
seen as "socially awkward."

Worried that a negative stereotype of the sorority was contributing to a
decline in membership that had left its Greek-columned house here half
empty, Delta Zeta's national officers interviewed 35 DePauw members in
November, quizzing them about their dedication to recruitment. They judged
23 of the women insufficiently committed and later told them to vacate the
sorority house.

The 23 members included every woman who was overweight. They also included
the only black, Korean and Vietnamese members. The dozen students allowed to
stay were slender and popular with fraternity men — conventionally pretty
women the sorority hoped could attract new recruits. Six of the 12 were so
infuriated they quit.

"Virtually everyone who didn't fit a certain sorority member archetype was
told to leave," said Kate Holloway, a senior who withdrew from the chapter
during its reorganization.

"I sensed the disrespect with which this was to be carried out and got fed
up," Ms. Holloway added. "I didn't have room in my life for these women to
come in and tell my sisters of three years that they weren't needed."

Ms. Holloway is not the only angry one. The reorganization has left a messy
aftermath of recrimination and tears on this rural campus of 2,400 students,
50 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

The mass eviction battered the self-esteem of many of the former sorority
members, and some withdrew from classes in depression. There have been
student protests, outraged letters from alumni and parents, and a faculty
petition calling the sorority's action unethical.

DePauw's president, Robert G. Bottoms, issued a two-page letter of reprimand
to the sorority. In an interview in his office, Dr. Bottoms said he had been
stunned by the sorority's insensitivity.

"I had no hint they were going to disrupt the chapter with a membership
reduction of this proportion in the middle of the year," he said. "It's been
very upsetting."

The president of Delta Zeta, which has its headquarters in Oxford, Ohio, and
its other national officers declined to be interviewed. Responding by e-mail
to questions, Cynthia Winslow Menges, the executive director, said the
sorority had not evicted the 23 women, even though the national officers
sent those women form letters that said: "The membership review team has
recommended you for alumna status. Chapter members receiving alumnae status
should plan to relocate from the chapter house no later than Jan. 29, 2007."


Ms. Menges asserted that the women themselves had, in effect, made their own
decisions to leave by demonstrating a lack of commitment to meet recruitment
goals. The sorority paid each woman who left $300 to cover the difference
between sorority and campus housing.

The sorority "is saddened that the isolated incident at DePauw has been
mischaracterized," Ms. Menges wrote. Asked for clarification, the sorority's
public relations representative e-mailed a statement saying its actions were
aimed at the "enrichment of student life at DePauw."

This is not the first time that the DePauw chapter of Delta Zeta has stirred
controversy. In 1982, it attracted national attention when a black student
was not allowed to join, provoking accusations of racial discrimination.

Earlier this month, an Alabama lawyer and several other DePauw alumni who
graduated in 1970 described in a letter to The DePauw, the student
newspaper, how Delta Zeta's national leadership had tried unsuccessfully to
block a young woman with a black father and a white mother from joining its
DePauw chapter in 1967.

Despite those incidents, the chapter appears to have been home to a diverse
community over the years, partly because it has attracted brainy women,
including many science and math majors, as well as talented disabled women,
without focusing as exclusively as some sororities on potential recruits'
sex appeal, former sorority members said.

"I had a sister I could go to a bar with if I had boy problems," said Erin
Swisshelm, a junior biochemistry major who withdrew from the sorority in
October. "I had a sister I could talk about religion with. I had a sister I
could be nerdy about science with. That's why I liked Delta Zeta, because I
had all these amazing women around me."

But over the years DePauw students had attached a negative stereotype to the
chapter, as evidenced by the survey that Pam Propsom, a psychology
professor, conducts each year in her class. That image had hurt recruitment,
and the national officers had repeatedly warned the chapter that unless its
membership increased, the chapter could close.

At the start of the fall term the national office was especially determined
to raise recruitment because 2009 is the 100th anniversary of the DePauw
chapter's founding. In September, Ms. Menges and Kathi Heatherly, a national
vice president of the sorority, visited the chapter to announce a
reorganization plan they said would include an interview with each woman
about her commitment. The women were urged to look their best for the
interviews.

The tone left four women so unsettled that they withdrew from the chapter
almost immediately.

Robin Lamkin, a junior who is an editor at The DePauw and was one of the 23
women evicted, said many of her sisters bought new outfits and modeled them
for each other before the interviews. Many women declared their willingness
to recruit diligently, Ms. Lamkin said.

A few days after the interviews, national representatives took over the
house to hold a recruiting event. They asked most members to stay upstairs
in their rooms. To welcome freshmen downstairs, they assembled a team that
included several of the women eventually asked to stay in the sorority,
along with some slender women invited from the sorority's chapter at
HYPERLINK
"http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/indiana
_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org"Indiana University, Ms. Holloway said.


"They had these unassuming freshman girls downstairs with these plastic
women from Indiana University, and 25 of my sisters hiding upstairs," she
said. "It was so fake, so completely dehumanized. I said, 'This calls for a
little joke.' "

Ms. Holloway put on a wig and some John Lennon rose-colored glasses, burst
through the front door and skipped around singing, "Ooooh! Delta Zeta!" and
other chants.

The face of one of the national representatives, she recalled, "was like I'd
run over her puppy with my car."

The national representatives announced their decisions in the form letters,
delivered on Dec. 2, which said that Delta Zeta intended to increase
membership to 95 by the 2009 anniversary, and that it would recruit using a
"core group of women."

Elizabeth Haneline, a senior computer science major who was among those
evicted, returned to the house that afternoon and found some women in tears.
Even the chapter's president had been kicked out, Ms. Haneline said, while
"other women who had done almost nothing for the chapter were asked to
stay."

Six of the 12 women who were asked to stay left the sorority, including
Joanna Kieschnick, a sophomore majoring in English literature. "They said,
'You're not good enough' to so many people who have put their heart and soul
into this chapter that I can't stay," she said.

In the months since, Cynthia Babington, DePauw's dean of students, has
fielded angry calls from parents, she said. Robert Hershberger, chairman of
the modern languages department, circulated the faculty petition; 55
professors signed it.

"We were especially troubled that the women they expelled were less about
image and more about academic achievement and social service," Dr.
Hershberger said.

During rush activities this month, 11 first-year students accepted
invitations to join Delta Zeta, but only three have sought membership.

On Feb. 2, Rachel Pappas, a junior who is the chapter's former secretary,
printed 200 posters calling on students to gather that afternoon at the
student union. About 50 students showed up and heard Ms. Pappas say the
sorority's national leaders had misrepresented the truth when they asserted
they had evicted women for lack of commitment.

"The injustice of the lies," she said, "is contemptible."



New York Times Writes of Delta Zeta National's "Membership Review" at DePauw
and Fallout That Has Followed

A "membership review" by Delta Zeta's national leadership of the sorority's
DePauw chapter, which led to 23 women being placed on "alumni status" and
left fewer than ten women in the house, is the subject of a story in today's
New York Times. "DePauw's president, Robert G. Bottoms, issued a two-page
letter of reprimand to the sorority," Sam Dillon reports, adding, "In an
interview in his office, Dr. Bottoms said he had been stunned by the
sorority's insensitivity."
__________________________________________________ _______________

View the article at HYPERLINK
" http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=18975"http://www.depauw.edu/news/in
dex.asp?id=18975




Delta Zeta and DePauw University


February 25, 2007

As a national fraternal organization, Delta Zeta Sorority supports the
leadership, philanthropic, and educational goals of its 207,000 collegiate
and alumnae members. Within that spirit, the Delta Zeta national
organization supports world-wide alumnae and collegiate members of all 158
college chapters and university partners in sustaining a strong and
supportive service and philanthropic organization.

The national organization stands by its open invitation to members and
DePauw University officials in supporting the former and current members of
the chapter together. Delta Zeta's national leadership will continue to seek
opportunities to work in an open and fair manner with members and DePauw
University. The Delta Zeta national organization looks forward to creating
a solution that is win-win-win: one that (1) benefits and protects our
members and alumnae, (2) supports the University by maintaining a viable
Chapter for the benefit of current and future students and (3) meets the
membership and business obligations of the national organization.



The women of Delta Zeta, whether active collegiate participants or alumnae,
remain members in good standing of Delta Zeta.



Delta Zeta is saddened by the mischaracterizations and inaccuracies in
recent press coverage concerning the chapter at DePauw University. With a
steady decline in membership in the Delta Chapter over several years, the
viability of the chapter was in question. In the process of addressing that
situation, we misjudged how some of our communications would be received by
our members, and we regret that. Delta Zeta has been working with the
University and chapter members for 6 months to create a solution that
benefits its women members, the University and the national Delta Zeta
organization. We look forward to a resolution and continued discussions with
DePauw President Robert Bottoms and others.



Delta Zeta finds it offensive that recent reports have suggested that
decisions made at DePauw University were related in any way to our members'
races and nationalities. Delta Zeta is proud of the diversity of its
207,000 members and alumnae nationwide, which reflect the mandate in our
Constitution that members will be selected solely on their merits and
without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin or handicap.
On each of our campuses, our faces reflect those of the communities of which
we are a part, and it is irresponsible to suggest otherwise. Without its
diverse population, Delta Zeta could not thrive as it does on college
campuses today.



Article III, Section 3 of the Delta Zeta Constitution reads:
"All members of DZ shall be chosen for moral, social and intellectual worth.
Membership shall not be denied because of race, color, religion, national
origin or handicap."



Delta Zeta members and alumnae all respect and live by this Constitution.

For further information, contact Cindy W. Menges, Executive Director, at
HYPERLINK "mailto: cwm@dzshq.com"cwm@dzshq.com or 513/523-7597.