Pitt NEWS
Students try to establish first multicultural sorority
by LAUREN BAN
Staff Writer
August 29, 2002
If three Pitt students have their way, the University will soon play host to its first multicultural sorority ever.
The three juniors, Teresa Bernaciak, Erika Strauss and Natasha Khan, upon completing the national selection process, were all admitted into the Theta Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority Inc. in April 2002.
As members of the sorority that boasts "sisters of diversity together as one" as its motto, they will be representing and introducing the sorority to Pitt's campus.
Members of the sorority recall that during their freshman year, it was hard to find a sorority that fit who they were. They did their own research and found out about Theta Nu Xi, a multicultural sorority that satisfied their need for diversity.
"Being in a city where it's very multicultural, it only makes sense that there should be an alternative sorority like ours. Sometimes it's hard for people to fit in in an all white or black sorority. Ours provides a happy medium," Strauss said.
As with any sorority, the new members of Theta Nu Xi are responsible for upholding the sorority's mission statement, which stresses the importance of diversity and multiculturalism "through academic excellence, involvement in and service to the campus and community, as well as being living examples of sisterhood across different races, culture, religions, backgrounds and lifestyles."
The sorority, whose Greek letters appear like the English word "one," will also adhere to their five beliefs that include service, scholarship, sisterhood, multiculturalism and leadership.
"Service is a huge factor in our sorority and pretty much everything we do as a group will uphold one of these beliefs," Khan said.
While they will not be holding their rush until the spring, the womens' immediate objective for the fall will still be to work to recruit their founding chapter here at Pitt.
If they accomplish their goal, Theta Nu Xi will be the first multicultural sorority ever at Pitt, and the first new sorority at the University in 14 years.
For more information on Theta Nu Xi e-mail them at
ThetaNuXi@aol.com or call (412) 897-7817.
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My opinion:
To be honest, i'm not sure how well they're going to do.... attitude towards Greek life in general at pitt is pretty apathetic. The latest reports i read say only 8% of women are in sororities. We have about a 9% African American population, yet the NPHC sororities that are hear each only have a few members. No one seems to care about being greek. Rush numbers went up a lot last year and overall membership has increased due to COBing. But it's still not much.
Question for anyone who might know... it says they're not going to rush until the spring. Does Theta Nu Xi usually participate in panhellenic rush or does it have it's own rush?
Good luck to them, this is a tough place to be greek sometimes. I give props to one of the girls, I was in band in high school with her. She's a dedicated person, so i know she will try her best for them to succeed.
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