GaTech sororities blackball local sorority

[hoosier]

Vote leaves X§ÙT without national

By Tony Kluemper
News Editor
ATLANTA
January 24, 2003

By Chris Raabe / GA Tech STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

Chi Omega Tau sisters Alyssda Ribeiro and Ana Remy talk with rushee Mrinalini Radhakrishnan. Although the local sorority hoped to achieve national status, Panhellenic members voted not to pursue expansion.

After voting to pursue national status in November, the members of Chi Omega Tau found out on Tuesday night that they won't become a national sorority anytime soon. This decision came after the vote among official Panhellenic sororities ruled that expanding with another national chapter on campus would not be beneficial at this time.

Panhellenic advisor Danielle McDonald explained what steps had been taken since Chi Omega Tau had voted to proceed with the national process. "They approached Panhellenic [after they decided]," said McDonald. "Panhellenic then has a process where we put together exploratory packets that consists of all of our statistics for the past five years."

This packet consists of the recent rush statistics, information about the houses on campus, financial information for the sororities and any other pertinent information. In addition, Chi Omega Tau was asked to put together a packet of information about its local chapter. "We sent those packets out to all of the chapters that we have on campus and their national headquarters," said McDonald.

"Then we gave everyone about a month and a half to review the materials and make a decision before we have the panel vote."

When the panel, which is made up of a representative from each of the official Panhellenic sororities, voted on Tuesday night, there were not enough positive votes to reach the two-thirds majority. The official results could not yet be released.

Chi Omega Tau president Colleen Baum summed up her reaction to the decision in one word. "Disappointed," said Baum. "That is the one word to describe how we felt when we heard the decision. We knew that there was a chance that this could happen but we were trying to stay optimistic."

Baum had also talked to four of the six sororities to answer any questions. However the decision was not always left up to the individual sorority.

Although each sorority had one vote, the process that the individual sororities took in making the decision differed for each group.

"They all have different mechanisms and I couldn't tell you exactly how the process worked for each individual chapter," said McDonald. "Some of their nationals counselled the chapters on the decision while others decided within their own local chapters."

This is not the first time in recent history that a vote to expand nationally has been rejected by Panhellenic. In 2000, the issue was researched by the Panhellenic executive board due to increasing female attendance.

"It was an issue about two and a half years ago. That was before either the Greek Advisor Buck Cooke or I was here. At that point, I would say they didn't do the process in the best manner," said McDonald.

"I don't think they researched and formalized the process well enough before they started and I don't think the chapters had enough information to make a decision."

Now that Panhellenic has made the decision regarding Chi Omega Tau, there is no formalized process that they must follow to call for a vote again. McDonald feels that the feedback provided by the sororities regarding the recent vote will give some insight into the future for Chi Omega Tau.

"We don't have a formalized time frame. We wouldn't want to do it before we at least had another rush period," said McDonald. "Many decisions were probably based on recruitment numbers. So my guess is that they would at least want to wait at least one more recruitment."

McDonald also felt that sorority feedback would help make the decision. "Once we start getting that feedback then we will know more about where we go from there and what would need to happen to have another vote," said McDonald.

No matter what the feedback turns out to be, Baum said that Chi Omega Tau does not plan to give up. "We plan to meet with Kirsten Gibbs, the new Panhellenic president and Danielle McDonald to see what steps we can take," said Baum. "We'll also have to meet as a group to decide if we want to pursue going national in the near future or try to further improve our presence as a local chapter instead.