Duke University expansion

[Blue Violets]

I just thought everyone would be interested to know that Duke is adding a sorority. Zeta Tau Alpha, Kappa Delta, and Sigma Kappa were invited to present. ZTA gave its presentation Monday night, KD goes tomorrow (Wednesday), and SK goes next Monday. Those three sororities were chosen because they all have had chapters here in the past that closed/went inactive for some reason.

As a side note, we currently have on campus (in case you were wondering):
ADPi
DDD
PiPhi
KKG
KAT
DG
APhi
AOII
Chi-O

We have spring recruitment so presumably the new chapter will be selected by then and can participate in recruitment. Another side note is that our current chapters range everything from ~35 (Alpha Phi -- they were reinstalled on campus 4 years ago) to ~70 (AOII) to ~120 (Tridelta) so a new chapter should make recruitment even more interesting.....

ZTA was the last chapter to leave Duke. SK and KD were both here from the 1920s (I believe) to the 1960s I think, but ZTA was here from the 1930 to the 1980s. Phi Mu also made a brief appearance on campus. With the exception of Alpha Phi, the other chapters have all been here since their founding (which in our case (ADPi) was 1911).

I'll keep you posted! I might go to the KD presentation tonight...we'll see if I have time.

[KellyB369]

It's always good to hear of campuses expanding. NC State is bringing on a new sorority this fall - Pi Phi I believe. Good luck with the process and let us know how it goes. I recommend going to as many presentations as you can - they are really neat to see.

[pistachio]

A couple of corrections:

The new chapter would NOT be participating in recruitment this year beyond the possibility of having the opportunity to introduce themselves either during our orientation or first round.

Also the dates provided are slightly incorrect, at least in ZTA's case. ZTA was at Duke from 1915 to the 1994/95 school year.

And another large factor in the final decision will be local support for the new chapter.

PS- there is another thread about this here: http://forums.greekchat.com/gcforums...threadid=56253

[Deltazeta4ever]

Quick question: Wasn't Kappa Delta on campus more recently... like in the late 1980's? My cousin was a KD there and she graduated in 1990.

[valkyrie]

Assuming that total is around 120 and there are at least two chapters pretty far below that, why are they expanding? Is it my imagination or is that just not a good idea?

ETA: I really don't know much about expansion, but I thought it was something usually done when there's no or very little room for new members.

[pistachio]

I actually don't have the exact numbers for this, but I THINK this is the deal:

Some chapters are actually above 120, a couple up to 160. Total is lower than that, so these chapters are above total, but total isn't something we've been really big on here.

The smallest chapter, APhi, just recently restarted, but the thing is they never left campus, so they started really small. Perhaps (just a thought), they would have been better off to leave for awhile then attempt a re-colonization. They are, however, doing pretty well right now as far as rapid growth and getting fairly good #s during recruitment.

The main reasons for expansion are
a) to even out the numbers so that the bigger chapters aren't so far above total
and
b) to shake the status quo up a little bit and give us a new direction to go in.

This is my perspective on it. As I said, I'm not clear on the exact numbers/ details.

[Aggie4Life]

does anyone know when the vote for the expansion will take place? anyone from duke... how were the presentations?

[exlurker]

There's a story in the Sept. 14, 2004 Duke "Chronicle" online about this expansion.

http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/...4/416d20a089d1

I hope that Duke's Panhellenic and all the NPC organizations concerned can work together calmly and appropriately to resolve any issues that the article might possibly cause. Unfortunately there's at least one factual error: Sigma Kappa was at Duke previously, and would not (if chosen) "be a completely new addition."

It may also be unfortunate that the story describes two of the three sororities presenting as "very strong at colleges across the country." I think all three are strong; furthermore, a sorority's or fraternity's national "strength" is, to put it mildly, hard to measure objectively.

Finally -- and this may just be me -- gimme a break here, how hard can it be to have to go to 10 instead of 9 chapters at the beginning of recruitment? If someone can survive the Duke admission process and make it through the first semester, she should be able to manage 10 parties. Shouldn't she?

[PSUSigKap]

if they think going to ten sororities is hard, try going to 20 at penn state?! i hope the women going through recruitment at duke, both as part of the expansion and regular recruitment, don't pay much attention to this article.

on a side note, good luck to KD and ZTA on your presentations and stuff! i think duke will be lucky to have any of our organizations.

[SoCalGirl]

Yes the article had some errors. And yes I feel Sigma Kappa is strong nationally. We would not be presenting there if we did not have a strong alumnae base in that area either. But to be honest, as far as southern chapters go, KD and ZTA would be better known. I'll keep my fingers crossed for an SK recolonization but I won't be holding my breath.

[33girl]

I usually don't say this, but too bad some of the sorority women there didn't pay attention to the "no talking to the press" rule. That comment about not needing another sorority is just not cool at all.

I wonder if the author really looked at the sororities before making her prejudgements, or if she just assumed that since KD and ZTA were founded in the South they would be better. I also wonder if she's Greek. One of my friends is an SK and they have some very strong southern chapters.

What a crappy piece of drivel, and what an insult to SK.

[ZTAngel]

Originally posted by BrownEyedGirl
According to the article, the vote will take place today (Wednesday).

Ooooh, I'm seriously at the edge of my seat. I'll probably be checking this thread over the next few days for an update!

[Xylochick216]

Good luck to all the groups! I know some Sigma Kappas from Elon went to the presentation, but I'm not sure if any of the Zetas went. Duke is lucky to have three great GLOs to choose from

[pistachio]

I understand that the article had some pretty big errors, which I was upset about as well, but I would like to point out that I read it as the reporter mentioning ZTA and KD in particular since it came out before there was time for her to get a sense of SK. It came out Tuesday, SK presented Tuesday evening. I don't think it was meant to imply that SK was in any way inferior and I think that most of us on campus here read it without thinking that.

As far as Recruitment issues/ that unfortunate quote, some of our chapters here are less than enthusiastic about extension because they feel that they already have difficulty with their numbers and a new chapter will "steal" pnms from them. I don't think this is true, but unfortunately apparently some people do.

Also, Recruitment at Duke has never been as big a deal as at other schools in the area, possibly because we don't have housing. For us, 10 would be a new thing. I don't think it's particularly fair to compare us to another school with more because a) that's not Duke and b) we have a little more than half of Penn's student body.

As far as attendance at the events, I know there were ZTAs present from both UNC-CH and NCSU, and SKs from Elon. I wasn't able to attend KD, so I'm not sure about that. I also wouldn't want to make any conjectures about the outcome until it's public.

[33girl]

Originally posted by pistachio
Also, Recruitment at Duke has never been as big a deal as at other schools in the area, possibly because we don't have housing. For us, 10 would be a new thing. I don't think it's particularly fair to compare us to another school with more because a) that's not Duke and b) we have a little more than half of Penn's student body.

Actually she was talking about Penn State not U Penn. It really didn't have anything to do with how many students are at the school, it had to do with the rushees and the burden on them. i.e. the person who made that comment is acting like 10 groups is this huge burden, when it's really not.