I don't think they had 75; there were 75 names on the website, but some have quit since it was posted. Yesterday's article (
http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vn...2?in_archive=1) suggested that they had "over 60." Some sororities at Penn are taking pledge classes of 50; Phi Sig was half the size of the "prestige" houses.
An anonymous Penn senior posting on the Daily Pennsylvanian site offered an inside interpretation, which I'll repost below. For what it's worth, this is the same impression I had of Phi Sig...they were the "uncool" house, but were probably better sisters than the "hot" houses.
Ivy
>>I have to agree with "Freshman" here. I didn't rush my freshman year because I thought all sorority girls were bitchy and shallow. Of course I was wrong--there are awesome girls in every house--but there was one house with which I was unconditionally wrong, and that is phi sig, which my roommate was a member of (until she deactivated a few days ago.)
Their sorority was really close (apparently people don't know each other's names in some of the houses!) and the girls were basically model Penn Citizens...they got the GPA award for the highest in the greek system and did lots of community service.
What is really disappointing is what my roommate told me as the main reason the national chapter wanted to kick them out. It wasn't so much low numbers (which they did have a problem with) but it was that the sorority didn't really fit their ideals...the girls weren't "cool" enough. As in, the fact that the sorority was not made up of "Penn Girls" was the REASON they wanted to disband it.
I think this is really disappointing because people like "Freshman" are so much less likely to join the greek system at all. Do we really want the norm for sororities at Penn to be bitchy, shallow, dumb girls? This is not to say that's what the other houses are like--it's just that disbanding this one in particular sets a really bad tone, and may affect who decides to rush this winter.
Senior
>>
edit: "Penn Girl" is campus lingo for a rich, skinny Long Island or New Jersey Jew with a perfect tan who isn't particularly studious or nice.
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