Delta Zeta strikes back

[eridani]

http://www.alternet.org/stories/48611/

These are the bad beans that have everyone's stomach in knots. Is this what anyone imagined their little girl growing up to be? A ballerina, an astronaut -- or a student locked in her bedroom by her "sisters" because they think she's too ugly to come downstairs? Even Cinderella wouldn't pass that gas.


http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/2007/02/heroines-of-week-or-sisterhood-is.html

I love Ms. Holloway, and all the De Pauw women who decided not to put up with Delta Zeta's sexist bullshit. If you read in between the lines of the news story, it's fabulous: they kicked out a computer science major with the research skills to go track down evidence of past discrimination in the library; a junior with the organizational skills and chutzpah to put together an open meeting at the student union to tell the DePauw student body what had really happened; and the editor of the DePauw student paper (what were they thinking?!?).

If Delta Zeta wanted to do a scientific experiment to raise the consciousness of smart, ambitious, accomplished young women, they couldn't have done a better job. I predict that the DePauw students will go on to kick ass and take names for the rest of their lives.

(I couldn't find pictures of the entire sorority chapter; the university--which is on the side of good here--seems to have disabled or moved the page, understandably enough. The two pictures above were the only ones I could find of women named in the article. Meet Kate Holloway (top left), a media fellow at DePauw and the former chapter president, she of the John Lennon glasses and wig--the picture's taken from an announcement that she's doing an internship at USA Today, leading me to suspect she's got something to do with the story hitting the NYT; and Erin Swisshelm, a science research fellow at DePauw, for chrissake (take note, Larry Summers), who is one of the six that quit out of feminist solidarity. Kudos, ladies: you're an example to us all.)

http://grabapple.net/entry/343

I never had any interest in sororities when I was “rushed” by DZ; but it was full of women I knew and admired, smart, straight-A types. And yeah, some of them were overweight, or butch, or just not the bowhead sorority type. That’s why I joined. That’s why I put up with the exorbitant fees, the asinine social events (dances, balls, cutesy-pie fundraisers), the ridiculous initiation (learning DZ history, memorizing the founding members and being quizzed, for god sakes, and learning a secret handshake—sorry, nothing more exciting than that), the sneering of other Greeks on campus who thought of us as rejects. (whereas we thought of them as airheads, with a few exceptions). The stupid colors (pink and green) and mascot (turtle) which we were supposed to decorate ourselves with on various occasions. I liked the girls, who were funny and sarcastic and weird and supportive. I could put up with pink and green turtles if I had to.

But it was a bad fit, Geek and Greek, at least if you were a woman. We had the highest GPA of any sorority on our campus; we raised money for good causes; we paid our dues. But we weren’t big enough, and we weren’t bringing in enough money, and in the end, that did us in.

Social sororities are nothing but money-sucking organizations that claim to be dedicated to vague goals of do-gooding and sisterhood, but are not really about anything but the dues. They sell exclusivity, based on a code of looks and behavior straight out of the 1950s, which was the last time they were truly powerful. The girls in our group, like those in the NYT article, tried to change that, to make them about the ideals sprinkled throughout their literature, of upstanding behavior, sisterly support, community involvement, and fun. We thought it would work, because we were naive and young and took what we were told at face value. And so we got closed down.

There was a thread last week about this in the Lounge, and the Lounge Rats were pretty enlightened about it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6237545

[cally]

1. I hope the University takes a hard look at the influence of

"the greek system" on it's campus. I think about 90 percent of it's students are a part of this. What message does it send to those not invited into a frat or soroity? Worse, by allowing these organizations on it's campus the University implicitly condones the lifestyle and values of them. It's not about scholarship and academics but instead looks and fitting in.