In college I was in a sorority called Kappa Alpha Theta. I had never originally planned on being Greek. I didn't want to go through Rush and pretty much thought the whole thing was ridiculous. As it turned out, I got to know some girls in Theta and was offered a bid without having to go through the ordeal of Rush. I liked the house and felt I belonged there. In no way did it resemble the stereotypical image of sorority life that I had in my head. Long story made really short (can you believe it?!)....our charter was revoked. The sisters living in the house were booted out mid-semester. It sucked. Many of us had varying opinions about the situation. I am now a part of the chapter's Yahoo Group. I get emails of the messages posted there and read them...most of the time not really knowing the girls posting. Last October when I went to Chapel Hill, Carolina brought it to my attention that the house (which was rather ugly anyway) was no longer there. Indeed, it had been destroyed. When I was in Chapel Hill in January, it was obvious that something was going up on the land. Recently, a discussion was started on the message board about the absence of the house. Yeah, I had posted in October, but nobody seemed to care back then. Whatever. The mention of the house brought about this huge discussion about recolonizing. It also led to numerous posts about how the closing of the chapter went down and why all of it happened. It sounds like there were some pretty shady things going on between different people at the national level....we were what people were using to get revenge on each other. Alumni of our chapter were never informed of our situation and were never told that we needed help. After all this time I still have mixed feelings about the whole sordid mess. I enjoyed my sisters. I hated recruiting new members knowing that the future of the house was hanging in the balance. All of the posts on the subject made many old feelings resurface. I finally posted after I received an email from Theta asking me to watch the attached video. The video encouraged me to "pay it forward" and help a sister and/or say how a sister helped me. Not only were they urging me to help a sister, they were also urging me to pay some kind of dues! I was appalled! I have responded negatively to prior emails of this nature (esp. if I have found them while inebriated), but never received anything in return. Over the course of the weekend, I sent this as my reply to their solicitation:
I will always Pay It Forward when it comes to
supporting the theta organization...just as they
showed their kindness and love to us at Delta Xi on
the UNC campus. Watching my sisters be evicted
mid-semester as our house was closed down left a scar
in my heart. I love my sisters but I cannot support
an organization that promises sisterly love for a
lifetime and then treats its sisters in such a harsh
and uncaring way. I would not want one cent of mine
to be used to promote this organization that could
just as easily smash the emotions of another group of
fabulous women. A sign was posted in our entry after
our charter was revoked. It captured the real
motivation of Kappa Alpha Theta. It simply said:
Kappa Alpha Theta loves money and numbers. These
emails just solidify that motto.
This evening I received a response that said: Here is another one.
The only thing I can figure is that my email has been forwarded to
someone. I wonder what will happen! Once again, no one
(except for one sister who responded to me via personal email)
has commented on the post I made on the Yahoo Group message board.
No, the portion that I pasted here is NOT what I said on the board.
Nonetheless, I think I may have hurt some sisters' feelings who are
still loyal and highly involved in the organization. I'm curious to
see how this pans out.
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