Massive sorority eviction for being fat and uncool: True story of Delta Zeta
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I almost missed this one.
Troubled by the declining membership, the Delta Zeta sorority at DePauw University sent letters to members that they deemed not attractive enough, and asked them to leave the sorority and vacate from the house. All the non-whites were also asked to pack their bags. When questioned by a New York times reporter, Delta Zeta's PR representative claimed that "the isolated incident at DePauw has been mischaracterized".
DePauw’s president, Robert G. Bottoms, later issued a two-page letter of reprimand to the sorority. In the end, DePauw disbanded the Delta Zeta chapter altogether.
Apparently this is the microcosm of how the game is played in the society as a whole, as Sororities and Fraternities are often seen as status competitions. If you can guzzle an impressive amount of alcohol, if you are hot AND snobbish, if you buy the right clothes and hang out with the right group, and if you join a frat / sorority, your status goes up. This is how most people see it. The point I want to make is, although it is easy to exclude people who are different or "less desirable", extreme measures like evicting people using looks as the single measurement is not only downright unreasonable, it gives the organization a bad name. I was heartened by the report that half of the slim, white girls who were not kicked out of the DePauw sorority quit in protest.
Troubled by the declining membership, the Delta Zeta sorority at DePauw University sent letters to members that they deemed not attractive enough, and asked them to leave the sorority and vacate from the house. All the non-whites were also asked to pack their bags. When questioned by a New York times reporter, Delta Zeta's PR representative claimed that "the isolated incident at DePauw has been mischaracterized".
DePauw’s president, Robert G. Bottoms, later issued a two-page letter of reprimand to the sorority. In the end, DePauw disbanded the Delta Zeta chapter altogether.
Apparently this is the microcosm of how the game is played in the society as a whole, as Sororities and Fraternities are often seen as status competitions. If you can guzzle an impressive amount of alcohol, if you are hot AND snobbish, if you buy the right clothes and hang out with the right group, and if you join a frat / sorority, your status goes up. This is how most people see it. The point I want to make is, although it is easy to exclude people who are different or "less desirable", extreme measures like evicting people using looks as the single measurement is not only downright unreasonable, it gives the organization a bad name. I was heartened by the report that half of the slim, white girls who were not kicked out of the DePauw sorority quit in protest.
Labels: college, greek life, interracial relationship, self help, sorority
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on Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 6:54 AM.
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