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Allegra Pocinki | The Phoenix

BY DINA ZINGARO

In print | Published November 3, 2011

In his introduction to “Swarthmore College, An Informal History,” James A. Michener ’29 wrote, “It seemed to me, from the first day I stepped onto the campus, that Swarthmore was unique in the high regard it paid women.” Since its beginning, the college has enlisted the participation and support of women, which, according to Michener, has kept the college vital and thriving.

However, according to three women on campus, the contemporary absence of sororities signifies a void in the voice of the female demographic, whether in the social scene or in opportunities for bonding, mentoring and networking. In the upcoming weeks, Julia Melin ’13, Callie Finegold ’12 and Olivia Ensign ’12 will complete their proposal for Swarthmore’s first sorority since the campus ban in 1933.

Few are innocent of typecasting the college sorority girl, especially with films such as “Legally Blonde” and “House Bunny” posturing a skewed and stereotyped blond who demonstrates a nearly obsessive affinity for the color pink and is generally a superficial party girl. Yet, as a space exclusively for women, what could sororities potentially offer students if one dares to consider the possibilities beyond pink tees and kegs?

An informal history

According to Richard J. Walton’s “Swarthmore History, An Informal History,” in the early 1900s, sororities dominated social life amongst the Swarthmore women and about 85 percent of the female students belonged to a house. Despite protests that the women excluded suffered, it was not until 1933 that the undergraduates voted to abolish them.

In 1891, the first national Greek-letter fraternity for women, Kappa Alpha Theta was founded and later followed by five other sororities including Delta Gamma, Phi Mu, Chi Omega, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Gamma. The six Lodges were completed in 1928 with the original function of serving as women’s sorority lodges.

From 1921 until 1953, when President Frank Aydelotte served as President of the college, his hope was to create “a more democratic social life” as he believed that Swarthmore should be “a college and not a social club.”

However, under President Aydelotte, the Women’s Student Government Association (WSGA) called for the abolition of women’s fraternities by 160 to 108 votes. Both the Men’s Student Government Association (MSGA) and WSGA preceded the contemporary Student Council, which was created as a companion in 1937. Leading the movement against sororities on campus, Molly Yard ’33 explained her fight to abolish the system in light of the discrimination against Jewish students.
Following the outcome of the first vote, some alumni objected and the Board of Managers then agreed to allow a year to pass before a second vote, which ended up sustaining the first vote. Thus, sororities at Swarthmore came to an end in 1933.

However, in “An Informal History,” Walton does question why men’s fraternities were “never viewed as unhealthy influences to the same degree.” Although their influence has waxed and waned, the men’s fraternities have maintained a presence on campus since their start in the 1890s.
Alcohol Education and Intervention Specialist, as well as the advisor of both Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi fraternities and also a DU brother, Tom Elverson ’75 speculates about the reason for this attitude towards sororities, but not towards fraternities. “If there were male double standards going on, I’m not sure,” Elverson said.

Although, Elverson confirms that the fraternities were not completely without traces of discriminatory practices or controversies. Beginning in 1948, members of Pennsylvania Kappa — a Chapter of the national Phi Kappa Psi fraternity — grew concerned with the ability of other Chapters to prevent pledges from becoming fraternity brothers, especially if this power was used for racial discrimination. Therefore, in 1963 Pennsylvania Kappa surrendered its charter and later became Phi Psi. Elverson believes that even within Swarthmore’s own fraternities, there were certainly traces of discrimination.

An imbalance in the social scene

Considering the ongoing ban from 1933, Julia Melin ’13 said, “This 73 year ban is now obsolete, especially for a school that is plenty diverse and has plenty of leadership on campus that is diverse.”
Founded as a co-ed institution, and particularly under the abolitionist and suffragette Lucretia Mott, Swarthmore and its lack of sororities vexes some of the female student body. “It’s an equality issue. We are not the progressive and liberal institution that we say if we are not meeting the needs of women on the same level that we are meeting the needs of men,” Melin said. President of Swarthmore Feminists Lisa Sendrow ’13 agreed and said, “Just considering the fact that we have fraternities for men, we should have sororities. Why should men have something that women do not have on campus?”
Similar to fraternities, sororities offer women friendships and connections with other students, opportunities for leadership and networking that Swarthmore women are not abl to benefit from. University of Pennsylvania’s primary advisor for the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) Larry Moses explained that the networking opportunities offered by Greek life is “phenomenal,” and as a member of Phi Beta Sigma himself, he continues to benefit from fraternity connections.

In light of establishing a community of trust, sharing of values and learning about differences, Elverson detailed what he refers to as the “edict of a fraternity.” The central focus of a brotherhood, as he explained, is the “established connection to one another as a male and what values we share, where we support one another, what interest and what diversity do we have that we could learn from one another.” Though the fraternities on campus host more social events than any other organizations, Elverson maintains that fraternities do not merely offer a “social joining,” but instead a spirit of brotherhood. Therefore, in light of these benefits of Greek life, the lack of sororities is an equality issue, especially in light of Title IX. Swarthmore’s Title IX, the Statement of Equal Opportunity, declares that the College is committed to “the principle of equal opportunity for all qualified persons without discrimination against any person by reason of sex, race, color, age, religion, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, medical condition, pregnancy, disability or any other legally protected status.” With the thriving fraternities on campus, Elverson said, “Under Title IX, if you have fraternities, shouldn’t you have sororities?”

With a Greek life sans sororities, some believe that this lack of female voice strikes a clear imbalance in the social scene. “The administration needs to realize that the social scene or environment is just as important or more important to a student’s well being than academics,” Melin said. With Paces, Olde Club, DU and Phi Psi as the dominant party venues, about 50% of campus parties are on male territory, which Melin believes fosters a gender imbalance in the campus social scene.

If sororities were hosting parties in their own houses on the weekends, Melin believes it would encourage students who may not feel completely comfortable at a party hosted at fraternity house and do not frequent those venues to explore the social scene on campus.

On the other hand, Katherine Ernst ’12 considers the role of sororities in the college’s party scene very differently and questions their positive impact. “The benefits [offered by sororities] would be outweighed by sororities’ negative social impact in the form of competitiveness for inclusion, increased levels of drinking and the like.”

New opportunities, new concerns

Currently on campus, the College offers two organizations exclusively for women: the Ladies Soiree Society (LaSS) and the Women’s Resource Center (WRC). By offering female students an organization solely for women, LaSS seems to offer the closest group on campus to a sorority. Although LaSS holds annual and well-attended fundraisers such as Mr. Swarthmore, without a specified space or housing, the group has limitations; for example, they had to utilize the Phi Psi fraternity house to host their all-campus party — LaSS Prom — last spring.

Another organization on campus, the WRC provides a safe space for all women at Swarthmore and works to foster a community of women from diverse backgrounds. However, many female students do not believe that the WRC can adequately compensate for the lack of sororities. Melin explained that as a dry space and only open on the weekdays, there are limitations to the accessibility and opportunities for the WRC to fulfill a particular role.

For Olivia Ensign ’12, the WRC would not be replaced by the sorority since it’s “a crucial resource to women on campus” and instead, the sorority would “offer a separate space for women from all groups on campus to come together and strengthen the female community at Swarthmore.

Although her relationships with friends from home who have joined sororities and her continued questioning of popular negative sorority stereotypes, Ernst said, “Sororities are associated with meanness, pettiness and cliquish exclusivity.” In her experience, the term “sorority girl” conjures the image of a college student who is concerned primarily with her physical appearance and that of her sorority sisters, who are all engaged in excessive partying and whose primary focus is life as a sorority member rather than as a student.

Elverson described the pervasive, national view of Greek life as the white Anglo Saxon, rowdy and testosterone-charged males of the 1978 film “Animal House” for fraternities and the provocative and party-hard sorority sisters. Similarly, Melin believes in a stigma attached to sorority sisters thrived from the fear of being “stereotyped as unintelletual, elitist, and the frivolous party girl.” Unfortunately, she believes that such typecasting discourages many women on campus from even expressing interest in such organizations.

Acknowledging the frequency with which he hears the word “exclusive” associated with Greek life in his work at UPenn, Larry Moses said, “Fraternities and sororities were founded upon the idea that people of similar likes, backgrounds and cultures come together to share that interest in a group setting.” So, even though some label the Greek life as elitist, Moses asserts that though fraternities and sororities do have selection systems, Chapters’ constitutions do not permit them to deny any student the opportunity to join a Chapter .

However, Sendrow explained that for her, the Greek life’s ability to turn down applicants characterizes them as exclusive. For her, the current members of fraternities on campus are usually “involved in athletics and fulfill the jock role on this campus … and do not have body image issues.” Thus, she feels wary that if a sorority worked similarly in judging people on their appearance or personality, the group would be denying and rejecting particular women the opportunity for sisterhood.

In response, Melin argued for the need for more confidence in the compassion and abilities of Swarthmore women. She said, “These are the women who are going to be of the future and will be the leaders in this country in many different fields and if we don’t have enough respect for ourselves and enough confidence in the women on campus to create an inclusive environment, whether it’s a sorority, club or sports team, then I think we have a long way to go with a number of issues on campus and not merely sororities.”

For Melin, to associate sororities with unfair exclusivity and judgment based on physical appearance and to remain uncritical of fraternities in this same way, is insulting towards women.
“The problem here is that you are either saying that men do not judge in the same way, but women do, or you are saying that men do practice inappropriate recruiting practices or treat people unequally, but that women cannot do that,” Melin said. “Either way, you are putting women down.”

Change in the future

“Having a sorority at Swarthmore where women come together and bond is not mutually exclusive from an inclusive school,” Melin said. With a draft in progress, Melin, Ensign and Finegold hope to create a culturally diverse sorority that will be in alignment with Swarthmore values. Although friends, the three collaborators come from varying cultural and social backgrounds that they hope will jumpstart the sorority’s diversity.

Melin said, “When you get to Swarthmore you are automatically sorted into a group: if you are black you are told to join BCC, if you are Latina, you are told to join Enlace, and if you Jewish, you are told to join Hillel, if you are Asian you are told to join SAO, if you are international, you join i-20. But what is there on campus for women to come together?” With a campus where students are already fragmented into various organizations, Melin believes that a sorority possesses the potential to bring female students together from all of the College’s niches.

According to Elverson, who meets with the heads of the fraternities weekly, both DU and Phi Psi are “very open” to the idea of sororities on campus. Both DU President and a Dean’s Advisory Council member Matt Lamb and Phi Psi member Ian Anderson ’14 are working with the women to help draft the proposal that will reflect a range of campus voices. For Ensign, this open dialogue and collaboration is essential. She said, “It is important that a wide cross section of the campus is consulted in forming the goals and visions of this sorority. Swarthmore is such a unique place and thus, any sorority established here would need to fit into the wider Swarthmore culture.”

When presented with the idea of prospective sororities, Dean of Students Elizabeth Braun remains “open and supportive” of young women’s interests on campus. On Tuesday Oct. 27, Julia Melin ’13, who is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council — which consists of four students, faculty members, and Deans — proposed the possibility of Greek life for Swarthmore women. The three students hope to work alongside the administration to engineer a sorority that will be able to preemptively avoid possible controversial hazing practices or unfair exclusivity that characterize Greek life at colleges nationwide.

“A community can be anything you want it to be as long as you shape it a certain way,” Melin said. Swarthmore has the ability to have something for women that is shaped with values that reflect Swarthmore’s values, just like what is being done with the fraternities on campus. The same thing can be done for women.” Another supporter in the administration of sororities, Elverson believes that any sorority would have to be “diverse and inclusive,” which he professes as his approach to advising both fraternities as well.

In a similar tone, Rose Pitkin ’13, a member of the softball team and interested in the possibility of a female athlete sorority, reflected on the possibility of a Swarthmore sorority. She said, “I think that having a big community like that with a sense of responsibility towards a group could be a very empowering thing, but it would have to be done well.”

Ian Anderson is the Business Manager for The Phoenix. He had no role in the production of this article.

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