Back when we were freshmen, I would joke with a few of my friends about starting a new fraternity. When I was on IFC, we voted to grant probationary membership to a new, transfer-oriented fraternity (Theta Xi) which had been active on Cornell's campus some decades ago.
The process for establishing a sorority on Cornell's campus is different from that for establishing a new fraternity, and I don't think that Delta Phi Epsilon will be successful in its efforts to re-establish at Cornell.
What D Phi E has going for it is that it owns a house at Cornell; Alpha Xi Delta's former house on the Knoll is actually owned by D Phi E's national organization. The sorority was initially chartered at Cornell in 1962.
D Phi E also (from what I hear) seems to have a large number of Cornell women interested in joining. They've been mixing with fraternities and participating in events as a cohesive house.
Unfortunately, D Phi E has too much going against it. First, the current sororities will have to vote in favor of extension. Such a vote failed last spring, and it will probably fail again. With fewer houses, it's easier for sororities to make quota, and they have more of a say over which members they want. Cornell lost a sorority last year (Alpha Omicron Pi) because they weren't recruiting enough new members, and it might be a little premature to bring one back. I doubt the vote for extension will pass.
Second, even if the vote for extension passes, Panhellenic will invite delegates from any of the other national sororities (there are 26) to make a presentation to Cornell. D Phi E will have an advantage here for the aforementioned reasons, but they will still need to compete against sororities like Chi Omega and Delta Zeta which are quite large nationally and have thriving chapters as other upstate schools.
I'm not sure how many sororities will have to vote in favor of extension -- 9 of 11 so they have 75%? -- but I can't say that things look good for D Phi E at this point.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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Interesting. I think my mom, who was one of the founders of D Phi E's Delta Rho chapter at Cornell, was involved the last time they rechartered on campus.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they'll call on her again. When Theta Xi was refounded, they brought back a bunch of former Cornell chapter members.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at CU, DPE was known as Dogs, Pigs & Elephants; unfortunately, that House did not attract the "A listers"
ReplyDelete*nod* I sent a note to Molly offering to put her in touch. At the very least she'd probably appreciate the opportunity to talk to a founder.
ReplyDeleteIt is usually a simply majority vote to open for extension, unless the campus Panhellenic bylaws state otherwise. Also, Delta Zeta's second chapter, Beta, was at Cornell!
ReplyDeletehaha, it urned out that they approved the sorority! And panhel will extend. You were wrong, wrong wrong. :)
ReplyDelete