Collegiate Times

Last semester, the Panhellenic Council of Virginia Tech decided to open its doors for another sorority to join the Greek community.

After a rigorous selection process, the council will announce its choice for the new sorority tonight.

The PHC governs the 12 sororities on campus and is a chapter of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization composed of 26 sororities and women’s fraternities. Only sororities in the National Panhellenic Council are eligible for Oak Lane community housing on Tech’s campus. Non-NPC sororities may come to Tech but will not have housing on campus.

Every year, the PHC looks at the number of chapters on campus, women in the chapters and women who are going through recruitment. These totals are then compared to the statistics of past years.

Adam Cantley, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life, said the average chapter size has increased by 10 to 20 percent in the last five years, with about 200 more women going through recruitment than five years ago.

Senior Meg Gough, president of the PHC, said the increase happened because of freshman classes growing annually, more women entering the university and an overall heightened interest in Greek life.

Tech possibly would have been open for extension this year even if one sorority, Delta Zeta, had not been disbanded last year. Cantley said the discussion was already in motion.

“We want to give more women the opportunity to be a part of the community,” he said.

Because 12 NPC organizations are already represented at Tech, the Panhellenic Council informed the remaining 14 national sororities they were open to extension. More than half submitted paperwork to be reviewed by the council.

Gough said the nine sororities “sent binders and binders and binders.” 

The council formed an extension committee to review the documents and rank the sororities based on the given information.

“It was a long time, it took forever to read through,” Gough said.

The committee narrowed the nine sororities to three finalists: Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Mu and Gamma Phi Beta. The decision was based on what the groups had to offer, why they wanted to be at Tech and alumni in the area. 

“We want to make sure that whatever sorority comes here, the nationals will support them all the way. If (they) do not support the new chapter it will fall apart,” Gough said.

The finalists came to Tech to present to the council, current sorority members, alumni and advisers last week.

Tonight, the entire council will convene once again. The committee will give its recommendation, and the delegates will cast their votes on behalf of the sororities they represent. If the recommended sorority wins the vote by a simple majority, they will be formally invited to start a chapter on campus.

Current residents of Oak Lane are  ready to welcome the new sorority.

“We’re really excited,” said senior Rachel Licklider of Delta Delta Delta. “We feel like we can support even more sororities, and hopefully this will bring even more girls.”

Here is a rundown of the potential new sororities:

Continue Reading: 123 Next » 

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 13 issue of the Collegiate Times.