When a Closed Group Re-forms
 

https://smudailycampus.com/1063328/n...a-think-again/

Article in the Southern Methodist campus newspaper about the closing of Kappa Alpha Theta in 2022 and the way they re-formed as "The Society". The article also discusses how the campus (both admin and Greek Life) has responded to the new group.

Wow this is a mess. I do wonder what the national organization itself will do once the suspension is lifted and they (could) return to campus. Considering how popular the house was for a long time, I bet they'll return soon. It sucks that just on the PKT think that has been the thing on SMU's campus for ages lead to this underground organization to exist, as some of these students would rather be in an org that could potentially do harm to them than join one on campus that is seen as "beneath" them.

I rant about this because the exact same thing happened to Tri Delta at Penn State. Hazing incident occurs, chapter gets suspended, and an underground organization called Trilogy forms in its place. Tri Delta had the opportunity to recolonize in 2013, but nationals declined to due to Trilogy being in place (and Penn State was dumb enough to recognize them as a campus organization rather than say don't join this.) Here is more about "Trilogy"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-se...y-hazing-party

This was wordy as hell. Were the pledges initiated? If so, why on earth did Theta nationals allow them to be initiated when hazing allegations were going on?

Re Trilogy at Penn State, there must be something more to it than just drinking and hazing or they wouldn't still be around after 10 years (that included COVID, a system shutdown and lots of other shit).

On their official campus page they are touted as a philanthropy group that helps with Penn State's THON, which is the biggest charity event on campus. They still do function as a "sorority" with cheaper dues and social events.

https://orgcentral.psu.edu/organization/trilogy

Similarly:
At UCF in 2015 the Lambda Chi Alpha chapter closed and resurrected as “The Gazoni Family”
https://www.reddit.com/r/ucf/comment...gazoni_family/

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/u...family-2410536

Still dealing with it in 2021:
https://fsl.sdes.ucf.edu/wp-content/...2021154736.pdf

It's a tale as old as time that the good old mix of money, power, rules and prestige will likely rule the day over the women in The Society.


Theta's been on campus since 1929. They operated a multi-million dollar mansion for their membership. Despite the new arrival of Alpha Delta Pi to campus, Theta's eventual recolonization before their 100th anniversary is a likely Theta target.


SMU has turned their backs on The Society by passing rules against groups such as theirs in favor of Theta eventually returning.


Theta has indicated it will not return unless The Society is completely expunged.


Even the Interfraternity Council President is quoted: "...The Society is a blight on Greek life...".


IMO SMU is attempting to get rid of The Society because The Society is preventing the return of an old, dominant and prestigious sorority back onto campus.


It matters not that the women of The Society are not those who performed hazing while members of Theta, nor are they accused by anyone of hazing after having formed The Society.


Did The Society once HAVE campus recognition, then lose it? If they had recognition, what legitimate reason caused The Society to lose recognition by SMU?

The question is, do the chapter alumnae view The Society as their sisters or not? Is there anyone left in The Society who is also an initiated Theta?

The thing I find the most shocking about this is that the *mothers* of the Spring '22 Theta New Member Class founded The Society so that their daughters could continue to have the sort of social life their mothers deemed appropriate for their mostly wealthy, entitled daughters. And, to top that they incorporated it as a non profit organization. This will make it much harder for SMU to get rid of them, especially if the women were not initiated members of Theta. If not, they have no real ties with KAT nationally.

I do believe Theta when they state that they will not reorganize at SMU as long as The Society exists. As long as their mortgage is paid they can remain inactive for as long as they wish.

I truly do believe that Theta did everything they could to end hazing in that chapter up until they were forced to pull their charter.

Hopefully time and the efforts of the university will cause The Society to die a natural death sooner, rather than later.

I'm totally not surprised that the helicopter parents founded this group for their daughters.

Same rhing happened at UT Austin SAE and KA went local and survived for years. uT Fiji told the International to go take a hike years ago and has a cery cold relationship with rhe national organization as well.

Sorry fot the typo's.

If I was a student on that campus preparing to go through recruitment, I would be much more interested in joining an existing NPC rather than a local group that has ties to an NPC that used to be on campus. This "Society" may be a short-term thing, and if it goes belly-up in a few years they miss out on the benefits of lifelong national sorority membership and having somewhere to go for Homecoming. But that's just me. Was Theta really that big of a deal on that campus?

Maybe I'm mistaken, but from the article it sounds as though Theta's nationals pulled their charter after hazing accusations, and that's why the consequences seem more severe than they were for the other orgs who were also accused of hazing. Those national groups didn't pull their charters at SMU.

I do think it's kind of shady how SMU is trying to thwart this new group. Freedom of association and all that. Just let them do their thing if they're not hurting anyone and stop threatening the Greek orgs who want to have social events with them. Maybe they can do this because SMU is a private school?

That was the second serious hazing incident in 2 years for Theta, I think Theta Nationals had had enough. I believe that the hazing incident with Pi Phi was their first. The DDD chapter at UVA was put on a semesters probation for similarly writing on New Members bodies with Sharpies.

Sometimes I think that female hazing is worse now and so much of it appears to be the "cutesy" stuff that they've heard about in social media, like the Sharpie crap. I've heard of PNMs showing up on campus excitedly asking to be hazed. Sad.