Who thought this was a good idea?

February 25th, 2007 | jchaager | news

DePauw University in Indiana is in the middle of a huge controversy over one of the campus sorority. It seems that the national officer’s of the Delta Zeta sorority decided to “reorganize” the local chapter to “improve” the image of the sorority. What they managed to do is lose a significant portion of their current membership, and spark a controversy that has threatened the sororities place on campus.

The national officer’s came in and interviewed the 35 members of the local chapter ostensibly to determine their dedication to increasing recruitment. They decided that over 65% of the members weren’t acceptable and were told to vacate the sorority house.

The 23 members included every woman who was overweight. They also included the only black, Korean and Vietnamese members. The dozen students allowed to stay were slender and popular with fraternity men — conventionally pretty women the sorority hoped could attract new recruits. Six of the 12 were so infuriated they quit.

Seattle Times

So, a chapter of 35 that was thought to be having recruiting difficulties is now a chapter of 6 with a huge image problem. A 80%+ drop in membership and a letter of reprimand from the University president probably isn’t what they were looking for.

Anyone think the individuals responsible for this brilliant plan will face any censure or repercussions from this fiasco? One can only hope they do and that this serves as a lesson for any other sororities or fraternities that might be thinking about repeating this foolishness.