13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |DePauw students angry over sorority ousting

DePauw students angry over sorority ousting

Sandra Chapman/Eyewitness News

Greencastle - A small central Indiana college is in an uproar after dozens of sorority sisters were kicked out of their chapter house.

Delta Zeta evicted its own members last month, calling it a reorganization. But those affected say it comes down to mere physical appearances.

Ousted from their sorority and chapter house, these DePauw University women are teaching Greek organizations the power of image.

Sorority member Samantha Crispin spoke on a student-run television station about the issue.

"My whole experience with this house has been very disappointing because I came in and automatically it was 'you're not good enough' kind of sense -- that 'you girls, we let you but we don't have enough people; you're not good enough' and kind of like sentiments. And then when they go and do this and they say we want you out it's even more of a slap in the face," she said.

Crispin is among 23 members of DePauw's Delta Zeta Sorority put on alumnae status or told to leave because they didn't measure up in size or popularity. The only African-American, Korean and Vietnamese women were also told to go.

Cindy Babington is the Dean of Students. She says the school has sent a letter of reprimand to the Delta Zeta National Organization.

"They liked being Delta Zetas; they liked living in that chapter house. They liked their friends and then just to have that pulled out from underneath you and to be told that you're not; we don't want you anymore? We're very disappointed with the way this was handled," she said.

Of the seven sorority houses on campus, Babington says Delta Zeta had significantly fewer members and was struggling to pay its bills.

Back in September members of Delta Zeta's national office indicated they want to shut the sorority down. It was DePauw University officials that suggested the membership review. But they say this is not what they had in mind.

The idea was to shore up support and allow uninterested members to opt out. But a week before finals, 23 rejection letters went out. The women had no idea where they were going to live.

"It was a huge impact on their lives," Babington said. She has met with all 23 of the girls who received notices and the six who quit in protest.

No one answered the door at the chapter house where just six members remain. On its national website, Delta Zeta expressed regret saying it "misjudged" how members would receive the letters. The sorority says it's saddened by what it calls mischaracterizations and inaccuracies.

But the only sympathy on campus where 70 percent of the student population wears Greek is for those displaced.

"I think it's kind of horrible that they actually threw them out just because of, you know, an image that they wanted to have," Junior Cherisse LeJeune told Eyewitness News. She says this is a good example of why she is among the 30 percent of DePauw students who have chosen to remain independent of Greek organizations.

Sophomore Jessica Richter belongs to a different sorority on campus, but says the situation is frightening. "I can't even imagine the kind of emotional problems that those girls are having right now."

"We're a small community. We aren't I.U. We aren't the University of Illinois. You can't come in here and do that and expect there to be no consequence. And I don't think they believed me," said Babington.

DePauw University officials have implemented a new clause that now forbids Greek restructuring of this kind in the middle of the year. The University says sororities and fraternities must keep their housing contracts with students for the entire year.