New sorority will not colonize U.

Freshman and sophomore women looking forward to a second opportunity to rush with the colonization of a new sorority this spring will need to wait until next year at the earliest. No new sorority will be coming to the University this year, despite the disbandment of Kappa Delta last semester and the speculation that Sigma Kappa would colonize this semester, according to Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Tricia Phaup. A Panhellenic Council expansion committee held a roundtable meeting last week to vote on the issue and decided to postpone the colonization of Sigma Kappa, the fifth and final national sorority in an expansion plan developed by Panhel in March 1987. Members of the expansion committee, which includes Panhellenic chapter presidents and the executive board, will vote again next February. If representatives vote to colonize Sigma Kappa next year, the sorority would most likely hold rush in the fall of 1996. But Phaup added that the officers next year could hold off the decision again until the spring of 1997. Rumors began circulating among sorority rushees last month after some were told that Sigma Kappa may be coming to the University this semester. "During rush we were told that there was a possibility that there was a new sorority [that] would be colonizing this spring," said Melissa Donald, a College freshman pledging Sigma Delta Tau. Donald said rushees were told that "girls who didn't get bids or who choose not to rush, would have the opportunity to rush again in the spring." However, she added that the women were not given the information definitively, and were told that the possibility of a new sorority should not hinder any decision-making. "We did just lose one of our sororities, and it's tough whenever that happens," Phaup said. "We wanted to take some time to see where the system is before [moving on]." The committee was largely in agreement on the matter, according to Phaup. Housing issues were the primary concern among officers. "I definitely think that housing is an issue," said Wharton senior Jennifer Pollock, the former president of Pi Beta Phi. Pollack's sorority is currently in search of permanent housing while occupying a leased house since its colonization in 1991. A second issue concerns proposals of a new college house system -- a system that has the potential to affect the number of Greeks living in chapter houses. "That would make some changes as far as filling their houses," Phaup said. Ideas on the system came as a result of the 21st Century Undergraduate Education Initiative. Part of the plan involves combining residences with academics. Provost Stanley Chodorow also suggested a college house system as one possibility of how to carry out the plan. But so far, specifics of the plan have not been released. "The college house system may have an important impact on the Greek system depending on how it's designed," Greek Alumni Council Chairperson Andrea Dobin said. A third element of housing that is currently unresolved is the University's re-evaluation of funding for fraternity and sorority house renovation projects, Dobin said. Combined, the elements of housing make for an environment that could prove difficult for a new sorority. "It would be difficult to take them in, in such an unsettled arena," she said.

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