Panhel rejects Sigma Kappa bid to colonize

Five out of eight houses vote 'no' The Panhellenic Council voted Sunday not to invite the Sigma Kappa sorority to colonize at the University, according to Panhel President Jessica Schreck, a Sigma Delta Tau sister. The College junior explained that a two-thirds majority of the eight Panhel sororities was needed for approval of the sorority, and five houses voted to oppose expansion at this time. Schreck had not spoken to anyone from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs as of Monday night, but said she sent electronic mail to OFSA Director Scott Reikofski about the decision. Sigma Kappa's national office will be informed of the decision tomorrow if Reikofski has not already gotten in touch with them, Schreck said. The presidents had originally planned to vote last Monday, according to Schreck, but decided to postpone the vote because of incomplete attendance and indecision. "We wanted to walk away from the table all agreeing, with a general feeling of what was the right thing for us to do now, and what was the best thing for Sigma Kappa, which was why we spent so many hours," Schreck explained. "We went through all of the pros, all of the cons, past and present-day statistics and what happened at other schools when they expanded." Pi Beta Phi President Caroline Djang, who voted against inviting Sigma Kappa, said Panhel discussed the issue at length. "We really deliberated for a long time about this," the College junior said. "We worked so well as a group -- everything was on the table." But the decision not to allow colonization is not an indication that the University's Greek system is suffering, according to Schreck. "[The decision] was mostly based on deciding where we wanted to put our energies next year," she said. "We're devoting a lot of our work right now to strengthening our relationship with the University. "It came down to that we would feel it would be more beneficial for Sigma Kappa to come into our system at a later time," Schreck added. And Djang said the group preferred to "tackle a lot more issues." "We think we're eight very strong houses, and that's how we'd like to stay," she said. Djang added that Pi Phi's national office forbids chapters to vote to expand their university's Greek system if any sororities on campus do not take as enough pledges to meet their quotas. Two chapters did not make quota this year, Schreck confirmed. "We are forbidden by our national office to vote for another house to come on -- it's a national Pi Phi policy," Djang said. Schreck advised non-Greeks who were interested in helping to colonize Sigma Kappa to "rush again." "If they would still like to experience Greek life, they should absolutely rush again -- it would be wonderful to have these girls in the system," she said. But College freshman and Undergraduate Assembly member Courtney Fine questioned "why on Earth people who were told 'no' by [Panhel] would want to be a part of them." "As a student at Penn, I feel that this decision has basically denied 25 women an opportunity to be part of a system that they wanted to help make better by bringing a new house on campus and getting involved," she said. "Twenty-five people showed the initiative to change something, and they were told 'no.' I'm really disappointed. It just doesn't seem right." But Schreck said Sigma Kappa is still in line to be the next sorority added to the University's Greek system. "We are looking forward to having Sigma Kappa join the Panhellenic system," she said. "They are nationally a very strong house, and they will be a wonderful addition to our community." Panhel will continue to keep in touch with Sigma Kappa's national office, and will vote again next spring on whether to allow the sorority to colonize, Schreck added.

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