20 Years Later: Sororities provide leadership, social outlets for women

BY BARBARA FITZGERALD

In 1986—after nearly three quarters of a century without a sorority on campus—Westhampton College undertook the largest introduction of sororities ever attempted at any university. Of the 26 national sororities, 24 wanted to be considered for a campus chapter at the University, a list narrowed to nine, then six.

Twenty years later, six traditional Greek sororities are still represented at Westhampton, five of them dating from that original installation. There are also two historically black sororities, installed on campus about a decade later.

Alison Bartel Keller, director of Greek life at Richmond, feels that sororities have served, and continue to serve, their purpose well.

Delta Gamma sisters (back row) educate children about sight conservation.

“Prior to sororities, student government was pretty much the only opportunity for Westhampton women to engage in leadership roles—roles that would teach organizational skills, management, delegating, risk management, all that valuable know-how. These were opportunities that Richmond College men had had in the past, but sororities opened up those doors for women.”

One might have thought the doors would have opened back in 1914, when Westhampton was founded and May Keller (no relation to Bartel Keller) came on board as its first dean. Keller was then national president of Pi Beta Phi—coincidentally one of the sororities brought on campus in 1986—and a strong supporter of sororities. But she quickly observed that the class structure at Westhampton served, in effect, the purpose of a sorority by defining a small group within a larger body. She concluded that sororities were unneeded.

But as the student body grew, that changed. Elaine Yeatts, a member of the Board of Trustees from the 1970s to the 1990s, served on a board subcommittee that recommended the introduction of sororities. “There had been a growing interest in the mid-’80s from students who had friends or mothers and aunts who were sorority members, as well as from the national sororities who were contacting Westhampton about expansion opportunities.

Current sorority presidents: (from l.) Heather Strickland, Alpha Chi Omega; Lindsay Rowan, Delta Delta Delta; Beth Alterman, Pi Beta Phi; Allison Lum, Kappa Kappa Gamma; Megan Paterson, Delta Gamma; and Jill Pace, Kappa Alpha Theta.

“Responding to that interest, a subcommittee of the student affairs committee began to consider whether this seemed like a good idea and, if so, which sororities might be good ones to bring, how many we should have, and so on. The primary concern was that there be enough sororities available that women who wanted to participate could do so, and that has proved to be the case. Women don’t always get their first choice, but overall, the sororities have been a positive experience.”

They also have been a positive experience for the local Richmond community. Each sorority has undertaken a local philanthropic project reflective of the interests of their national organizations. For instance, Delta Gamma supports the blind through sight conservation projects, Pi Phi works   on literacy issues and Tri Delta’s focus is children’s cancer. Of course, it’s not all philanthropy and volunteering. There are also social events, formals and parties that usually take place off campus.

Sarah Shear, ’01, assistant director for regional initiatives in the University’s alumni office, says her sorority experience added a great deal to her education and led to her first after-college job. “The year after graduation, I was a consultant for my sorority on a national basis. I traveled to colleges all over the country to establish new chapters or to review and evaluate existing chapters—a process that takes place every year among all the national sororities. I think it’s a strong recommendation for the Greek experience at Westhampton that a great number of national consultants have come out of Westhampton sororities over the years.”

Social events are a part of sorority life.

Shear adds that leadership roles in college, whether in sororities or in other campus organizations, “offer experience in speaking in front of people, in organizing and problem solving, in working with teams—even in P.R., when you consider the recruiting process.”

Courtney Kwiatkowski, a senior and president of the Panhellenic Council, the sororities’ governing body on campus, adds that sororities are a great networking tool.  “I meet people and spend time with people whose interests are very different from my own—women who are involved in sports and musical events—and these are people I would probably not have run into to any degree, if at all, without our sorority ties.”

Sororities now attract about 45 percent of Westhampton women eligible for membership, marking a drop in interest in recent years from the original 62 percent in the first years. Bartel Keller says the numbers have risen and fallen through the years.

Bartel Keller is proud of the sorority system that has developed during the past two decades. “When I met with women from the national sororities 20 years ago, we were determined to set up a system here that would be a model for systems all over the country in years to come. We set this up as a progressive system, and we don’t have to deal with hazing and some of the things that other schools have had. Our system was the first in the country to introduce philanthropy and alumni members into recruitment, now a standard for many Panhellenic recruitment programs around the country. Not only have we been providing additional leadership opportunities for women, we’ve also been leading the way for sorority systems across the nation.”