The feminist sorority

Salon has an interesting article about a “feminist sorority” at Trinity College in Connecticut. While this isn’t the first local fraternity/sorority to break out of the mold (although I dispute there being a mold so much as there are personality types that tend to join Greek organizations more than others), it’s the first I’ve heard of that had feminism as a political ideology. (Although, come to think of it, it’d be strange if that hadn’t occured in the 1960s and 1970s somewhere, somewhen.)

But sororities in general seem to be changing — very, very slowly. “There is a movement to make these groups more progressive and relevant in the 21st century because they understand that if they don’t progress they might get wiped out,” says Alexandra Robbins, author of “Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities.” The primary obstacle: “The sense of tradition in these organizations is so strong that any movement toward change is inevitably going to encounter a backlash.” Still, Robbins recently worked as a consultant with the national leadership of one sorority whose highest-ups “were thinking about more revolutionary changes than even I suggested,” she says. “It was very encouraging. The day might not be so far away when a ‘feminist sorority’ no longer has to be just a ‘local.'” (Single-chapter fraternities and sororities that do not have national parent organizations, like Zeta, are known as “locals.”)

I wholeheartedly agree that Greek life is going to inevitably change, perhaps radically, in the future. I also think it’ll happen sooner than the above-quoted Robbins thinks. At Pi Kappa Alpha at Tech, graduating seniors are given the floor to speak about whatever they want in a beer-and-pizza-ceremony. I commented at that time that I thought the day of single-sex chapters by national policy would be gone before my brothers had sons rushing Pikes. It just doesn’t seem to be something that can indefinitely withstand the changing times.

I do think there will be fraternities (and sororities) that won’t survive. Some will get sued and refuse to change, and shut down. Others will remain sufficiently hidebound that, eventually, they will be too out of step with 21st century college students to be any sort of draw.

The ladies (and gentlemen) of the Zeta Omega Eta sorority are just a sign of things to come.

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