2009 April 24 - Delta Delta Delta Chosen as Ninth Sorority
By: Hannah Hoffman , News Reporter
EUGENE,OR- The University Panhellenic Council announced its decision to select Delta Delta Delta as the ninth sorority to be affiliated with the University campus Thursday. Tri Delta will be the first sorority added to the University community in 17 years.
The council extended an invitation to Tri Delta to come to campus during fall 2009. The choice had been between Tri Delta and Kappa Alpha Theta. The council told Theta it could join the University within the next four years if the national representation for Theta decides to do so.
"Both of these organizations have a history at the University of Oregon," Greek Leadership Advisor Amy Long said. Tri Delta had a chapter at the University starting in 1910, but closed its doors in 2000 because of low membership numbers, she said. Theta started a chapter in 1909 and closed in 1997.
There are currently eight sororities on campus.
Tri Delta national President Jackye Clark said in an e-mail, "We are now focusing on securing housing and recruiting a strong alumnae advisory board for our new chapter."
In the meantime, the sorority is happy to have been selected for colonization at the University, Clark said.
"Tri Delta was founded on the ideals of truth, self-sacrifice and friendship, and has since initiated over 200,000 women into our membership. We can't wait to welcome prospective Tri Delta members at the UO this fall," she said.
During the fall of 2008, the Panhellenic Council, which is the Greek system's voting representative body, voted to expand to include one more sorority. After the vote, the council extended an invitation to sororities around the nation to apply to join the University community.
The candidates were narrowed down to two, Tri Delta and Theta, whose national representatives made presentations to the council during April.
The entire process was voluntary, Panhellenic President Annie Sept said. "We didn't solicit anyone," she said.
The driving force behind the expansion was the increase in participants in the Greek system, Long said. Many women were looking to join a sorority, but not finding what they wanted, she said, and the ones that joined did so in record numbers.
During fall 2008, 618 women applied to be in sororities, said Kate Harrison, Greek Life director of admissions and recruitment. Only 450 joined in fall 2007.
The criteria the council used to choose a sorority were both tangible and intangible, Sept said. Both Tri Delta and Theta had to first show they had the financial stability to be self-sustaining, she said.Long said that when a sorority sells its house, the money goes into a trust fund for the chapter to buy a new house.
The Tri Delta chapter at the University sold its old house in 2005 for $820,000, according to the Lane County Assessment and Taxation Office.
Sept said the council also considered whether the sororities would meet the University's endorsement standards. The University requires every Greek organization's members maintain an average GPA of at least 3.0 and fulfill various requirements, including organizing philanthropic events.
Sept said the presentations to the council included the sororities' national average GPAs, philanthropy hours and explanations of how they plan to support their members at the University to meet the standards.
Sept said she looks forward to reinstating Tri Delta and hopes it has "another long future here."
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