New sorority begins recruitment

With a new group of freshmen women ready to join the ranks of the Greek community, the Panhellenic Council is in the process of adding an eighth chapter to Penn's campus.

Sigma Kappa, a sorority with approximately 126,000 members in more than 110 chapters nationwide, is currently working on plans to recruit its founding Penn members during the spring semester.

Jen Hohman, Sigma Kappa's director of expansion, described joining the new chapter as "an incredible opportunity to make your mark at Penn."

The recruitment process began Tuesday and Wednesday evenings in Houston Hall when national representatives introduced freshmen to Sigma Kappa as part of the open house round of Panhel's formal rush process.

Lindsay Castelein, Sigma Kappa's chapter consultant who will lead the process of colonization and new member education at Penn, said that the meetings were intended to "provide information about Sigma Kappa so that [rushees] can tell their friends about it."

"[We're] letting them know the options," Castelein said.

The actual colonization process will begin with an information session on Feb. 6 and will continue with several informal gatherings to be held throughout the following week. This will be followed by invitation-only events, after which women will be issued bids. A formal Sigma Kappa pledging ceremony will take place Feb. 10, after the pledging ceremonies for Penn's seven other sororities have taken place.

New members of the Sigma Kappa sorority will then begin what is called a "promise program," which will consist, in part, of initiation and new member education. The program will culminate in late April.

Sigma Kappa will join Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Phi, Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Chi Omega, Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha Theta as one of Penn's active campus sororities.

Last spring, Panhel announced its decision to bring Sigma Kappa, which has 2,500 alumnae in the Philadelphia area, to campus. The sorority originally asked for the expansion in the late 1980s.

Panhel President Kristen Buppert said that bringing more sorority chapters to Penn has been one of Panhel's long-term goals. The decision to begin expanding reflects a desire to maintain the current size of existing sororities while leaving room for growth.

"We brought them in this year because of the amount of consistent interest," she said. "We wanted to make sure last year's number [of pledges] continued to be strong before bringing them in."

Buppert added that she does not expect difficulty in recruiting new members, including upperclassmen.ÿShe said that the option of becoming one of the chapter's founding members will give women "the ability to start something completely new."

Hohman said that Sigma Kappa hopes to appeal to women whom Panhel has not reached in the past, as well as to those who want to join a sorority for more traditional reasons.

She added that Sigma Kappa will be recruiting both freshmen and upperclassmen who are currently unaffiliated with a sorority.

"In order to be competitive on campus, we need all types of women," Hohman said.

She added that becoming a founding member is a great way for women to leave their legacy at Penn and begin a new tradition.

"They can make the sorority what they want it to be," Hohman said.

According to Buppert, while some may choose Sigma Kappa because they find Panhel's formal rush process intimidating or inconvenient, others will be interested in the leadership opportunities that it will provide.

Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Associate Director Leah Shafer also stressed the desire to be a leader as a strong reason to join the new sorority. Sigma Kappa will likely be attractive to "someone who has high leadership standards," Shafer said.

While no students have been selected as leaders at this point, Buppert said that several have already expressed interest in joining the new chapter.

Scott Reikofski, director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs, predicted that responses to Sigma Kappa would be strong.

"I think there will be a good number of women eager to join," he said. "We have seven great sororities, but there are other kinds of people out there."

Hohman added that Sigma Kappa's colonization efforts -- the most recent of which took place at Virginia Tech -- have been very successful over the last five years and have resulted in highly competitive chapters at each campus.

Although the national organization has not yet secured a chapter house, they are actively looking and hope to have one by this fall.

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