After being removed from the University in 2013, the Alpha Chi Omega sorority is making its return. PHOTO CREDIT: Contributed by: Gianna Cappelli
Eight years after being removed from the University of Rhode Island, national sorority Alpha Chi Omega is back on campus and working to re-establish itself in the Greek Life community.
According to Alison Burke, the assistant director of Greek Affairs, the sorority on campus was established as part of the national chapter in 1955, and suspended for a period of five years in 2013 for health and safety reasons. Members of the Panhellenic Council, as well as individuals who have joined the sorority, don’t know many details of the removal, since none of those members are present anymore.
One new member of the sorority, freshman Kaelynn Gonda, said that the removal is not something that is talked about anymore.
“No one talks about it, so it’s just a completely clean, new thing,” Gonda said.
Maren Drake, the president of the Panhellenic Council, said that the sorority first wanted to come back in 2020, but COVID-19 pushed back their entry onto campus. The process to return back to campus only started this year.
“As long as they are in good standing with the University, any student that’s interested in starting the chapter can come in and say they want to start this organization,” Drake said.
The process to be recognized as an official chapter varies based on the specific organization, according to Drake. Before she became a part of the Panhellenic Council, the members approved welcoming Alpha Chi Omega back to campus. After approval, it is up to the chapter to plan and execute recruiting new members.
Alpha Chi Omega did not participate in formal sorority recruitment this year and decided to remove themselves from that process until all of the other sororities were done with recruitment.
According to Drake, this was so they wouldn’t interfere with what was already going on, since they did not want to get in the way of the preexisting sororities.
She said that since there were no returning members of the sorority at URI when recruitment began, representatives from the national organization came to URI in June to reestablish the chapter.
“They came and visited campus and started brainstorming how they wanted to go about their reestablishment in terms of what kinds of events they wanted to do and things like that,” Drake said.
Consultants from the national organization moved onto campus in late August to run and start up the chapter until leadership positions for the chapter are filled.
“Alpha Chi Omega is excited to return to campus and fortunate that the sorority and fraternity community have been welcoming throughout our establishment process,” Emily Wind, one of these consultants, said in a statement.
According to Wind, the official establishment process began on Sept. 28, following the formal recruitment. Alpha Chi Omega’s recruitment process included marketing on campus, coffee dates with potential new members, interest sessions and large recruitment events. On Oct. 17, the sorority even hosted its own bid day.
According to Drake, even though this is their first semester back on campus, a lot of girls were interested in joining the sorority. She said that they had 200 people at their interviews, invited 150 to their invite-only rounds and ended up giving out 137 bids.
Gonda said some of the younger students were attracted to the sorority because of the leadership opportunities. Being that everyone who joined is a founding member, any of them can apply for a leadership position, regardless of their year.
“I really liked the leadership opportunities and the positions that I would be able to run for even though I’m a freshman,” Gonda said. “Being a founding member was a really special thing that I wouldn’t be able to do in any other sorority.”
The sorority is currently in the process of getting members into leadership positions. This week, Gonda said the sorority will be holding interviews and elections for executive board positions.
Now that the recruitment process is completed, the sorority has been able to hold events and meetings just like the other Greek Life organizations on campus.
“We’re having sisterhood events and we have weekly chapters like any other sorority. We are just a little behind them,” said Sarah Sidman, a sophomore and member of Alpha Chi Omega.