The search is over.
Members of the five Panhellenic sororities at University of Richmond have selected Kappa Delta to become the new sorority on campus after a final round of decisions that included presentations from other finalists Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Mu.
The Panhellenic extension committee, the organization of sorority women responsible for making the final choice, announced its decision Tuesday night. The announcement has been met with widespread approval from the university community.
“I’m really excited to welcome KD, and I think they are a solid fit with the missions of our university,” said Megan Haggerty, president of Richmond's chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta and Westhampton College ’15.
The selection of Kappa Delta came at the end of a two-year-long evaluation process by the extension committee, which evaluated more than ten Panhellenic sorority candidates and narrowed the list down to three finalists: Kappa Delta, Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Mu. Each sorority gave presentations and met with Greek women, members of the university administration, the deans of Westhampton College and others during the first two weeks of October.
“I was happy to learn about what other sororities wanted to come onto our campus, and it was interesting to see how each sorority was very different, and to determine whether I could see them on our campus,” said Catherine McTiernan, member of Kappa Kappa Gamma and WC ’16, who attended two of the information sessions.
“From what I heard, everyone was really excited about KD, because they seemed like the most down-to-earth girls. They were all about confidence, and that’s something that’s very important to being part of a Greek organization.”
The concentration on confidence is part of Kappa Delta’s “Confidence Coalition,” an initiative that focuses the sorority’s educational and philanthropic programs into “promoting a contemporary view on empowering women,” said Meg Pevarski, the university’s assistant director for Greek life.
Pevarski said the extension committee had many reasons why Kappa Delta was the best choice, including the alignment of the organization’s values with those of the university and Westhampton College, the increased opportunities for student leadership specific to Kappa Delta and the ability of Kappa Delta to effectively create a new chapter in the next year.
Kappa Delta will join the Richmond community in fall 2015 with a process called colonization. With five other established chapters on our campus, some think the organization will have a lot to do to catch up. “I think the committee and our community recognize that in order to be successful, they’re going to have to come in and shake things up,” Pevarski said. “But we are starting to hear already of women who are unaffiliated and interested. That’s really exciting because the colony experience is unlike anything we have right now – it’s the opportunity to put a stamp on a community in a completely different way.”
Kappa Delta representatives will be on campus in January to observe the normal recruitment process, and will be “in and out” next semester in public relations efforts and meetings with sorority, fraternity and student government representatives to begin collecting names of interested women, Pevarski said. Kappa Delta will then begin an altered recruitment process next fall to select the sorority chapter’s founding members, who will join normal recruitment in spring 2016.
The addition of Kappa Delta will make pledge classes smaller in the other sororities, which many current Greek women are excited about. “It’s definitely time for the number of the university’s Panhellenic sororities to expand so that future Greek women can have the best experience possible,” Haggerty said.
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“I think the whole point of being a sister and being a part of Greek life is that you welcome people with open arms, and you get to know these girls when they come,” McTiernan said. “The more, the better, when it comes to sororities, because it’ll be nice to have smaller pledge classes so that we can really, truly get to know the girls who are in our sororities.”
As for the other two candidates, Pevarski said the committee’s choice was clear, but difficult. “We want someone to come in, do their own thing and really push our community forward, but we also want them to have a deep understanding of who we are and what makes a Westhampton woman tick,” Pevarski said. "[Kappa Delta] seem to understand that from a place, maybe, that the other organizations didn’t understand.”
“Kappa Delta is very excited to join the University of Richmond community,” said Betty Mulkey, the organization’s national vice president, in a press release. “We enjoyed meeting the Panhellenic women who exemplify excellence in every endeavor and look forward to working with them to provide students with a transformative experience.”
Contact reporter Chase Brightwell at chase.brightwell@richmond.edu
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