The Tennessee Tech Panhellenic Council has decided to bring a new chapter onto campus in the spring of 2012 due to overcrowded sororities.
National Panhellenic Council area officer Tricia Barber and Greek Life adviser Katie Williams agreed to open campus for expansion in the spring. Waiting until spring will allow chapters to increase house total and better prepare for the expansion.
“This decision will benefit all four chapters on campus to compensate for overcrowding and allow more women to get into the sorority of their choice,” Shelby Reagan, Greek Life graduate assistant said.
Expansion will start with all four current sorority chapters agreeing to invite a new chapter to campus, according to Winningham.
“Every time, the process is always the same,” Winningham said.
From there, outside sororities send their information to the Tech Panhellenic Council explaining how they can make Tech’s campus and Greek Life better.
Next, a special expansion committee will be formed by taking two members from each of the sororities— Alpha Delta Pi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Delta, and Phi Mu— currently on campus. This committee will be in charge of making the final decision of which submission will be the new chapter on campus.
“That way each sorority is equally represented in the decision, but everyone on Panhellenic Council usually gets to meet all the competing sororities,” Reagan said.
“We are excited for expansion here at Tennessee Tech,” Laura Horton, Kappa Delta chapter president, said. “It will be interesting learning about a new sorority and seeing how they would fit into our campus. Another Panhellenic sorority will mean more chances for girls going through recruitment to find their places. It may also mean greater participation in philanthropic events and greater good done for Cookeville.
“Our chapter is also excited to be able to help the new sorority get involved and bring about positive change for all of our organizations,” Horton said.
The most recent organization to come to Tech was Delta Gamma, which established a chapter in 1980. Until now, there was no push to go back to five chapters on campus, according to Winningham.
Expansion is different at every campus, it depends on the campus size. According to Winningham, some will expand every two years and some every 31 years. Bigger schools tend to plan in advance which organization joins at which time.
Greek Life currently makes up 10 percent of the student body with 383 Panhellenic women. The average chapter includes 95 women.
