De Pauw University Delta Zeta Discrimination Controversy - Membership Review

Membership Review

In an emergency attempt to salvage the chapter, a team of national representatives came to the university in November 2006 to conduct a membership review, interviewing women individually about their dedication to the sorority. (Delta Zeta representatives have repeatedly asserted that they undertook the review on the advice of the university, whereas DePauw officials "vehemently" deny this.) A few days after the interview process, the national team with women from ΔΖ's Epsilon Chapter at nearby Indiana University held a recruiting event in the house, where some allege 25 of the chapter members were asked not to participate and to remain out of sight. A February 25, 2007, New York Times article quoted one former Delta Chapter member as saying, "They had these unassuming freshman girls downstairs with these plastic women from Indiana University, and 25 of my sisters hiding upstairs. It was so fake, so completely dehumanized."

Subsequently, 23 out of 35 active members, including Delta's president, were assigned early alumna status and asked to vacate the house. (Four members had resigned in September after the review was announced, and three others who were living off-campus at the time have claimed they were never contacted about their membership status.) Former members later told university officials that when they first learned of the review, they were led to believe that they would be allowed to decide for themselves whether to continue their involvement in the sorority, but in early December 2006—shortly before finals week at DePauw—national headquarters sent out letters informing members that they were either still active or had been recommended for alumnae status and were to move out of the house by the end of January 2007. Each new alumna received $300 to cover the difference between sorority housing and campus housing; nonetheless, many of the women were unsure that they would find another place to live. The university eventually found housing for the evicted women.