By Isabella May
Basic Information on Sorority Life
Every semester, sororities hold recruitment week where they invite girls to join their sorority. The recruitment process lasts four days, of which “three of these days are interview rounds at various lengths, and the fourth day is bid day, where new members receive their bids,” said one of the sorority sisters.
It has been falsified that all sororities haze or pick girls due to their looks or their weight, when in reality, it is so much more honest and respectful than that.
An anonymous source said that sororities “wanted to make a more positive environment for girls to feel comfortable going through the process.”
It is known that the recruitment process is very stressful and anxious for the Potential New Members (PNMs), but does that anxiety cause unnecessary drama and falsehoods?
Philanthropy Round Drama
During The University of Tampa recruitment week, a girl posted a TikTok that went viral stating that a sorority member at recruitment was extremely rude to her. The girl was a second-semester freshman rushing the Sigma Delta Tau sorority.
After these events happened, she decided to drop out of recruitment during the philanthropy round on the second day.
She posted a TikTok talking about a negative experience she had when she talked to a girl in Sigma Delta Tau who was not mentioned by name. In the video, the freshman said that one of the girls in the sorority looked like Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) from 13 Reasons Why. After telling the girl this, the sorority sister felt insulted, lashed out, and cursed at her while saying that the actress in the show was “fat” and “ugly.”
That was when the freshman decided to post the TikTok, which spread quickly in a matter of hours. The video now has 9.7 million views and counting.
Is this true or just gossip?
There was backlash after the video was made, and people were commenting on whether it was real. All the sisters in Sigma Delta Tau were told not to comment on the subject since it is so negative.
The sorority sister referenced in the video made a TikTok video in response, denying that the story was true and saying that as an older member in a sorority, she would know not to curse at a PNM.
After the video was made, one of the Sigma Delta Tau sisters spoke in favor of her sorority and said that nothing of the sort had happened. She said, “I did see all the things that transpired on TikTok, and all I can say about it is that the accusation made against the sorority and the girl in the sorority was false.”
It is not only Sigma Delta Tau that was unable to touch on the subject but other sororities who said, “We aren’t allowed to say anything on the subject.”
This raises the question: Should this have stayed a private matter?
After hearing a story such as this, it makes us question how much we respect or lack privacy. In this case, this was a total violation of privacy and shed a terrible light on Sigma Delta Tau at UTampa and other sororities worldwide.
We as a society are so addicted to technology and have no problem sharing our personal lives with complete strangers, with a total disregard for how the catalysts in our story are viewed once the video is made public.
What should have been an enjoyable recruitment week became a widespread high school drama scene that could have been easily avoided if people had kept their stories to themselves.