The old saying "beauty is only skin deep" has taken on new meaning at DePauw University in recent months.
Media coverage and protests from students and faculty at the Greencastle, Ind., university have landed Delta Zeta sorority's national leaders in trouble with the school's administration after accusations that they asked members of the university's Delta Zeta chapter to leave because they weren't up to conventional standards of beauty.
The New York Times reported Feb. 25 that Delta Zeta national officials demoted 23 sisters from the DePauw chapter to "alumna status," saying the sisters were uncommitted to the recruitment process.
Only a dozen sisters remained - all of them good-looking and popular with fraternity brothers - after what the Delta Zeta national officials called a "reorganization" of the chapter. Among those removed from the sorority were all the overweight sisters and black sisters and many of the chapter's Asian sisters, the Times reported.
"I believe wholeheartedly that (the mass eviction) was not a matter of lack of commitment, lack of dedication, lack of academic prowess or even lack of a personable attitude," DePauw junior Rachel Pappas, a former sister who resigned in protest, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "Taking away all of those criteria, what is there left to form suppositions upon? Image, at least in part."
In a letter Monday addressed to alums and the national Delta Zeta president, Deborah Raziano, DePauw President Robert Bottoms announced his decision to "sever ... future ties with the Delta Zeta national."
Bottoms wrote in the letter that he does not take issue with local members, "who have handled themselves with extraordinary poise and maturity," nor with Delta Zeta alums. "I wish to emphasize that our problem is with Delta Zeta national. ... The values of DePauw University and those of the Delta Zeta National Sorority are incompatible," Bottoms wrote.
DePauw officials did not return phone calls from The Herald.
Bottoms told the Associated Press the only response from the national sorority to his letter had been an e-mail from Delta Zeta's attorney asking for the name of DePauw's attorney.
Delta Zeta sisters have had a reputation as studiers rather than partiers, and their chapter was widely known among students as the "dog house," according to a March 13 AP story. The chapter was facing recruitment problems, starting the year with just 35 women - only one-third full on a campus with 70 percent Greek participation, the AP reported.
Delta Zeta national has suspended all contact with the media. But a statement was posted on the organization's Web site Monday addressing its frustration with the media and with Bottoms' decision. The national chapter's Web site has a restricted-access section with information for sisters on how to handle media inquiries about the sorority.
"Delta Zeta national leadership is extremely disappointed that after 98 years, university officials have unilaterally closed the chapter and still refuse to meet with us. ... The situation concerning Delta Zeta at DePauw University continues to be mischaracterized and is harming all parties involved," the statement read.
The statement also included an apology to "any women at DePauw who felt personally hurt by (the national organization's) actions."
But Pappas said she does not believe this apology is sufficient.
"They have had the opportunity to stand up and admit that they were unethical and apologize to those women for judging them unfairly," Pappas wrote. "However, Nationals have chosen instead to defend their actions and even lie about them - which is the most damning thing of all, to me."
Pappas wrote to The Herald, as well as to the Times in previous interviews, that the issuance of the apology was "like the thief who isn't sorry that he did it, just terribly sorry that he was caught."
According to the DePauw, the school's student newspaper, problems began on Sept. 12, 2006, when national Delta Zeta representatives met with the house to speak about declining membership and plans for a membership review in November.
Pappas left the house voluntarily in October after Delta Zeta national officials came to the house.
"Four of us sensed (the reorganization) was coming and left in October. ... Being on the executive board, I had a deeper insight into the hypocrisy, and I wanted out before it hurt me too deeply," Pappas wrote.
Last November, national representatives interviewed all 35 members of Delta Zeta. The sisters were encouraged to dress up for the interviews. A few days later, national representatives asked most members to stay in their rooms while slender, conventionally pretty sisters along with imported, good-looking girls from Indiana University's Delta Zeta chapter welcomed potential members, according to the Times.
On Dec. 2, 2006 - the week before DePauw's finals - 23 members, including the chapter president, received notification that they had been demoted to "alumna status" and were expected to find alternative housing by Jan. 29.
Pappas said six more girls chose to leave on their own accord "immediately after the axe fell. ... From what I understand, it was a painful decision for those who were asked to stay. They wanted to heal their house, but they also felt a deep sense of wrongdoing and felt that leaving was the most poignant form of protest they had available."
Those evicted were compensated $300 each for housing difficulties.
Though she left early, Pappas wrote she "had to withdraw from classes last semester from clinical depression because of the stress of the collapse of (the) house." Though she has resumed classes, Pappas wrote that the fiasco was "painful."
The situation at DePauw has brought the issue of "discrimination based on image" to the forefront, Pappas wrote.
Three sisters at Brown's Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Chi Omega chapters contacted by The Herald declined to comment for this article, saying national leaders of their respective sororities had instructed them not to. Four more did not return requests for comment. Brown does not have a chapter of Delta Zeta.
