Greek community may grow, will considering bringing new sorority chapter to UNC

Prompted by a desire to expand, UNC’s Panhellenic Council might accept a new sorority chapter as early as fall 2014.

UNC’s current chapters will vote on the possible addition next month.

“We decided it was an appropriate time to move forward with expansion on campus,” said Jermisha Dodson, coordinator of fraternity and sorority life.

If the addition is approved, a committee of chapter delegates and advisers will choose the new chapter, according to National Panhellenic Conference policy.

This fall, the Panhellenic Council formed an exploratory committee to research and discuss the option of inviting a new sorority to campus, said Aaron Bachenheimer, director of fraternity and sorority life and community involvement.

This committee, which is composed of sorority members, chapter advisers and campus representatives, will present to delegates from sororities in January, Dodson said.

If the delegates approve the expansion, Dodson said she will invite national Panhellenic organizations to apply for inclusion in the UNC Panhellenic Council. Then a new committee would choose which chapter to accept.

The most recent addition to UNC’s Panhellenic Council was Phi Mu Sorority in 2008.

Dodson said the Council voted to form the exploratory committee after this year’s recruitment period, which ended in early September, because the Greek community is growing.

Dodson said the committee meets monthly to compile information such as the level of interest in a new chapter and the viability of a new chapter house near campus.

She said although current sorority members will decide whether to invite a new chapter, interest from non-affiliated students is a factor.

The committee considers the number of people who contact Panhellenic Council representatives or the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Community Involvement, expressing interest in a new sorority chapter.

Sophomore Ayumi Watanabe, who registered for sorority recruitment this year but didn’t pledge, said she wouldn’t have joined a Panhellenic sorority even if there were more chapters to choose from.

“For me, it was just more of a time dedication,” she said.

Watanabe said she thinks other women usually drop out of recruitment because they find they don’t fit in with the system as a whole, not because of any particular chapter.

“It’s because they don’t like the concept,” she said.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.