By Meryl Feld
Editor
The last historically Jewish sorority at the University of Kansas, Sigma Delta Tau, was shut down by their national headquarters via Zoom call May 18. Even the chapter’s executive board — their leadership team — was not informed of this decision before the call.
Amy Krouse is a past national president of Sigma Delta Tau, and served as the house corporation president at KU for many years, working closely with the chapter. “The decision to close a chapter is very painful for the active members, the many volunteers who have worked so hard on their behalf, the alumnae and the national organization. It is not one taken lightly, nor is it one that is decided abruptly,” Krouse told The Chronicle.
According to Krouse, the chapter’s membership had been declining for several semesters.
The SDT Beta Chi Chapter at KU learned shortly before spring break that they needed to recruit more members, according to chapter members. Sisters voted to utilize an informal recruitment after spring break, hoping to be able keep their chapter. KU SDT was not able to participate in informal recruitment as planned, due to the pandemic.
Krouse said that the chapter was given a six-week period at the beginning of the spring semester to try to recruit more members. In response to being asked about Beta Chi sisters being told in March that they could recruit after spring break, Krouse responded that she was unable to provide a response to the question.
Not being able to achieve chapter growth was cited by national headquarters as the main reason for the closure. Krouse clarified, “Chapter growth means more than replacing graduating seniors, but continuing to add more members and increase overall size, allowing for a chapter to fully participate in Greek life.”
Since KU SDT’s reopening in 2016, the national organization along with its housing corporation (the entity that manages the property) tried to ensure the best possible outcome for the chapter by providing “$200,000 in financial support for recruitment training and formal recruitment expenses, on-site support from the National Recruitment Team for each recruitment period, staff support for programming, leadership training, travel to regional and national conferences for the chapter executive board, resident consultant salary and living expenses and rent for unused spaces in the chapter house,” Krouse said.
“The chapter had only 13 women committed to living in a house that holds 36. COVID-19 presented a very difficult and unique challenge, but the decision to suspend operations was the result of careful consideration, and following multiple semesters of effort from the chapter members, and the national organization. Despite the best efforts of all, especially our undergraduate members, the dwindling chapter numbers did not present the opportunity for a fully-functioning, self-sustaining Panhellenic organization at KU,” Krouse said.
This is hopefully just goodbye for now. Krouse said, “We thank each member of the chapter, and every volunteer for dedicating their time and talent, and we fervently wish that the outcome had been different. Despite the chapter not operating on campus this fall, each member has full alumnae benefits, and we hope that they take advantage of those. It is our hope that Sigma Delta Tau will return to KU’s campus in the future.”