On Thursday, Jan. 25, the sorority Alpha Delta Pi announced that it would be suspending its recruitment efforts indefinitely from Villanova’s campus. After many months of working on forming a new chapter, the decision to pull itself from campus is one that has a significant impact for the women who wanted to become involved with sorority life.
Currently, there are 23 active Greek Life chapters. This past year, Alpha Delta Pi excitedly revealed its intent to join Villanova’s campus. Alpha Delta Pi is a highly regarded sorority on a multitude of campuses nationwide.
The prospect of another sorority joining Villanova’s campus was enticing to many, as it offered the promise of a new beginning and the opportunity for a fresh start within Greek Life. Additionally, members would, hypothetically, hold a greater say in how the chapter will go about its Greek Life journey, which originally sparked much interest in Alpha Delta Pi.
This decision comes on the tail of the failed expansion of the sorority Gamma Phi Beta in 2022. Similarly, Gamma Phi Beta had attempted a similar recruitment process and ultimately suspended its efforts.
However, while some Greek Life organizations may struggle to generate significant interest and integrate fully into a new campus community, Alpha Delta Pi managed to gather a fairly considerable amount of support from Villanova’s Interfraternity Council, as well as numerous Villanova students.
The process of Alpha Delta Pi’s recruitment was a separate entity from Villanova’s Panhellenic recruitment process, which involves a series of rounds where potential new members are able to meet and potentially receive a bid from one of the on-campus sororities. Mia Clingham, President of Kappa Kappa Gamma, gathered and described information regarding the recruitment process and what exactly went wrong to cause such a drastic removal.
“Following structured recruitment this past January, ADPi had planned to interview and then engage in continuous open bidding with eligible women on campus in order to recruit its first member class,” Clingham said. “Unfortunately, [ADPi] felt as though [it] had not recruited enough women to provide the type of membership experience that they wanted to offer. Following this, national representatives of ADPi decided to pull recruitment efforts altogether and the Panhellenic Community [at Villanova] remains at eight chapters.”
Aside from Alpha Delta Pi’s inability to follow through with its recruitment process, the active sorority chapters faced a loss, as well, given that their total class of potential new members for 2024 was diminished by around 10 members per sorority.
Consequently, many were left surprised and disheartened by the result, including representatives and a significant number of women interested in rushing outside of structured recruitment. Betty Dorsey, a sophomore at Villanova, expressed great interest in Alpha Delta Pi and was left disappointed by the result of her recruitment process.
“I know for myself and many other girls who did not find what we wanted out of primary recruitment, we saw ADPi as a really great option,” Dorsey said. “I was pretty disappointed when I found out they were dropping off campus because I had been looking forward to being part of something new.”
The structured recruitment process has not always been the best option for some women interested in joining a sorority, which is why Alpha Delta Pi’s recruitment could have been helpful for many. For Dorsey and others like her, this could have paved an alternate way for students not interested in the structured process to become integrated in Villanova’s Greek Life.
“Unfortunately, it seems like even more girls have a similar experience to mine this past year,” Dorsey said. “I have definitely seen the demand for an additional sorority on campus and I thought ADPi could have fulfilled that.”
