Last Tuesday, the national headquarters of Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta) unanimously voted to close the Zeta Chi chapter at Hopkins.
Theta will have a "recolonization period" after a minimum of 12 months, which means that it may have the opportunity to recruit a new chapter. The Panhellenic Council requested that Theta have a negotiated return as early as fall 2010, once headquarter staff members are sent to Hopkins to restart the Hopkins chapter of Theta.
"Recent chapter activities constituted serious violations of Fraternity policies and were contrary to the Fraternity's basic principles," a press release from Theta headquarters noted yesterday.
Members contacted for interviews declined to comment in alignment with the chapter's official position of "no comment."
According to Director of Greek Life Robert Turning, the events of the Barnes and Noble break-in during a Theta date party started an investigation by the national headquarters.
"Once the headquarters delved into it, more and more stuff was uncovered. It gave cause for concern that this was more than an isolated incident and the sorority wasn't interested in living up to the founding values of Kappa Alpha Theta," Turning said.
According to Turning, next spring's sorority rush will probably see larger pledge classes since there are fewer groups, and they project that about the same number of people will be interested. He estimated that there may be upwards of 50 pledges for each of the remaining three sororities rather than the usual 40.
"It's sad, especially since they're such a large chapter. I'm kind of disappointed in the membership that they couldn't discipline themselves," Turning said.
According to Leah Zambetti, vice president of program development of Alpha Phi, the loss of Theta will probably have a negative impact on the functionality of Greek life at Hopkins.
"l think it's somewhat negative because we found a good balance between the four sororities. I think that if we lose a sorority, the pledge classes will be pretty big which is kind of detrimental for us, in a sorority, to get to know each other," she said.
The vote from Panhellenic means that Theta will not have to go through the normal process to get the new chapter established for the return to campus, according to Turning.
"The key point of the recolonization is that they have to be gone for a minimum of a year, and if they can't commit staff to it, it may be 18 months or longer," Turning said.
Liz Rinck, the director of communications of the Kappa Alpha Theta headquarters, declined to comment.
Turning said that parents and alumni are currently being notified of Theta's temporary termination.
