TKP Officially Reinstated

Lizzy Donker

Junior Editor

Theta Kappa Phi (TKP) was officially reinstated as a student organization as of Saturday, September 9. The organization has been working towards said reinstatement since receiving their appeal outcome from former vice-chancellor pro-tempore Nancy Berner in the fall semester of 2022. Following the SGA’s decision, the organization will be presenting to the Inter-Sorority Council (ISC) on Monday to determine its reinstatement as a Greek organization on campus.

Prior to their successful reinstatement on September 9, TKP first had to receive a majority vote from the Student Government Association (SGA). SGA Vice President Violet Giglio (C ’24) spoke to The Purple about this process.

“During our Senate meeting on Monday, September 4, TKP visited us and presented the extensive work that they have been doing to enhance their sustainability as an organization,” Giglo said. “After their presentation, the Senate voted and TKP received a unanimous vote for them to move forward in their reinstatement process.” 

Current TKP President Charlotte Maxwell (C ’24) spoke to The Purple about the processes that the organization had to take prior to their being reinstated on Saturday.

 “We made major revisions to our bylaws and presented those to ISC, then had to get those approved by community standards,” Maxwell said. “We also had to have monthly meetings with the division of student life,” all of which she said had high attendance requirements. TKP also “had to create membership expectations for everybody to sign, [which] laid out the expectations we had for our members, [and] that also had to be presented to ISC, [and] our advisors had to go through advisor training.” 

Based on this, she said, TKP is right on track with their sanction completions as far as community standards go.

Although TKP is reinstated as a student organization, it has yet to be reinstated as a member of the Greek system. That will be decided on Monday when the organization presents to the Inter-Sorority Council (ISC). The Sewanee Purple asked and was denied attendance at the ISC meeting scheduled for Monday, September 11.

 Maxwell said that when speaking to the ISC “They did not seem concerned about us not making it through that process.” She added, “assuming we are approved by ISC on Monday, we [TKP] are allowed to recruit for the spring semester.”

Regarding recruitment, Maxwell said TKP will not be allowed to recruit during upperclassmen rush in the fall semester, only for rush in the spring semester. If they are approved as a Greek organization, the group is planning on having two recruitment events this fall semester, but will be officially recruiting in the spring of 2024. All of the organization’s events for this year have to be alcohol-free, including any events co-hosted with other organizations. 

“We are just gonna continue working through our sanction requirements for the semester,” Maxwell said. 

TKP is “having to get creative this year,” she added. When TKP was previously removed, they also lost their housing, and the organization has been told they will not be allowed to re-apply for theme housing this year.

 “We’ve always used our house for recruitment events, so we talked about doing different recruitment events around campus,” Maxwell said. She added that TKP will work with the director of Greek Life, Donald Abels, to identify locations the sorority can use for recruitment week activities in the spring.

 “We’re hopeful and we’re excited to get creative,” Maxwell said. “It’s just gonna be new.” 

Because they are now recognized as a student organization, TKP will be allowed to re-apply for theme housing next year, Maxwell said. “It’s very much up in the air what housing we get.”

The student body seems hopeful for TKP’s reinstatement, as well as curious what changes the group has made.

SGA Vice President Violet Giglio said SGA “has been working with TKP to help them with rewriting their charter and creating values that will contribute to their goal of sustainability as an organization.”

Maxwell also expressed TKP’s excitement about their reinstatement as a student organization. She said TKP members are looking forward to being “A positive presence on campus,” and “continuing to do good things within the community. Everybody is really thrilled and really hopeful for what the future holds.”