Macye Farrar, News Editor
International sorority Alpha Delta Pi (ADPi) headquarters made the decision to shut down Sewanee’s Iota Delta chapter of ADPi earlier this year. To explain their reasoning, they cited issues surrounding a lack of growth in recruitment numbers of recruitment seasons.
Elle Woodward (C ‘25) is the President of Sewanee’s chapter and spoke about the politics surrounding the closure. She said, “They knew that we were a really small chapter and wanted to grow, so they were giving us the resources that we needed…We get a lot of up–rush girls during recruitment, and we get maybe two to three girls. [The ADPi headquarters] didn’t know if we wanted to continue like that.”
She also said, “The local chapter wanted to stay on campus forever. We, like our chapter, but Big ADPi essentially decided that they’re a business at the end of the day and we were not returning on the investment in the way that they needed.”
The Iota Delta chapter had a total of 21 members and had three potential new members (PNMs) from the spring recruitment. As one of the smaller sororities on campus, they found it difficult to flourish due to Sewanee’s recruitment process.
Libby Murphy (C ’25) was ADPi’s Vice President of Recruitment and spoke on how Sewanee’s recruitment process disenfranchises smaller sororities. She said, “In Panhellenic sororities on regular college campuses, the number of people per sorority is very different from the way they set caps in Sewanee. So [at] Sewanee it is quote, unquote ‘proportional to the chapter size.’”
Woodward also said that Sewanee’s process worked against ADPi’s favor, saying, “The Sewanee community didn’t help with that because we had some big ADPi advisors come in for recruitment and they watched how Sewanee does Greek Life, like bid sessions and stuff like that because other universities have a computer system where everyone gets the same numbers of girls.”
She also said, “I think when they finally saw how Sewanee handled Greek Life they just decided that there was no way that we could flourish the way they wanted us to.”
Not only did Sewanee’s recruitment process weaken ADPi’s numbers, but it also created more issues after the recruitment season when it came to bidding and retention.
Murphy said, “Since larger sororities can take upwards of 75% of the total PNM pool, that leaves 25% for the rest of the smaller chapters, and that creates some problems. Especially with [recruitment] and actually being able to hand out a bid in general.”
Woodward also backed up these claims, saying, “Larger sororities can get up to thirty girls, and smaller sororities can only get up to like ten. So it was hard to grow at a good rate when you’re fighting those odds.”
This deal did a serious blow to recruitment numbers, and it left more internal strife after the rush period was over. “Sewanee encourages every girl to receive a bid,” Murphy said. “So they will do rounds of selection and in order to encourage certain people to get bids who wouldn’t necessarily have gotten bids if this wasn’t done. Because of that, people who normally would not receive a bid would receive a bid.”
“They went through the whole process, wrapped multiple rounds of asking if a chapter wanted to give them a bid. We were then encouraged to contact people who had not received a bid and asked if they wanted to join us.”
In response to whether ADPi would have taken these potential new members if Sewanee had not encouraged them, Murphy shook her head no.
“This has happened every single time that I have been a part of this process, which is a total of about five times, both in up–rush and normal rush,” she went on to say. “However, that number has increased over the years, and that’s because Sewanee doesn’t really have a conduct agreement with PNMs, or at least a formal one.”
According to Murphy, there are “no repercussions if a person does act out or acts in a certain way that is offensive or problematic…”
How Sewanee addresses a PNM’s conduct differs from Panhellenic campuses. For example, the National Panhellenic Conference provides a Potential New Member Code of Ethics that requires PNMs treat Greek life members with respect and attend recruitment orientation and events she is invited to. Murphy said, “In Sewanee, they give a seminar about, ‘Hey, like, don’t do these things.’ And that’s about it.”
Founded in April 2017, the Sewanee chapter of ADPi was created to provide women “with fun, support, leadership opportunities, and an organization that made them a part of something bigger than themselves” according to Sewanee’s Greek Organizations website.
Woodward expressed her concern for her fellow sisters, saying, “It’s gonna be a weird position for those people because they can still join local sororities if they want to, but they still have the ADPi alumni status and all the benefits that come with that.”
Claire Durham (C ’28) was a new initiate to Sewanee’s chapter and was saddened by her sorority’s closure. She said, “I love my sisters. I’ll be sad, but I wasn’t in it as long as the other girls so I don’t have this attachment like they do. But at the same time I’ll still have these connections even without a sorority.”
According to emails sent out by Associate Dean of Students Emily Britt, ADPi members can choose to live in the Barnwell townhouse, as Barnwell would have been ADPi’s sorority house during the 2025–2026 academic year. But the alumni will lose their housing status in the following academic year of 2026–2027 if they do not apply to become an official student organization.