New Sorority Begins Recruiting

A room speckled with blonde hair and Southern accents ushered in Harvard’s newest sorority last night.

The founding of the Kappa Kappa Gamma (Kappa) chapter at Harvard levels the number of female social clubs with the number of male final clubs for the first time.

The Kappa sorority is the third women’s social group to be formed in the last two years, pushing the total number of female alternatives up to eight.

Members of the two already established Harvard sororities—Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta) and Delta Gamma (DG)—invited Kappa to “colonize” Harvard after their rush season last year met a flood of interest they did not have the space to accommodate.

“It’s a great time for sororities here,” DG Social Chair Kelly N. Fahl ’06 said. “The ball is rolling. More girls are willing to do more things.”

Forty-three sophomores, juniors and seniors filled the Kappa-blue-bedecked Sheraton Commander Inn’s conference room last night, according to Felicity Meu, a traveling consultant whom Kappa is paying to help build the inaugural Harvard chapter.

Meu said the sorority expects to accept 45 women into its founding ranks this Saturday, membership figures that would be similar to those of Theta and DG. Kappa will determine which women will be accepted by “conversations” to be held this week.

More than a dozen Kappas past and present pitched their sisterhood to the Harvard women, showing a Power Point presentation and dropping names of sisters who have fulfilled the group’s touted “tradition of leadership.”

The tally, which includes Massachusetts Governor Jane M. Swift, Colin Powell’s daughter and actress Ashley Judd, project an image of a diverse alumnae base.

“I’m really impressed,” attendee Ayelet S. Lebovicz ’06 said. “Here you get to create [a group] for yourself, which is pretty unique.”

While Lebovicz heard about the group from a friend in another sorority, many at the meeting were answering to a stronger call than word of mouth—family ties. Several of the attendees have siblings in Kappa.

“My sister was a Kappa and she had a great time, she has so many friends that are Kappas that it seems like a lot of fun,” Kara A. Lyons ’04 said.

Others credited their Southern roots for leading them to last night’s meeting.

“When I go home, most of my friends are in sororities,” Tennessee native Jennifer H. Bennett ’06 said. “My mom is a Chi Omega. We don’t have it here so I don’t think she’ll be too upset.”

Kappa is one of the oldest and largest sororities, boasting over 130 chapters and five Ivy League chapters, including one at Yale.

Wearing their signature golden key badges, Kappa representatives strutted their sorority’s stuff—including hundreds of thousand of dollars in scholarship money as well as their commitment to philanthropy.

“We truly are leaders: leaders in our crew teams, leaders in our governments, leaders in society,” said Meu, who added that her heart was pounding with excitement as she looked over the Kappa prospects.

Kappa will hold their rush events jointly with Theta and DG beginning in the spring semester.

Last year, Theta and DG offered bids to 25 and 24 women, respectively. About 120 had attended recruitment events.

The numbers reflect a growing demand for female social opportunities on campus.

“There is a need for more female social organizations,” DG President Hannah E. Kenser ’04 said. “Women are starting to make efforts to have their own places to socialize, to make their niche in the Harvard social scene.”

Last year, the new female social clubs Pleiades and the Sabliere Society tapped into the same demand for female socializing.

Pleiades was founded to fulfill the mission of making more female social space available on campus, according to President and co-founder Melissa E. Miller ’04.

“Clearly, a lot are sprouting up, but they wouldn’t be sprouting up if there weren’t a real demand for it,” Miller said.

The Sabliere Society’s founders sought to fill a different niche, taking their members into Boston as well as holding on-campus activities.

“It’s always really good to have girl clubs on campus,” the Society’s newly-elected President Angie J. Thebaud ’04 said. “There are certainly a large number of girls who aren’t in social groups but who would like to be, Kappa will definitely have a large demand.”

—Staff writer Elizabeth W. Green can be reached at egreen@fas.harvard.edu.