Sorority rejoins greek community

Four girls are sitting in a group and laughing around a table, laptops and notebooks opened, but forgotten.  

To the casual onlooker, it seems they have been friends for years. In reality, they’ve known one another only a week.  

They’re part of the founding sisters of Delta Phi Epsilon: the newest un-housed sorority on IU’s campus.

DPhiE had an informal rush process a week after formal rush ended. They had after-school activities and interviews.

Freshmen through seniors were chosen and totaled 156 women.

“Fortunate enough for us, the girls who were hand picked — chosen — are very genuine and caring and lovable,” Dina Dajani, a sophomore and founding sister, said.

Dajani, like many other women in the new sorority, thought about doing formal rush, but opted out early in the process.

“It just didn’t feel like me,” Shri Amarmath, freshman and founding sister, said.
The women were initiated last week, and now DPhiE must go through a 10-week colonization process in order to be an official chapter, Alex Miskus, freshman and founding sister, said.

DPhiE was a sorority at IU back in the early 1900s, but the chapter left in 1946 due to lack of interest in sorority life, Dajani  said.

Amarmath said DPhiE wants to expand options for women who want to join a sorority by bringing back their chapter to IU.

“The competitive spirit is unnecessary, especially in something like greek life where everyone should feel included, and everyone should feel like they have a home,” Amarmath said.

DPhiE’s motto is “Esse Quam Videri — To Be Rather Than to Seem to Be,” and the founding sisters are trying to live up to the motto.

“We don’t play around,” Dajani said. “Everyone is really real with each other.”

Every sister is making an effort to reach out to everyone and get to know her fellow sister, Lexi King, sophomore and founding sister, said.

For Amarmath, part of being in a sorority was about finding a place to call home.

“I’ve never lived in one place my whole life,” Amarmath said. “I don’t really have a home, per se, so for me that was a huge thing, and I honestly feel that way now.”

The girls of DPhiE are ready to make their mark as a different kind of sorority on campus, staging elections for student leaders next week and working towards setting up philanthropy and other sisterhood events.

“We don’t have a reputation yet,” Amarmath said. “It feels good that we get to make what we want to make of it.”

The founding sisters said they want to create a sorority more accepting to all
women.

“I feel like we have a better chance at creating a better environment,” Miskus said. “A more accepting environment than another sorority since we’re founders, and we can set the stones of how we want it to be for future classes.”

The DPhiE mascot is a unicorn, which Amarmath said she thinks is fitting because a unicorn can be anything you want it to be, just like their sorority.

“We have a chance to make a big impact, if we want,” Haley Corne, freshman and founding sister, said.

Right now, the founding sisters of DPhiE are working towards becoming a tight-knit group.

“I think that’s something we can take pride in,” Corne said.

“We are going to know each and every sister, and no one’s going to be left out. We really are going to be like one big family.”

Follow reporter Kathrine Schulze on Twitter @KathrineSchulze.