It is time for sororities to stand up for women and save our sisterhood. All active and alumnae sorority members must join together in this growing movement.
When we joined our sorority at the University of Wyoming, we did so believing it would be our home and community — or, at the very least, a place where we could escape from the day-to-day pressures of collegiate life with other women.
Unfortunately, Kappa Kappa Gamma proved to be none of these things, and instead became a source of confusion and stress in our lives as the national organization fought to force us to accept and share our private spaces and sisterhood with a trans-identifying male student.
Kappa isn’t the only sorority to abandon its commitment to women. Last year, Delta Zeta expelled Payton McNabb from its chapter at Western Carolina University after she confronted a male who was using one of the school’s women’s restrooms. McNabb, who was injured in high school by a trans-identifying male during a volleyball match, was understandably concerned for her privacy and decided to document the encounter.
Delta Zeta decided McNabb violated its “anti-bullying policy” and accused her of engaging in “moral-prejudicial conduct” — even though the university itself ruled McNabb hadn’t violated any school rules and even acknowledged that she had conducted herself civilly throughout the encounter. But according to the sorority, McNabb’s decision to stand up for her right to a sex-exclusive restroom could bring the house “into disrepute.”
We faced similar backlash from our Kappa sisters when we objected to the sorority’s inclusion of a male. Though our chapter didn’t move to expel us, it became clear our vocal concerns were unwelcome — and therefore so were we. We found ourselves iced out by the very women we were supposed to consider sisters, while a male who had only recently begun identifying as transgender received Kappa’s full support.
Frustrated that our chapter would so readily violate its commitment to building up young women, we turned to the national Kappa Kappa Gamma organization for help. But we received more of the same. In fact, Kappa’s national council went so far as to terminate two alumna’s membership after they came out in support of our legal challenge against Kappa’s inclusion of men.
The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), which serves as the governing body for most sororities in the U.S., has also refused to act in our defense. The mission of NPC, states it “champions the collective interests of our member organizations and preserves the women’s-only sorority experience.” But apparently, it would rather wash its hands of what is arguably one of the most important cultural debates of the day, allowing each of its 26 member organizations — including Alpha Delta Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Zeta, and Kappa Kappa Gamma — to determine membership as they see fit, each including language accepting biological males who self-identify as women. The result of this negligence has been the ostracization of girls like us and like McNabb — not to mention the erosion of sororities as female-only organizations.
We call on the leadership of NPC and the 26 sorority member organizations to stand up for women. That’s why Independent Women has launched a letter drive for sorority members – active and alumna – to urge NPC executives and leadership at the 26 member organizations to keep sororities female. We urge all sorority women to join the movement to save sisterhood, and sign this letter. At this time, we have thousands of women who have joined us in this fight, and we feel the momentum is on the side of reality and commonsense.
But until the conference changes this policy and each sorority returns to accepting women-only, female students should be wary of joining groups like Kappa Kappa Gamma and Delta Zeta. These organizations as their policy on membership stands right now can’t even guarantee women their own private spaces (all extend membership to men identifying as women), let alone the close-knit sisterhood they claim to value.
Jaylyn Westenbroek, Allie Coghan, Hannah Holtmeier, and Maddie Ramar are ambassadors with Independent Women and were plaintiffs in the Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma case. Ellie Renkert is a social media assistant at Independent Women and graduate of the University of Wyoming, where she was a Kappa. Here is a link to Independent Women’s letter drive, Tell National Panhellenic Conference And Sorority Leadership: Save Our Sisterhood.
