By Brianna Bennett
In a process known as extension, KU officials have decided to introduce a new sorority to KU: Delta Phi Epsilon International Sorority Inc.
According to Lauren McKeown, the collegiate development consultant for Delta Phi Epsilon International Headquarters, the university decided this past summer that they wanted another Greek organization on campus.
As a result, it reached out to fraternities and sororities nationwide. After previewing their responses, KU invited three of those organizations to present their chapters to KU and made its decision from there.
Delta Phi Epsilon was founded on Mar. 17, 1917 at the New York University School of Law. Their motto is “esse quam videri,” which is Latin for “to be rather than to seem to be.”
Currently, the organization is called a “colony,” which is a term for an unofficial chapter. It takes about nine weeks to be officially recognized by both KU and the sorority’s international headquarters.
McKeown said that “DPhiE” is different from other organizations because “we were founded in a time when we wanted something different from organizations with similar goals; we are non-sectarian and all-inclusive.”
This is McKeown’s second year as the Collegiate Development Consultant; she was previously placed at Indiana University, and helped begin a chapter on their campus in 2014. She said that she joined “DPhiE” because the motto continually inspires to be authentic.
“DPhiE” is also different from other organizations because it is the only national sorority to have a philanthropic connection to an organization dedicated to body image and eating disorders. The two chief philanthropies of “DPhiE” are the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the National Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
Finally, McKeown thinks that Delta Phi Epsilon would be a good fit for KU women because “women have a new opportunity to start an organization on campus that fits in but also stands out for a very wide number of reasons. The women who thought they may never have the chance to “go Greek” now have the chance because we were looking for anybody who was interested in joining and getting to know us.”