A sorority that had planned to found a chapter at Mississippi State University this semester backed out of the plan last week.
The sorority, Alpha Omicron Pi, had previously announced last spring that it would join the other Greek sororities this fall.
Kate McIntosh, president of Chi Omega, said that the prospective sorority had been interviewing and meeting with female students.
The colonization date for the organization was set for mid-September, but the sorority did not meet its desired quota by that date.
Hollye Raines, president of the Panhellenic Council, said that the sorority had extended its colonization date for a few weeks in hopes of recruiting more women. The number Alpha Omicron Pi had at the time was not enough to compete with the number of women in other sororities.
“They had about 40 women interested in the sorority,” Raines said. “They would like to at least double that number and have around 80 to 100.”
McIntosh said the Greek community had helped to recruit more members for the sorority. The national organization of Alpha Omicron Pi just found it difficult to obtain a large number of women in order to compete with the other established sororities.
Raines said that the members of the Greek community did not blame Alpha Omicron Pi for anything, and that Alpha Omicron Pi did not blame the members of the community.
“We are very sorry that our attempts to bring Alpha Omicron Pi to campus did not materialize this fall,” said Holli Hitt, a member of the Panhellenic Council. “This was completely a situation of unfortunate timing-starting a sorority colony is a huge financial investment for AOPi, and there was simply not a large enough group of women interested in AOPi to make this a good move for the national organization at this time.,” Hitt added.
Raines said the women that had expressed interest in joining the sorority are still interested in the group.
The women started a social club to try to recruit more people. Once a suitable number of women have been acquired, then the club hopes to go before the Panhellenic Council and restart the process of founding a new Alpha Omicron Pi chapter at MSU.
“We feel hopeful that this group is very adamant about starting the colony,” Raines said. “We’re very supportive of them, and we do try to stay optimistic about the whole situation.”
Raines said the women interested in the new sorority must first meet the requirements set by that specific organization.
Then the national office of the sorority would have to grant an official charter to the group. Once the women had the charter, the group would become an official sorority of the MSU Panhellenic Council.
“While I regret that the colonization process was put on hold, that regret is greatly dwarfed by my excitement over the relationships that were formed and the friendships that emerged from this process. I have never been more proud of the Panhellenic community and their ready acceptance of a new organization. The support that each of our sororities showed for AOPi has been amazing.”