Since the announcement and formation of Rho Epsilon Pi (Rho Ep), the sorority has solicited a huge outpouring of responses, both positive and negative, from the student body. In their starting weeks, Rho Ep has co-hosted a number of events with the members of the University’s well-established Greek life.
“My first reaction was general excitement—excited and curious to see how their role on campus would develop,” Psi Upsilon (Psi U) President Charles Baron ’12 said. “I was curious to see what they would do, but since they’ve started throwing events, I’ve started to see them in a more positive light. I’m confident they will become a force on campus, and that they can be a social presence. It’s definitely always nice to have more organizations on campus that are throwing events and I think we’re all hoping that that continues forward.”
Beta Theta Pi (Beta) President Jeff Tanenbaum ’12 also sees the sorority as a positive addition to Greek life.
“I was initially pleasantly surprised to hear that Greek life was expanding at Wesleyan, especially since the expansion was in the form of the sorority,” Tanenbaum said.
Tom Miceli ’12, the President of Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) hopes the new sorority will bring a fresh perspective to social life.
“I think it’s pretty cool what they’re doing,” Miceli said. “There’s nothing wrong with having another program out there that’s providing community services and helping to host social events. If they bring a new, fresh life to campus I’m all for that.”
Eclectic President Shinekwa Kershaw ’13 said a sorority on campus was long overdue.
“I was excited and pleased to hear that a sorority would be on campus,” Kershaw said. “Last year, a couple of my friends and I were talking about forming a sorority on campus, but it seems we were beaten to it. I think it is great that there will be an all-female society, and about damn time as well.”
Since their founding, Rho Ep has already co-hosted a number of events, a trend Baron hopes will continue in the future. Tanenbaum was impressed with how quickly the sorority has become involved in campus social life.
“Having already co-hosted an event with Rho Ep, I’d say they are much more organized and cohesive than I thought they would be in such a short time, and Beta would have no problem working with them again,” Tanenbaum said.
Despite widespread support from within the Greek community, the Greek leadership emphasized that Rho Ep should strive to become as independent as possible. Miceli said it is important for the sorority to develop its own character, while forming a working relationship with the other student societies.
“They’ve approached us about doing joint programs which I’m totally fine with, but at the same time we like to do a lot of our own type of stuff, some strictly DKE stuff,” Miceli said. “But I’m always open to co-hosting stuff with them if that’s what they want to do.”
Micelli believes the secret to Rho Ep’s continuing success will be their ability to develop into an organization unlike those already offered by other Greek institutions on campus.
“I guess my biggest hope is that they can find a niche that we don’t fill as a fraternity,” Miceli said. “I hope that they can provide an outlet that other societies don’t provide and not just be a complement to our existence. They’ll have to forge their own identity on the campus.”
Another big question surrounding Rho Ep’s future is whether it can survive without a house or a nationally affiliated sorority.
“I don’t think they’d get a house or anything, but I’m interested to see where it goes,” Micelli said.
Baron believes Rho Ep’s strength lies in its large contingent of underclassmen.
“It’s one thing to start an organization, and another to see it through and make it a thriving organization five to 10 years down the line,” Baron said. “But, from what I hear it’s mostly freshman and sophomores, so I get the sense that two or three years from now, many of the founding students will still be around. There’s definitely some excitement among the younger people, so I think, in the long term, they have a good chance of existing and thriving on campus.”
Because most of the founders are underclassmen, they will leave the organization having made a profound impact on the nascent sorority.
“Rho Ep will take on whatever form its members allow,” Kershaw said. “Hopefully the young women that join Rho Ep will find camaraderie with other females sharing common interests. In the end, what goes on between these women will be what matters in the end, regardless of how the rest of the campus perceives them.”
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