Potential sorority members on campus now have a new option.
Pi Beta Phi is recolonizing on campus after being invited to become a part of the USC Greek community in February 2013.
“It is rare that Pi Phi has the opportunity to return to a campus. When the chance to re-establish a Pi Phi chapter at South Carolina came — a university where we have so much history — we were overcome with excitement,” Alex Roark, assistant director of extension for Pi Beta Phi, said in an email. “We believe our fraternity and the USC campus both benefit from the recolonization of our South Carolina Alpha Chapter.”
Pi Beta Phi has a 54-year history at USC. The chapter joined campus for the first time in 1931, but relinquished their charter in 1985. Roark attributed this to low membership.
“The chapter had struggled to maintain competitive on campus in the 1980s and realized they were no longer providing a viable Pi Phi experience,” Roark said. “It was a very difficult decision for the women to make, but there was always hope one day Pi Phi would be able to return to the University of South Carolina.”
The USC Sorority Council hosted an extension conference a year and a half ago after deciding they wanted a new organization to join them. When they began organizing the committee, all 26 groups in the National Panhellenic Conference were notified. Pi Beta Phi was one organization that made the decision to pursue the opportunity.
“Our extension philosophy is to pursue campus growth opportunities complementing Pi Beta Phi’s academic, social and philanthropic mission,” Roark said. “We look for growing institutions with a solid reputation for developing the personal and intellectual growth of its students.”
Three chapters gave extensive presentations to the extension committee, which was made up of women in every current chapter at USC. National visitors from Pi Beta Phi came to give the presentation on what their sorority was about and why they would be a great addition to USC.
“We think Pi Phi is a great fit for USC. They have a very strong national organization,” Kelly Laynor, vice president of recruitment for the Sorority Council said. “When their visitors came and gave their presentation, they really emphasized things like philanthropy and service and how they have alumni chapters nearby and can really support their organization and help them grow in our community and be successful.
Pi Beta Phi was one of two sororities that will be joining the USC community based on the decisions of the extension committee. Alpha Xi Delta will be welcomed to campus in fall 2016, and Pi Beta Phi will host their colonizing recruitment from September 19-21.
Pi Beta Phi is sending three resident leadership development consultants that will live on campus for the sorority’s entire first year. They will be in charge of recruiting the charter class and guiding them through their first year. Roark said this is a very unique opportunity for potential sorority women.
“Being a member of a charter class is something very unique and special. We want to find women who will be able to establish a strong foundation and lead the chapter in the future,” Roark said. “Pi Beta Phi has six core values: integrity, lifelong commitment, honor and respect, philanthropic service to others, personal and intellectual growth and sincere friendship. We are looking for women who embody these values and have the potential to bring them to life on campus.”
According to Laynor, Pi Beta Phi will help decrease the size of pledge classes, which have recently included almost 200 members for some sororities. She also said that this will add to the sisterhood element of USC sororities as well as bring more opportunities to students who go through recruitment.
“The biggest thing it’s going to do is it’s going to help us start to bring numbers down because we tend to have such large chapters that the biggest reason why we want to bring more chapters on our campus is that our community is growing at a large rate that we want to make sure that we’re keeping our chapters at a reasonable size,” Laynor said.
Although Pi Beta Phi does not currently have a house in Greek Village, it is definitely a possibility for the future. According to Laynor, there is a possibility of building new houses in Greek Village down the road and Pi Beta Phi is interested in being one of those new additions.