Starting this October, the sorority Tri Sigma will be returning to Greek Life at Drexel University, offering all female students another option in their search for a sisterhood.
The sorority, officially titled Sigma Sigma Sigma, was founded at Lonwood University in 1898 and will be recolonizing its Alpha Delta chapter after being selected by the Panhellenic Extension Committee this past February to return to Drexel’s campus. The PEC is a group composed of undergraduate and alumnae representatives from each of the existing sororities and the Panhellenic Council president.
Due to the influx of Drexel students over the past two years, many of the sororities were reaching their maximum numbers for recruitment. As a solution, Tri Sigma was chosen from several sororities who applied for colonization to join Drexel Greek Life.
Tri Sigma’s addition to Drexel’s chapter of the PEC will bring the number of sororities at the University to six.
Starting Oct. 17, Tri Sigma will host a series of activities and promotions around campus followed by a formal recruitment week. That week will include an information session and open house, Oct. 24 and 25.
Lauren McHugh, the assistant director of colony and new chapter developments for Tri Sigma, will be on campus this month along with two regional consultants to recruit sisters.
“We’re definitely looking for women who have an entrepreneurial spirit, that are very scholastically driven, that really want to give back and serve the community,” McHugh said. “It kind of creates a great standard of sorority membership on campus so that women can continue on in these great traditions and great communities that exist on campus now.”
The previous Tri Sigma chapter that resided on Drexel’s campus was closed in 1974 due to low membership. One of its members was Antoinette Westphal, for whom the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design was named.
“Some of the older alumnae who were part of the chapter a long time ago are really interested in sharing their legacies,” McHugh said. “We’ve heard some really great stories about when they were on campus and how much Tri Sigma and that experience really meant to them.”
According to a press release from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Drexel University, the Panhellenic Council selected Tri Sigma to be the new sorority on campus “based on its strong national programs and support and its proposed colonization plan.”
“Some women wonder who might be running the chapter,” McHugh said. “But we have committed a full time Tri Sigma professional to actually live in Philadelphia and support the chapter, so she will be present in running the meetings until we have officer elections.”
An application has been submitted to University Housing in hopes that there will be a formal sorority house coming soon to Drexel’s campus. Until then, all meetings will be held elsewhere on campus.