ISC Formal Recruitment’s now over but that doesn’t mean there aren’t sororities looking for new members—or any members at all, in the case of Alpha Phi, the brand-spankin’-new sorority looking to build its first Stanford pledge class in decades.
Technically, it’s not entirely new. Stanford’s Alpha Phi chapter was first founded in 1899 and ran until 1944 (when Stanford shut down its Greek system) before reopening again from 1978 to 1992, when it closed due to low membership. However, this year the unhoused sorority is making its comeback this year with a fresh outlook.
“We have a completely different strategy now,” said Danielle Marganoff, a resident consultant from Alpha Phi’s executive offices in Evanston, IL.“We’re really just nurturing our new chapters and making sure they are equipped with the tools to be successful autonomously.”
What does Marganoff mean by nurturing?
“Nurturing means ensuring that they know they have a support system,” Marganoff said. “If they don’t know the right answer or how to go about doing something that they have advisers in place who can help them.”
Marganoff, a Cornell graduate and former president of its Alpha Phi chapter, is working with fellow resident consultant Cathy Josendale and various other alumni and grad students affiliated with Alpha Phi to resurrect the sorority.
Recruitment for Alpha Phi began with an open event Wednesday at Grove. There’s another open even today at the Black Community Service Center as well as interview slots today through Sunday followed by an invite-only event Monday.
As far as turnout goes, Marganoff is realistic but remains positive.
“You’re never sure what walk-ins are going to look like. We’ve been advertising on campus – we had a table in White Plaza,” she said. “We actually worked with the ASSU to print flyers and post them in the freshman dorms so those have been around. We’ve also been giving out buttons and pens, cups, t-shirts, sunglasses all around campus just to try to get people to recognize the name of Alpha Phi.”
Marganoff also explained Alpha Phi’s decision to hold off recruitment until after ISC’s finished stemmed out of both courtesy and strategy.
“It seems to be the traditional take on starting a chapter,” she said. “You wait until [ISC] recruitment is finished because if any PNMs or potential new members are interested in participating in an established chapter, then we definitely want to respect that.”
Women who join Alpha Phi will have countless opportunities for leadership and chances to shape the new sorority’s image and reputation on campus.
“It’s a fun job to be a charter member and it definitely comes with more leadership potential, because you have the opportunity to join and step immediately into a leadership role,” Marganoff said. “We don’t need to have 100 presidents. However, we do have myriad opportunities for our chapter members who do want to hold a position to get involved.”
For more information on Alpha Phi check out:
www.bealphaphi.com
www.stanfordalphaphi.com
Or shoot an email to:
stanfordalphaphi@gmail.com