Members of Dickinson College’s Kappa Alpha Theta chapter recently traveled to help re-establish a Theta chapter at Swarthmore College.

According to Elizabeth Mudge ’14, President of Dickinson’s chapter, Swarthmore banned all sororities in 1933. In the past three years, a group of Swarthmore girls started a club called Not Yet Sisters (abbreviated NYS), which they used to appeal to the administration and students of Swarthmore to reinstate a sorority on campus. The members of  NYS was accomplished this goal on Saturday, Feb. 2, when 65 students became new members of the re-established Swarthmore Kappa Alpha Theta chapter, a day sisters from Dickinson’s chapter were thrilled to be a part of.

Dickinson’s chapter was one of two invited to help with the process. Members spent Friday, Feb. 1 talking to the potential new members about their experiences in the sorority and what being in the sorority meant to them.

“Theta encourages everyone to be extremely involved at their school and allows you to meet so many new and interesting people,” shared Tracy Wolf ’15, recruitment chair for Dickinson’s chapter.

The recruits came to understand not only what it means to be a sister of Kappa Alpha Theta, but also what it means to be a member of the first sorority on campus since the 1930s.

On Saturday, the recruits were offered their bids and the chance to become members of the new chapter. The new members ranged from freshman to seniors. According to Wolf, the upperclassman wished the sorority had been re-established sooner, but were nonetheless happy to be a part of it for the time they had left at college.

Mudge spoke to one of the founding members of Not Yet Sisters, “who felt like there was no place for her at Swarthmore and [now] having the sorority she [is] really excited.”

It was a special experience for both the new members as well as the Dickinson students who were involved. Dickinson’s chapter hopes to strengthen the bonds they formed that weekend by staying connected with the Swarthmore chapter. They plan to invite them to events such as their signature philanthropy event in the spring and co-host sisterhood events with them.

“[This reinforced] how important [Kappa Alpha] Theta is to my life and how important it will become to these other girls,” summarized Mudge.