Luo is the only current active member in the IU chapter of Theta Nu Xi multicultural sorority. Her position brings a set of challenges and benefits that almost no other greek organization faces, she said.
“I’m still trying to be as involved as I can,” Luo said. “We are very small, but we’re still trying to stick to our mission statement and our values.”
As part of IU’s Multicultural Greek Council, Theta Nu Xi seeks to promote diversity and community service. But the sorority’s ability to act upon those values, as well as its status as part of the MCGC, is in danger.
Five of the sorority’s six members graduated in the spring of 2015. With only one member left, Theta Nu Xi does not currently meet MCGC’s requirement of five active members. MCGC gave the sorority a “grace period” of one semester, said Samantha Copenhaver, an alumna of Theta Nu Xi who graduated last semester. But if no new members join, the sorority will be considered dormant next semester.
“We’re working hard, and my sorority sisters who graduated, as well as the national and regional chapters, are trying to help us,” Luo said. “But it may or may not work out. It makes me a little nervous.”
If the sorority leaves the MCGC, reinstating the chapter in the future will mean starting from the bottom and getting voted into the council again, Copenhaver said.
Theta Nu Xi also often struggles to organize events, and almost always has to collaborate with another sorority or fraternity to do so, Copenhaver said.
“We just don’t have the manpower,” she said. “Even the events that we can plan are usually pretty small.”
Despite the difficulties, Luo maintains that her involvement with Theta Nu Xi is a positive experience.
“It was very hard to accept it when my sisters graduated, especially when I looked at so many other sororities and all their members and thought about how much work I would have to do,” Luo said. “But it’s helped me grow, it’s made me a stronger woman, and it’s helped me learn how to deal with hardships on my own.”
Luo also said she appreciates the close bond she still has with her sorority sisters who have graduated. Many of the alumnae of Theta Nu Xi, including Copenhaver, continue to help plan events, maintain relationships with each other and visit the campus to meet and help out. All chapter meetings are attended, via phone call or text message, by Luo and these graduated members, Copenhaver said.
“When I talk to them, it doesn’t matter that the sorority is only me, because my sisterhood with them is still what really matters,” Luo said. “I still learn so much from them, and their help and friendship is so valuable.”
Theta Nu Xi has been in a similar situation before. When Copenhaver joined in the fall of her junior year, she and one other joining member boosted the sorority’s numbers from one to three.
But the possibility of being removed as a chapter due to low membership was not something they had faced, Copenhaver said.
“The news really came as a shock at first, and it felt like we were being pushed off the campus,” Copenhaver said. “It is discouraging when people think that we aren’t valid or relevant as an organization, because we know that what we stand for is important.”
Luo said that she tries to focus on Theta Nu Xi’s mission for multiculturalism and service and her close relationships with her sisters.
By doing that, she can remember why she loves her sorority in the first place, she said.
“When I first met my sorority sisters, I felt like they were so strong, beautiful and confident, and I wanted to be like them,” Luo said. “And I think I am now. I know that with them, I can be myself and make real, positive contributions to the world. Those are the things that matter, and they won’t go away.”
