The Delta Delta Delta sorority has until 5 p.m. Sunday to vacate its home on East Third Street. This comes a few weeks after Tri Delt’s national organization shut down chapter operations for unspecified activities their nationals said failed to uphold and properly represent the values of the sorority.
There have been many attempts from the chapter to repeal the decision and reinstate the chapter, but they have been unsuccessful. The parents have been the most active in their pursuit to reverse the decision. First, they started an online petition, which had 5,297 signatures as of Wednesday.
Friends and supporters left comments saying “As a Tri Delta of nearly 70 years I hate to see a chapter leave a campus” and ‘It’s unjust.”
The chapter has also hired and retained Peter French, a lawyer from the Benesch law firm in Indianapolis.
From the start, the parents said chances of reinstatement would be slim, but they thought it was worth trying. Because they could not guarantee reinstatement, their second goal was to keep their daughters in the house until the end of the semester, they said.
Parents have tried contacting the University to stop the decision or at least postpone it. However, the property belongs to the national chapter, so the University does not have a say in who lives there.
Laura Schoch, a mother to one of the sophomores in Tri Delt, told the IDS previously the fact that nationals is not releasing any further information is frustrating to parents.
“If you are not telling me, and you are kicking them off campus, it leads me to think that it’s something really bad,” Schoch said.
One parent, who wanted to remain anonymous, said despite a lack of ownership, IU has a responsibility to its students. She said part of that responsibility was making sure students aren’t evicted from their only form of housing with so little time left in the school year.
The parents and the local chapter are still working to fight the eviction, but for now, the house at 818 E. Third St. will be empty in four days.
