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New sorority, fraternity joins campus Greek life in fall |
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Monday, 09 June 2008 |
 | Bachenheimer
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by ANNE BAKER
News Desk Editor
Students at Appalachian State University interested in Greek life will see an increase in the number of organizations they can choose from beginning in the fall.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon will join the Interfraternity Council fraternities, and Alpha Omicron Pi will be added to the Panhellenic Council sororities, said Aaron H. Bachenheimer, Greek advisor and assistant director for the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership.
Currently, Appalachian State has 12 existing IFC fraternities and seven existing PHC sororities.
Due
to the number of students who choose to become a part of Greek life as
well as the growth of the university, the expansion was deemed
necessary, Bachenheimer said.
“We are a campus that is nationally starting to get more attention,” he
said. “We have had a number of national organizations that have
expressed interest in coming to Appalachian.”
According to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Web site www.sae.net, the
fraternity currently includes more than 280,000 initiated members and
has over 225 chapters in the United States and Canada.
Bachenheimer said this fraternity as well as the current fraternities
on campus will be able to recruit first-semester freshman starting in
the fall, which is a change from previous years.
 Junior psychology major Mallory J. Green lipsyncs with other members of Kappa Delta for the Greek Lipsync competition during April 2007 at Legends. File Photo
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The last sorority to be added to the program at Appalachian State was
Alpha Phi in 1991, and since then, many women interested in Greek life
have come through the orientation process and they have not been able
to find exactly what they were looking for, Bachenheimer said.
The addition of Alpha Omicron Pi will attempt to solve this problem as
well as the issue of spacing constraints sororities are beginning to
see due to the large growth in numbers.
“The [existing] sororities can’t get much larger in terms of accommodating larger groups,” he said.
Courtney Dillard, Administrative Director of Communications for Alpha
Omicron Pi said the organization is excited to come to Appalachian.
“The dynamic of Greek life [at Appalachian] is very open and receptive
to growth…it was a big deal for us to be invited to come to ASU.”
Dillard said one element about Alpha Omicron Pi that is different from
other sororities is the organization has chapters in both the United
States and Canada. The chapters have over 137,000 initiated members,
she said.
The chapters closest to Appalachian State exist at The University of
Tennessee, Elon University, Duke University and East Carolina
University, Dillard said.
The sorority will participate in the first round of formal recruitment
in the fall semester to familiarize people with the organization, and
parties will be given for those interested in joining a new charter
chapter, she said.
For those interested in additional information regarding Alpha Omicron
Pi recruitment, the Web site www.aoiiappstate.org will be updated
closer to the fall.
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