Certainly many greeks have made the best of lacking or losing a house—the proverbial making a virtue of necessity. Far rarer is the group that actively extols the benefits of houselessness and does not seek to alleviate that necessity, but such an outlier is the newly chartered Phi Beta Chi sorority at the University of Iowa.
Relatively young among the panhellenic pantheon, Phi Beta Chi was founded in 1978 at the University of Illinois as a Lutheran organization, declaring that its sisters "shall strive to be faithful and energetic Christian leaders and shall celebrate the Lutheran heritage" in its credo—though the president at Iowa, Kristen Donahoe, stressed that "anyone can be a member." Its expansion has been modest, encompassing fewer than a dozen chapters and colonies. But its smaller size, both of and within chapters, is generally seen as an asset by members: their vice president at Iowa, Samantha McWilliams, explained that "We're small, and we're really close. . . . Sometimes in a bigger sorority, you might get overlooked." Both the sorority's advisor and Ms Donahoe cited the lack of a house as a "perk," distinguishing them from the largely housed sororities on campus and permitting a more eclectic sisterhood.
In this, they are following the mold of older chapters, only one of which maintains a house nationwide. Ms Donahoe herself is a transfer student from Iowa State University, where she was a member, and wanted to bring the close-knit tradition to their new alma mater. Still, with a membership of fewer than ten sisters, Ms Donahoe is looking to grow, hoping by three or four new sisters.
But there are limits to the perceived virtues of smallness: Ms McWilliams wants "at least six."
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