Industry Update Provided by NPC

Several instances of racial slurs or racist posts from fraternity and sorority members continued to earn coverage in the past week. The Daily Mississippian reports the vice president of programming for the Ole Miss Interfraternity Council did not sign the joint letter from the institution’s fraternity/sorority community calling for the relocation of a Confederate monument on campus. WBIR-TV and Chattanooga Times Free Press report that Sigma Chi International Fraternity has confirmed that its University of Tennessee at Chattanooga chapter is being investigated for racially insensitive activities. The origin of the investigation into Sigma Chi is unknown, but several social media posts circulating Wednesday made allegations against the fraternity. The Daily Athenaeum reports a member of West Virginia University’s chapter of Delta Gamma has been removed after using a racial slur over Snapchat. The Columbia Spectator reports that messages between members of the Columbia chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity have circulated over the past week, implicating several students in racist comments targeting a Black woman being tear-gassed by police. The Daily Pennsylvanian reports that Psi Upsilon Fraternity suspended a member from the fraternity indefinitely after video surfaced appearing to feature a Penn student yelling the N-word at a peer while they both were in high school.

As more colleges and universities announce how and when they will resume operations—following the abrupt March shutdowns—most are making clear that students will share in the duty of protecting classmates, faculty, and staff from COVID-19. The Washington Post reports that parties will be minimal or nonexistent if schools have their way. Seating at sports events will be limited if spectators are allowed at all. Many lectures will be online. Food service will be grab-and-go. Foot traffic will be routed one way through specific exits and entrances. Coronavirus testing will be widespread, with quarantines expected for those who test positive. In many places, face-to-face instruction will end by Thanksgiving.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports scholars and students at historically white institutions are sharing stories of discrimination, pulling these institutions into the national conversation about the ingrained white supremacy of American systems, all amid a pandemic that could threaten lives—disproportionately those of people of color—on campus. Three weeks ago, those campuses were focused on the coronavirus. Now they are being pushed to reckon with racism.

Workforce Updates

Please join Recruitment Committee Chairman Kara Van Duzee in welcoming multiple women to the committee.

• Marybeth Lilly, Zeta Tau/Delaware, will serve as one of two recruitment and Panhellenic district directors (RPDDs) in College District VII. Marybeth will split the district with Jessica Greene. 
• Erin Smith, Epsilon Zeta/Mississippi, will serve as one of two RPDDs in College District XII. Erin will split the district with Alyssa Trumbull. 
• Caitlin Soltesz, Alpha Nu/Montana, and Riley Cluxton, Beta Gamma/Colorado State, will serve as recruitment specialists. 

Alumnae Committee Chairman Laura Bright is pleased to announce that Grand Council has appointed Beth Bowers Vaughn, Gamma Omega/Auburn, as alumnae district director (ADD) in Alumnae District V. 

2020-2022 Theta Foundation Board of Trustees

The 2020-2022 Theta Foundation Board of Trustees has been elected and will begin service on July 1.

Officers

• President - Vicki Laughlin McCluggage, Omicron/USC                              
• Vice President - TJ Flynn Condon, Epsilon Lambda/Dickinson 
• Treasurer - Zita Enloe, Gamma Phi/Texas Tech
• Secretary - Betsy Sierk Corridan, Beta Omicron/Iowa

Trustees

• Cate Lock Bibb, Gamma Phi/Texas Tech
• Nancy Milligan Frick, Alpha/DePauw
• Karen Albrecht Ledbetter, Gamma Tau/Tulsa
• Kim Harvey Looney, Delta Pi/Tennessee
• Kimi Morris Martin, Alpha Omicron/Oklahoma
• Mandy Burgett Wushinske, Zeta Sigma/Ohio Northern
• Lisa R. Youngers, Psi/Wisconsin 

Recent Theta Blog

Sixty Years of Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation

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