A new colony finds its way to UNC

This year, UNC’s Panhellenic Council welcomed Alpha Phi as its newest colony.

Alpha Phi comes to campus at a time when an overwhelming number of young women wish to join Greek life, said Cherie Michaud, the primary adviser for UNC’s Panhellenic Council.

“I think the extension of Alpha Phi is a great way of growing our community and provide another viable opportunity for our women to join a sorority,” Michaud said.

Other leaders of the Panhellenic community said they were excited about the expansion.

Julia Mullendore, president of the Panhellenic Council, said Alpha Phi’s recruitment of around 130 women a few weeks ago went well.

Mullendore said a positive aspect of being a new chapter is the ability to welcome all levels of students.

“Alpha Phi was looking to admit all ages, which attracted upperclassmen who might not have been excited about going through formal recruitment but were excited about starting a new chapter,” she said.

Alpha Phi first presented itself to UNC when four potential sororities made presentations to the Panhellenic Council earlier this year. During their presentations, sororities explained why their organization would be a good fit on campus.

Ion Outterbridge, assistant director for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life and Community Involvement, said he was part of the process of bringing Alpha Phi to campus.

“It was a very competitive process,” Outterbridge said.

Alpha Phi, after being selected, went through the standard first round of Panhellenic recruitment as a way to introduce itself to the Greek community in late August of this year. The organization then dropped out of formal recruitment to build its own community of women through both open and invitational events, as well as one-to-one meetings with Alpha Phi alumnae.

“We were looking for women whose vision matched our vision of what Alpha Phi would be here at UNC,” said Talia Saville, the Alpha Phi educational leadership consultant.

Saville said choosing women with experience in leadership, as well as women who would come together and form a unified chapter, was imperative to building a chapter from the ground up.

“The quality of women we had was phenomenal,” she said.

Saville said there were still steps for the colony to take to fully integrate into Greek life at UNC, including finding a house.

“We are working with a local architect as well as a local realtor to help find a facility,” she said. “As of right now we do not have anything finalized. We hope in the next few months we’ll be able to announce what our plans are.”

In the coming months, the colony plans to distribute the women into committees, elect leadership roles and assign bigs and littles.

“(We have) big things ahead, and we are really excited and hopeful,” Saville said.

university@dailytarheel.com