Epsilon Lambda Chapter

Dear Active Sisters:

We write to you this day to represent the voices that have thus far gone unheard. As alumni of this sorority we have struggled with the decision of whether or not to interfere over the past year, and up until this point we have trusted and respected your ability to make decisions for yourselves in the best interest of the sorority. We have stood idly by after hearing one disturbing story of the sororitys downfall after another, having faith that our sisterhood and strength of character would pull through. We have listened to what your leadership has to say and wanted to believe that your attempts to restore the sorority to order were truthful. However our fear for the sororitys future or lack thereof now far outweighs our reservations concerning interfering in your affairs and we are prepared to take action. We are no longer willing to stand idly by without making our opinions known. We've been silent for too long and we've come to realize that it is far better for us to speak up now rather than never only to look back with regret. We have played a role in this sorority too and are as much a part of it as you and we hope you will truly take to heart what we have to say and give it your most serious consideration.

You may think that your leadership and advising sources have successfully sugar-coated the status of our chapter, but please be assured that we are fully aware of the situation the sorority finds itself in and we are not now, nor were we ever, remotely fooled by such propaganda reports. We are aware that there is a lack of trust, respect and tolerance and that your leaders have taken such actions to make you believe that theirs are the only opinions that matter. We know that interpersonal conflicts within the sorority are not being handled in the manner in which they were intended to be and that some sisters have evidently lost the ability to resolve their own differences and have gone so far as to unjustly involve external parties in internal affairs. We are aware that certain sisters in positions of power within the sorority have been untrue to the intended good nature of their positions and taken to bullying the bulk of our active membership to push their own personal agendas. We know that there is a great divide in the sorority amongst those that have exhibited bravery and are standing up for what is best for the sorority and our sisterhood and those that have fallen in the face of adversity and have shown only cowardice. We are far from removed and we do hear what is going on one way or another. We have been privy to several rumors, both those that were confirmed to be true and those that have yet to be proven. Regardless, if said rumors are being spread to us, this means that the same rumors are also being spread to parties outside our sisterhood, and our reputation as well as our sisterhood in general, is at risk.

Over the past year, it has been difficult to truly say "I'm proud to be D-Phi-E". Frankly, our trust and respect in our active chapter has only further and further diminished and we are ashamed at how far weve strayed from our original principles and ideals, as well as you should be too. We have been hard-pressed to find evidence of Delta Phi Epsilons founding principles of justice, sisterhood and love anywhere within our active chapter and what we have become. We are devastated to see that the sorority we once knew and loved has become so unrecognizable. We are very hurt and disappointed that our principles evidently mean nothing to you and have somehow fallen by the wayside. We are angry that you are being robbed of the same friendships, experiences and opportunities that were afforded to us. We are concerned to see such chaos, disorder and widespread unhappiness and we are fearful that our chapter is headed down a treacherous path that will lead to our ruin. There are no easy answers to complex problems but it is easy to see when we turn to our founding principles that our active membership is in violation of the very ideals they vow to stand for:

JUSTICE: It is blatantly obvious from our point of view that the principle in which our active sisterhood is most seriously deficient is justice. We cannot have trust in our sisters or our sisterhood if we dont believe we are justified to do so. We are a democracy, not a dictatorship, and no one sister, leadership position or not, has the justification to make any decision on the part of the sorority as a whole without a majority vote. No sister has an opinion that is any more plausible or important than the opinion of any other sister and everyone who has a voice should be allowed to be heard. No sister should be denied the right to be informed and be heard and, given that she is in good-standing, under no circumstance should any sister EVER be denied her right to vote.

We believe that interpersonal conflicts should be handled between said sisters in question and/or VP Member at Large if necessary. All internal conflicts which cannot be handled at this level should be handled by Standards Board, as this is the whole purpose of setting up such a structure in the first place. These issues are personal and private and should be treated that way. We in no way support or recommend involving advisors or the University in such issues, unless absolutely necessary. For clarification purposes, situations that would deem advisor or University interference necessary tend to be relatively few and far between and definitely do not include interpersonal conflicts or the day-to-day comings and goings of our chapter. If current advisors are becoming too involved or exerting undue influence over our chapter, we strongly encourage you to seek alternate advising resources.

SISTERHOOD: Sisterhood is more than just letters on a sweatshirt. Sisterhood may be most accurately defined as a group of women that is greater than the sum of its parts, working together to achieve what no one member could've achieved alone. Yet sisterhood is still so much more; it is countless things that all add up to one concept otherwise impossible to define. It is a warm smile on a cold day, a friendly hug, a cheerful hello, etc. It is being counted on, and knowing that there will always be someone you can count on. It is memories made, dreams shared and goals achieved. It is devotion to each other both during the sunshine and the rain. It is treasured, sacred and real. It is all that a good and lasting friendship is, only better.

Sisterhood is NOT cliques, animosity and isolation. It is not bullying one another or abusing a position of power in an attempt to bend others to your misguided will. It is not distrust and dishonesty. It is not despising, plotting against, ignoring, passing judgment, name-calling or backstabbing one another, and it is certainly not making allegations against one another. Such displays towards your sisters are rude, disrespectful and hurtful and fall out of line with our ideals.

LOVE: It has been said that more has been accomplished by love than any other great force in the world, and we greatly believe this to be true. Given love, we are able to push through the tough times and situations that are less than ideal and come out of them still united. Truly loving our sisters, appreciating our similarities, being understanding and compassionate and tolerating ideas and opinions that differ from our own are all possible with love and are rendered virtually impossible in its absence. Without love for one another we can scarcely hope to accomplish much of anything or create order from disorder. We believe that a love for our sisters and our sisterhood in general are absolutely paramount in all of our members and we encourage you to seek out love and its underlying foundation both within our active sisterhood as well as in potential new members.

We hereby extend to you our aid, in any form that it is needed, in order to regain what was once, and could be again, a strong, loving and united sisterhood. The path you must take to restore our sisterhood to unity is not an easy one, but we encourage you to do whatever is necessary to do so and offer our full support and guidance to you in this regard.