BREAKING MY SILENCE: a message to new sisters

It’s that time of year when everyone is settling into their new houses and hopefully making friends. If you are happy in your house so far, this message is not necessarily for you. Girls, if there is one lesson you learn from this whole thing it is KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE INITIATION DATE!!!!! Some houses will try to force you to commit fast with an early initiation date, this is so you don’t have enough time to back out and try again with a new sorority and so that they can charge you member dues!!! If you are unhappy, uncomfortable, disappointed, or generally discouraged about your new home, it is NOT TOO LATE TO DROP! If you drop before initiation, you still have the opportunity to rush again in the future or accept a snap bid to a new house that might be more for you! If by the time initiation rolls around it’s not a hell yes, mark my words it is a HELL NO!!!!! If you are deciding whether or not to drop before initiation, understand that your house will either pull out all the stops to keep you or treat you badly and scare you about the outcome of dropping prior to initiation, DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM! As a new sister, you are in a bubble like mindset that makes you unable to think objectively and pedestals older active sisters. What they say is not the law! You will not be friendless and dropping prior to initiation is a blip in the timeline in the long run. If you are afraid to do this and think that you can just “ride out” being in your chapter for the next four years, know that over time they will only expect more commitment from you and will only grow more comfortable in putting you down and punishing you for stupid things. You are not a failure for not meshing harmoniously with your current house, sometimes the chemistry isn’t there or rush can be a deceitful process where the people involved are not as they say they are. Be brave! It will be okay.