Canadians Go Greek: the source for Canadian Chapters

Dalhousie Gazette, Dalhousie Student Paper - Monday November 14, 2005

By Laura Stone Staff Contributor

Sororities have come a long way from their pillow-fighting, nail-painting roots. Alpha Gamma Delta (AGD), Dalhousie’s only women’s fraternity, is one of the three all-female societies currently operating on campus. And it is clear by their principles of sisterhood, philanthropy and scholarship, that AGD is anything but stereotypical.

Divine secrets of the... networking sisterhood?

“We have this thing called the rosevine,” says Anusha Gandhi, the Vice President of Recruitment at AGD “It involves Alpha alum in every professional field, who you can go ask about jobs after university. It’s kind of like the grapevine, but it’s the rosevine.”

Gandhi says that each member of AGD holds a position within the women’s frat, which subsequently changes each year. This provides business experience to each sister and, as Gandhi says, “makes you network with people.”

Other than holding a position, fraternity sisters participate in a monthly philanthropic event — such as the Aids Walk — attend weekly meetings and monthly social events, and must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.4.

AGD is Dalhousie’s largest women-only society, with roughly eighteen members from Dal, SMU and NSCAD. Since the university doesn’t officially recognize sororities and fraternities as part of the school, they are open to students from any Halifax-area college or university.

But it also means that Dal’s sororities and fraternities are not very well known.

“Right now there’s only five male fraternities and three sororities,” says Erin Grundy, Vice-President of Member Development at AGD. Brundy notes that Alpha Gamma Delta is Dalhousie’s only international women’s frat. Worldwide, AGD has 180 chapters, five of which operate in Canada.

During the second and third weeks of September, AGD hosted their annual recruitment events, which ranged from a barbeque to a casino night, a Grawood lunch to a “Death by Chocolate” eating extravaganza.

Gandhi says that recruitment week is typically the time to decide whether a certain sorority or frat is what you are looking for.

“During recruitment week potential new members are encouraged to check out other sororities to make sure they find what’s right for them,” says Brundy. “We don’t want them to rush into anything, because we want them to be happy.”

Gandhi notes that even after recruitment week is over, there exists a Continuous Open Bidding period, which extends until next semester’s recruitment period. Girls who missed rush events can participate in activities but cannot become full-fledged members until they have undergone a six to eight week pledging period and initiation.

The initiation, says Brundy, involves a secret ritual that can’t be talked about to non-members. Since AGD is an alcohol-free fraternity, it’s a sure indication that the initiation doesn’t involve drinking. Or pillow fights.

“A lot of stuff that happens in the movies doesn’t apply to us,” says Brundy.