Sorority to face punishment

A controversial photograph that features 2006 graduates of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority has made its way onto the Internet in recent months.

The picture was taken by a professional photographer on Bid Day 2006 and depicts most of the 40 women posing with open bathrobes and very little clothing on the steps of the Theta house.

While Kappa Alpha Theta President Katie Adams did not want to call the photo a tradition, she did say that it had occurred every year of the four years she has been at Vanderbilt. She would not comment, however, on what the pictures looked like in past years.

Director of Greek Life Kristin Torrey said that although the incident involved one chapter, she believes it reflects negatively on the entire Greek community.

“To an outsider, the Greek letters in front of the word sorority or fraternity don’t mean anything,” she said. “Kappa Alpha Theta is the same as Alpha Lambda Beta. To a whole lot of outsiders, it’s just a sorority, it’s just a Greek organization.”

Panhellenic Council President Suzi Bryce agreed, saying, “It inaccurately represents the community as a whole. What anyone does within a community is going to reflect the whole community, not just a certain contingent of it.”

Adams said she sincerely apologized for the photo. “It not only gives Theta a bad name but the Greek community a bad name and Vanderbilt as a whole a bad name,” she said.

“We take full responsibility for our actions. What we did was wrong.”

Since the behavior demonstrated in the photograph is a violation of the ’s prohibition of disorderly conduct, Torrey said that Vanderbilt University will be taking disciplinary action against the chapter.

According to Bryce, Theta is fully cooperating with the administration and Panhellenic to determine a punishment “that will help educate the community about the effects of unfortunate decisions.”

Torrey also emphasized the educational value of the incident. “Anytime we have an incident that reflects negatively on our Greek community, we hope that it becomes a learning moment for the rest of our chapters,” she said.

While the photo was never intended to be public knowledge, Adams said she realizes that “in this day and age, with the technology and communications we have, any picture you take has the potential to end up on the Internet.”

“We hope this just serves as an example to other sororities, fraternities and organizations to maintain good judgment at all times,” she said.

The sorority will also face sanctions from its National Headquarters.

While Betsy Corridan, executive director of the national Kappa Alpha Theta fraternity, was not at liberty to discuss the specifics of any punishment, she said that the “fraternity does take the issue seriously, and we’re working through the punishments for the individuals involved as well as the chapter as a whole.”

“It’s a horrible reflection on the particular chapter, on every Theta, as well as every Greek, both men and women,” she said. “Even though it happened to the Thetas, it affects everyone.”

While Adams and Bryce both said that it was too early to tell whether the incident would have any effect on this year’s recruitment, they each said that the photo is a misrepresentation of Greek women on campus and were hopeful that the community would realize that.

“I think that freshmen will see over the fall semester all of the wonderful and positive things the community contributes to Vanderbilt and Nashville and those would overpower any negative incidents,” Bryce said.

“It’s sad to think that our house is being judged by this one picture, and the girls in the picture are being judged by it when, really, it’s not reflective of their character whatsoever,” Adams said.

“I just hope people can realize this picture doesn’t define Theta and doesn’t define the Greek community,” she said. “Greek life at Vanderbilt does so much good for the school and the community.”