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The sorority formerly known as Kappa Alpha Theta at Harvard University is set to become gender-neutral organization due to the school’s effort to dismember single-gender social clubs. The sorority will change their name to “Theta Zeta Xi”.
Earlier this week, the organization announced that they would be disaffiliating from its national organization, changing their name and becoming inclusive to people of all genders this upcoming fall semester.
In their official statement, the former sorority said that their decision is linked to the university administration’s efforts to penalize discriminatory social clubs, stating that they are acting “in good faith with Harvard’s social organization and nondiscrimination policies.”
via the New York Post:
“This decision reflects our commitment to supporting our members as they take full advantage of the academic and leadership opportunities available to them as Harvard students, which we believe is central to our mission,” the statement added, pointing out that the members of the sorority voted unanimously to become all-gender club.
The sorority previously took a different stance. Last year, after Harvard administration voted to adopt the sanctions on single-gender clubs, the group released a statement pledging to continue its tradition of allowing only women to be the members, the Boston Globe reported.
“These sanctions unfairly force women to choose between the opportunity to have supportive, empowering female-only spaces and external leadership opportunities,” the statement read.
Since the vote to penalize single-gender clubs, a number of fraternities and other male-dominated social clubs decided to become open to everyone, but all-female groups were more reluctant to embrace the change.
Elizabeth Rinck, the director of communications of the international Kappa Alpha Theta organization, from which the Harvard sorority is disaffiliating, said they are “sad to see the group leave the partnership.”
