The women’s social club Delta Theta has become inactive, after their two sponsors resigned last month.
On-campus sponsor Kristina Campos, assistant professor of honors studies and communication, and off-campus sponsor Michelle Perkins, ACU alumnus, resigned as advisors of Delta Theta the night pledges were scheduled for an induction ceremony. As a result of Campos and Perkins stepping down, Delta Theta earned an inactive status.
Delta Theta members were surprised, according to both Sherrie Frierson, senior sociology major from San Antonio and Brittany Ellis, junior family studies major from Haslet.
“We were pretty blind-sided ourselves. We came into club expecting the Biddies to get in,” Frierson said. “We were really excited and then suddenly, our sponsor informed us she was done.”
According to Campos, she and Perkins gave the situation a lot of thought, sought guidance from past members of Delta Theta and ultimately decided to resign.
Campos said it was coincidence that the resignation and initiation fell on the same night.
“There were some other events that led up to [the resignation], that just made this decision necessary and it just happened it was the same week as get-in,” Campos said.
Campos had been a Delta Theta sponsor for a year and a half, according to Mark Jackson, director of student organizations and programs. Jackson said Campos spoke to him a few hours prior to resigning.
“Ultimately Dr. Campos decided it was in her best interest to step down,” Jackson said. “It’s a lot for one person to do – she’s a professor here, she’s a mom and so there’s a lot that she has going on in her life and so ultimately that was her call and we respect that.”
Campos furthered Jackson’s explanation.
“[Michelle and I] just really felt like the direction of the club was not what we wanted it to be and that we were worried about a future for D.T,” Campos said.
Campos said she and Perkins resigned with hopes that Delta Theta will reshape.
“We felt this was really the best way to maybe give them some time to refocus on who they are and what they want to be, and spend some time in deep prayer and deep thought about that,” Campos said.
The inactivity has affected the relationships between members.
“When there is stuff on campus, you are kind of forced to be together,” Frierson said. “And a lot of these girls, I probably wouldn’t have been friends with anyway if I hadn’t pledged with them – so it hurts that they are taking that away.”
Although inactive, the women of Delta Theta are remaining united.
“We are trying to remain as active as possible on campus, but it’s hard because we can’t do it as Delta Theta like we normally did,” said Ellis.
The two, Ellis and Frierson, have stepped up to set forth on the road to making Delta Theta active again. However, they are facing trials.
“You can’t just go and pick up another advisor immediately and come back on campus,” Jackson said. “So at the earliest, they could come back would be January of 2012.”
Ellis and Frierson have begun the search and have a few potential candidates.
Student Life requires a minimum of one on-campus advisor that has been out of college for at least five years. Qualifications of an on-campus advisor consist of being a full-time member of ACU faculty or staff.
The reality of their inactive status hasn’t yet sunk in for Ellis.
“We worked really hard to maintain the title of Delta Theta, and I feel like now our hard work and the biddies hard work is for nothing,” Ellis said. “So it’s hard – it’s hard to accept that, oh wow, there is no more Delta Theta right now.”
Campos said she was sad to see this happen.
“I loved Delta Theta, I’ve loved Delta Theta ever since we re-chartered in 96′ and it’s always been a very important part of my friendships,” Campos said.
Delta Theta was established in 1925 by, what the club calls, the “Lucky 13.” The organization has been inactive a few times, but not since it was re-chartered in 1996.
