The newest sorority on campus, Kappa Beta Gamma, is one “unique” from others given that it is not in the Panhellenic Council, associate vice president for Student Life Bruce Skinner said.

That decision is made on a national level, Skinner said.

The Kappa Beta Gamma headquarters could petition the National Panhellenic Conference in Indianapolis, IN. to be on its Council, if it wished. However, if the women at Southeast decided they wanted to be in the Council, they could request to join as an associate member.

Kappa Beta Gamma contacted Skinner last spring about the organization coming to campus. He said the sorority tabled in the University Center shortly after.

“They recruited a number of women who said they had interest in creating a new sorority at Southeast, and then they installed that chapter in the second half of the spring semester,” Skinner said.

Kappa Beta Gamma’s secretary Alyssa Nunley said it was not until May the sorority members went through their initiation ceremony. That is when the group went from being a colony to being an official chapter. Nunley said the initiation process is for the purpose of educating the sorority members. Until a sorority member has gone through initiation and learned about the history of Kappa Beta Gamma, Nunley said they cannot wear Greek letters.

Since they are not on the Panhellenic Council, Kappa Beta Gamma cannot participate in Rush Week with the rest of the Greeks. However, it can have its own rush to recruit.

“We can do exactly how they do it, we just can't participate with them while they're doing it,” Nunley said.

Kappa Beta Gamma held its rush the week before Southeast’s official Rush Week. Nunley said the rush consisted of a “Kappa Kookout,” where they served barbeque in Capaha Park, and “Kappas and Kanvases,” which consisted of painting with new recruits. She said they even had a “Preference Night” where they had a formal dinner and spoke about the sorority's philanthropy — the Special Olympics.

As of now, Nunley said she is not sure on whether the sorority can participate in Greek Week, but she knows they can participate in homecoming activities.

Nunley said one of the struggles with its unique standing with the Panhellenic Council is that it can make socializing difficult among members.

“We just got invited to Lambda Chi’s Watermelon Bust, which is a big deal for us because we want to be able to show support and stuff like that,” Nunley said. “But it's a little hard because they don't know what we are exactly since we don't have to follow their rules.”

Besides not having to pay the Panhellenic dues of $10 per semester per member, Nunley said there is more freedom that comes with not being on the council.

“We don't have to have chapter ever, or we can do chapter once a month or every two weeks. … We are able to speak to people during a recruitment weekend, so we have more freedom with that,” Nunley said. “In general, we just have more freedom and more wiggle room to do things how we please.”