Tulane University is welcoming a new addition to the Greek community, Tri Delta, as the ninth sorority on campus.

A record number of women went through the recruitment last year, leaving each sorority with pledge classes of upwards of 80 new members and demonstrating to many the need for an additional sorority. At the end of last spring, members of the Panhellenic Extension Committee chose Tri Delta from three possible new sororities to start a new chapter at Tulane. The committee was made up of one delegate from each of the eight existing chapters, headed by the Tulane Panhellenic president. 

Four Tri Delta Executive Office staff members have traveled to New Orleans to gauge interest and recruit new members on campus. The women have been handing out flyers, talking to possible new members and holding events to increase awareness about their organization.

The Tri Delta recruitment process of finding members to join the founding class has already begun with one-on-one meetings called “Delta Dates” between an interested sophomore, junior or senior and one of the Tri Delta national council women. Currently, freshmen are not allowed to begin the recruitment process because formal recruitment for all freshmen begins in the spring. This leaves Tri Delta to focus solely on upperclassmen this fall. The sorority has one main tool for generating interest among upperclassman in joining: an extensive alumni network.

“It’s not just four years, it’s lifetime membership, so we have a lot of initiatives and programs that have been rolled out for bridging that gap between graduating college to becoming an alumni member,” Senior Development Consultant Anna Lee Painter said.

“We have a new app called ‘CONNECT DDD,’ and basically it’s Facebook and LinkedIn combined to connect young alumni with older alumni in the area. We also do a program that helps women train women on how to negotiate their salary once they get jobs to help bridge the pay wage gap between men and women. And so I think something that’s unique about Tri Delta is we look at the problems and conversations happening on collegiate campuses, and we say how can we fix that?”

For sophomores, juniors and seniors who have begun the Tri Delta recruitment process, there are sisterhood events scheduled throughout September to allow women to meet each other and continue the process with the National Council members. The process is scheduled to conclude on Sept. 27 with a formal bid day. After bid day, the members will begin their new member process and then quickly transition into learning how to recruit new members in the spring during formal recruitment. 

In the spring, the new sorority will operate like any other chapter on campus, complete with sisterhood events, mixers and date parties, as the new members of Tri Delta lay the groundwork for how the sorority will operate on campus. 

“It is going to look different because they’re the founding class, but that different piece of it is that they’re creating the traditions. They’re creating the chapter identity. They’re the ones that are being the authors of what Tulane Tri Delta is going to look like,” Painter said. 

Once recruitment has concluded, two of the four Tri Delta National Council members will be staying on campus for the next two years to ensure the chapter is following Tri Delta national rules and bylaws and to ensure their success on campus. 

Laney Humphreys, a first-year chapter development consultant, said she is optimistic about the future of the new sorority, due in part to the overwhelmingly positive welcome the sorority has received from the Tulane community. 

Has Tri Delta sparked your interest? Click here to fill out an interest form: https://t.co/44Wd4ffeJ8 We'd love to meet you! pic.twitter.com/QXukj5aZxH

— Tulane University Tri Delta (@TulaneTriDelta) July 16, 2019

“The other sororities have been so positive and so helpful. We can tell people are really excited to have us here, and they’re constantly coming up to our table and being like, ‘I have a friend who would be really great for this chapter. Can I give you her name?’ So it’s been really cool to be in this community because I can tell they want us here,” Humphreys said. 

Nazarbechian looks forward to the addition of Tri Delta on campus. 

“As the class sizes are getting bigger, we really do need another sorority so more girls are able to be a part of Greek life at Tulane.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated Tri Delta would be the eighth sorority at Tulane, the chapter will be the ninth sorority on campus.