Baker University Greek life may be welcoming a new member to the family soon.
Preliminary discussions have begun about the possibility of chartering a Baker chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
“There are some ladies here who have been interested in Alpha Kappa Alpha for quite some time,” Teresa Clounch, associate dean of students, said. “So it’s really been their interest of reaching out to someone and saying, ‘we are interested and we’d like to speak to someone about it.’”
Clounch, an Alpha Kappa Alpha graduate member, said a member of the graduate Alpha Kappa Alpha in Kansas City agreed to come speak with interested women about the sorority.
“I heard about the meeting from a friend and decided to come because my grandmother, both my aunties and my mother were all (Alpha Kappa Alphas),” senior Kelly Jenkins said.
While current discussion of this possibility is meant to gauge interest, it is known that if a chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha would be chartered at Baker, the sorority would fall under the National Pan-Hellenic Council governance along with the current Zeta Phi Beta sorority chapter.
While Zeta Phi Beta and Alpha Kappa Alpha are both historically black sororities and Baker only has 9 percent African American students, Katerra Shackelford, president of Zeta Phi Beta, is not worried about competition for members between the two sororities.
“Most of National Pan-Hellenic Council sororities are dependent upon legacies, so most of the young ladies that are interested in sororities already know what they want to join even before they get to college,” Shackelford said. “They already know about the organizations and the cultures of each so it’s not a competition because we all have different values and principles.”
Shackelford also said that even though the National Pan-Hellenic Council is made up of sororities that are historically black, everyone is accepted.
“These sororities are set up like that because they were started in the early 20th century and that’s how it had to be set up because of the social climate in American at the time,” Shackelford said. “But Zeta Phi Beta’s founder said there’s a Zeta in every girl regardless of race, creed or color.”
Clounch said even if interest wasn’t strong enough at Baker alone, the regional director of Alpha Kappa Alpha supports the combining of two schools under one chapter.
“Our sorority life coordinator Jennifer Letner would be involved with getting the chapter on campus if we decided there was interest and was a need,” Clounch said. “There would be a lot of coming together between Baker, Alpha Kappa Alpha and possibly another university to get the charter in place.”
Clounch, who is still involved with her Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, said she thinks this is a great opportunity for the women on this campus.
“I think it’s admirable of the young ladies to reach out and ask someone to come to campus so that they can enjoy what all the other young ladies get to enjoy,” Clounch said. “If they get to see that to fruition, then they get to be a part of a charter group and that doesn’t often happen. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun and I’d be honored and ecstatic to help them with whatever they need in pulling together.”
