A private, secondary Instagram account run by members of the UC Berkeley chapter of the Chi Omega sorority was discovered by the sorority's national branch, the Daily Cal reported yesterday, and the Chi Omega national leadership has asked 22 members of its Berkeley chapter to leave the sorority for rule violations. Those were a breach of the national branch’s “human dignity" rule and rules forbidding alcohol bottles in sorority rooms.
A Chi Omega member spoke anonymously to the school paper, as she and others signed non-disclosure agreements to avoid being evicted without compensation from the Chi Omega house. The Instagram account included topless photos of sorority women, she said, as well as alcohol bottles visible in sorority rooms. However, the account was taken down quickly. Still, "an unknown member of the sorority" leaked the images to the Chi Omega national branch, the source claims.
The sorority member also alleged that the level of discipline in this mini-scandal revealed a gender bias reflected in the rules governing fraternity and sorority members. "Fraternities have more freedom than sorority girls do," the source said. "They get to make their own rules. We have no say in how our community and sisterhood is run." Indeed, persistent allegations of misconduct by fraternity members at Berkeley has rarely lead to repercussions for male students.
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