This past Sunday, the University of Iowa’s Delta Epsilon chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority performed a song-and-dance routine that has since brought them under scrutiny. The skit, which was caught on video on Bid Day — the day when new members are officially welcomed into the sorority — was performed by the sophomore pledge class, outside the Alpha Phi house, which many in Iowa City call “the dollhouse” for its toy-like aesthetic.
The community and campus uproar over the video is concentrated mainly on the lyrics regarding their fellow sororities. To the tune of a compilation of rap songs, the young women of Alpha Phi rapped about drinking (an activity expressly forbidden to sororities during Pledge Week) and anal sex and made several derogatory remarks about their Greek life peers. One lyric references another sorority having used “dirty money” for their philanthropic activities. Another, repeated multiple times, goes, “Watch me chug, watch me shotgun, watch me chug, chug, now watch me black out.”
Allegedly, the video itself was posted to YouTube by a new pledge who was uncomfortable with the scene. After it appeared online, it was soon uploaded to totalfratmove.com, where it quickly became the site’s most popular story. Just a few days prior, totalsororitymove.com posted Alpha Phi’s Legally Blonde-themed recruitment video. Suffice to say, the latter presents a significantly different image:
Alpha Phi has sent flowers to the sororities affected by the video, but no formal statement has been made by either Alpha Phi or the University of Iowa.
