Carlow University (Pittsburgh)
 

Anyone know what's going on there? It says that they're open for a new Greek system. Just curious.

I don't know anything, but that would very exciting! Carlow is a nice school!

I saw a FB page from 2012 for a local sorority but no idea if it’s still going. The school is very small so any national that bit on this would have to be content with a chapter that is smaller.

Carlow currently has about 1400 students and was founded as Mount Mercy. It is a Catholic school that used to be all women that is now co-ed, but remains 84% women. They do not currently have any NPC groups, but have an NPHC chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha. They have recently started several sports teams for both men and women, so perhaps they are expanding their recruitment. I went to Pitt back in the '70's and they had a decent reputation as a small school with a good Nursing program back then. (We used to go "traying" (sledding on cafeteria trays) on their campus that had some nice steep hills. In more recent years they seem to promote being LGBT-friendly. It will be interesting to see if they are indeed seeking NPC extension.

I didn't know it was still 84% female. I'm from Pittsburgh, and I went to Catholic school, so I know tons of people who went to Carlow (and Duquesne). It will be interesting to see what happens.

Duquesne and Robert Morris Greek systems seem to be doing well.

Is the AKA chapter specific to Carlow or Pittsburgh wide? From what I remember from about a Decade ago, the common setup for the NPHC chapters was a city wide chapter anchored at Pitt...

Carlow is still part of the city-wide chapter, according to their website.

A standalone chapter at Pitt seems to be suspended.

AKA in Pittsburgh
 

You are right. Carlow AKA's are part of the Citywide chapter that also includes Chatham, Robert Morris, Carnegie Mellon, and Duquesne. Their standalone Iota chaper at Pitt was suspended in 3/2018 for 10 years after the Mom of a pledge went to the police after finding that her daughter and her pledge sisters had been physically abused leaving marks in a hazing ritual in the basement of a home in Penn Hills. The Mom herself was also an AKA, so that had to have been a difficult decision. They had a long tradition at Pitt.

Yup. Iota is at Pitt, Alpha Sigma is everyone else (and used to include Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but now that is its own chapter, Rho Rho)

Getting back to the original situation. Right now the Greek Letter Organizations listed on the Carlow website are:
Alpha Kappa Alpha: Sorority (National Pan-Hellenic Council)
Alpha Phi Omega: Community Service: (Professional Fraternity Association)
Beta Beta Beta: Biology Honorary
Kappa Delta Epsilon: Education Professional Fraternity.
Psi Chi: Psychology Honorary (ACHS)
Sigma Tau Delta: English Honorary (ACHS)

1365 Undergrads, and 84% women = roughly 1150 women undergrads.

Thanks for the update. I had no idea what the outcome was. Daaaang.

One of my relatives attended Carlow. I hope one of the NPC sororities colonizes. I hated not being able to share a Greek connection with her.

Makes me wonder if my alma mater (Point Park) will ever get Greek life? They're really trying to bring in traditional students these days. The majority are still in the performing arts program, which have pretty demanding schedules, so who knows?

My inner child just giggled. When I was a Rho Chi, the other RC and I were trying to get our PNMs to quit with the tent talk. I fondly remember her yelling, "LADIES!! It's SDT, not STD!!"

/swerve

Point Park University did have Alpha Phi Omega from 1967 to 1973 and 1994-2011.