Tea

We or some of us anyhow were invited this fall to a sorority tea, surely a first in this erstwhile stronghold of rugged masculinity.

We or some of us anyhow have been to such affairs before, in the long- gone days when presidential ladies poured and faculty wives wore hats. Figuring that Dartmouth women would do it differently and better we left our kid gloves at home, put on our L. L. Bean specials, and went off to the Francis Childs Room in College Hall to meet the sisters of Sigma Kappa.

Sure enough, it was different. Dart- mouth’s First Lady was there, chic in culottes and boots, gracious with a firm handshake. Faculty wives weren’t discerni- ble, with or without hats, but the sisters looked nifty in skirts, sweaters or blouses feminine equivalents of coat and tie. Nobody poured, although one Sigma Kap- pa told us the sorority has a silver tea ser- vice that someone had forgotten to pick up at an adviser’s house in Norwich. The finger-size eclairs were outstanding.

The chapter has 65 members, we were told, and already boasts two alumnae of the Class of 1977. The sisters claim they would welcome competition from other sororities who may establish Dartmouth chapters. Rush would be improved, they said, if prospective pledges didn’t risk sink- ing Sigma Kappa or nothing.