A graduate of Walt Whitman High School is making waves in the sorority world after producing a YouTube video about why she quit her sorority at Syracuse University.
Alex Purdy of Bethesda told The Daily Orange, the student newspaper at Syracuse, she left her sorority, which she did not name, after a series of incidents that offended her.
On Thursday, she appeared on NBC’s Today Show to tell her story. She said her values didn’t align with those of the sorority.
“I want to focus on the positive and what we can change,” Purdy said. “Right now, it’s about opening up the conversation.”
In her video, Purdy says she quit after seeing her sorority sisters encourage each other to dress “sluttier at the next formal so guys like us” and hearing them say that overweight girls shouldn’t be allowed in the sorority house. She said that in one incident she heard one of her fellow sisters talk about putting Hydroxycut, a dietary supplement sold as a weight-loss aid, into a gift basket for another sister.
Purdy, who is majoring in public relations, told the Syracuse newspaper she wants her message to reach other women who may be unfulfilled by sorority life.
“This is by no means done in spite,” Purdy says, “I just thought people could benefit from hearing my perspective on how sororities can make a positive change.” She encourages sororities to act with “love in their heart and compassion towards friends and strangers.”
Purdy’s video has received more than 50,000 views since being published Jan. 27.
Editor's Note: Correction – This story was updated to reflect that Purdy "heard" another sister talk about putting Hydroxycut into a little sister's basket, she says however it was not actually done.
