Trans student cruelly rejected by every single university sorority: ‘This chapter is closed’
University of Alabama student Grant Sikes posing for Instagram. (grantelisikes/screengrab from Instagram)
A trans student has revealed that she’s been rejected by every sorority she tried to join at the University of Alabama.
Grant Sikes shared her attempts to join one of the university’s 20 sororities on social media, joining in with the “Bama Rush” social media craze which sees students document their rush week journeys.
She went viral with a video showing off her “outfit of the day”. But after posting the clip, which currently has over 140,000 likes and 21,000 shares, Sikes revealed on her Instagram that not one of the campus sororities had invited her to join.
In a statement, she said: “Unfortunately, this chapter is closed. This recruitment journey is over for me. Being dropped from my last house this morning during primary recruitment at the University of Alabama doesn’t come as a surprise considering out of almost 20 chapters – I was dropped by every single one except two before day one.”
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The last two – Gamma Phi Beta and Kappa Alpha Theta – reportedly dropped her a few days after her applications were sent in.
She told her followers that, despite the upset, she’s “hopeful for a future where everyone is welcomed for just being themselves.”
In a follow-up TikTok post, Sikes explained that the rejections were “upsetting” because she “wanted to be part of a sisterhood and community”, but thanked members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies for the support she received following the rejections.
Undeterred by the sorority rejections, Sikes has continue to update followers about her journey at the university, starting classes and chatting with friends.
Fans have commented on her posts, telling her she’ll “thrive” without a sorority, calling them “toxic”.
A spokesperson for the University of Alabama told The Independent in a statement that it does not have authority over the sorority’s decisions on individual membership and that, as private organisations, they have select policies and procedures that are governed by each chapter’s national organisation.
