Think about ‘AUC girls’. What image comes into your head? Spoilt? Looking for a husband? Unable to use ATMs without supervision? Probably.  Naturally, then, we were intrigued when we heard that a couple of said ‘AUC girls’ were launching the first ever DPE (Delta Phi Epsilon) professional sorority chapter, right here in Cairo.

With thoughts of cliquey, Gucci Corner types finally coming into their own and finding structure to all the bitching, and charging for the pleasure no less, we sought out the President, Lara, Professional Chair, Tulip, and Average Sister, Zeina, (which is a title not a description) for a sit down to figure out what they were about and, more importantly, how self-important they plan to be.  

The plot thickened when it was revealed that the sorority had been founded by an already-existing fraternity that have been active for four or so years. So that’s frat-boy culture at AUC coupled with an actual group of frat-boys being in charge of an actual group of sorority girls and actually initiating and ‘pledging’ these women – it’s the stuff of every preteen boy’s wet dream.

Let’s be honest, though; most of what we know about sororities is based on cringe-worthy Hollywood college films and, of course, PornHub. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your levels of perversion) it was nothing like that.

Will there be paddling? No. Will they share a house? No. Will they get really drunk and make poor decisions as sorority girls with daddy issues are bound to do? No.

In all honesty, there was a little twinge of disappointed in our hearts when we learnt that they were all vocally and explicitly anti-hazing. "Hazing is a cause for immediate expulsion," the girls sternly told us. We were even more disappointed when we met the rest boys and girls behind Greek Life in Egypt and realised that the intended scathing exposé on bullying, binge-drinking, elitism and pretentiousness was not to be. Sigh.

To our dismay, Lara and co turned out to be an incredibly nice, interesting, accepting and self-aware group of people, who obviously embody their chosen values and who are working hard to move away from the stigmas and stereotypes associated with fraternities and sororities.

The new sorority’s planned activities are set to include professional workshops (on entrepreneurship, environmental awareness, foreign policy), community service & fund-raising, ‘coexist week’ and socials. "Lots of people turned up to our first Open Rush," Lara and Tulipe proudly announced.

So, AUCians - should you join? Well, there are no husband-finding classes that we’re aware of as of yet, but their process is straight-up democratic, so you could probably pass a motion and get that started.