Kyle Lowe/The Collegian

The National Council of the Alpha Xi Delta sorority has decided to shut down Fresno State’s Gamma Epsilon Chapter after nearly 60 years of being on campus.

Eddie Dominguez, advisor for the Interfraternity Council said that part of the reason Alpha Xi Delta is shutting down is because of the organizational challenges the sorority had to face.

“The thing that caused those challenges was a decline in membership in comparison to the other five national Panhellenic sororities,” Dominguez said. “Although they tried over the years to meet those challenges, they were not successful.”

Because the sorority had trouble recruiting new members, they were not able to meet their financial obligations, and therefore they were not able to meet the cost of keeping their house up and running.

“The girls noticed their low membership and they wanted to join something bigger,” Kourtney Sweeney, vice president of membership of the Panhellenic Council, said.

Kristi Hill, former president of Alpha Xi Delta, agrees that one of their biggest struggles was recruiting new members when they had about half as many members as the other sororities.

“We had a lot of younger girls, so we didn’t have a lot of experience in the house,” Hill said.

Hill said that another reason they struggled is because the sorority did not have a booth out in front in the Free Speech Area for a long time. A lottery is conducted every semester to see which organizations will get the space for a booth, and they had not won in nearly three years.

“It would have helped out if we would have been able to be on campus and had been seen visually,” Hill said.

Dominguez said that the decision was made by the national organization in hopes that they will be returning. Their return, however, will be dependent upon whether the campus is ready for their return, and if enrollment statistics show their ability to be successful. However, their return will not happen for at least four to five years.

“It’s a hard time for them,” Megan Hamik, vice president of public relations for the Panhellenic Council said. “They put their hearts into that chapter.”

Hill said that the Alpha Xi Delta girls will enjoy the rest of the semester, and still plan on doing all the things they planned on doing, including voting in new officers and participating in various philanthropy projects.

“There was nothing wrong with our house we had a really good sisterhood,” Hill said. “We were all really close to each other and it was a really tough fight for us.”

Alpha Xi Delta has been at Fresno State since 1952. This spring is the last semester the sorority will be in place. The current members of Alpha Xi Delta will be granted alumnae status after it closes this spring.