Editors’ Note: Emily Scaff is a member of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. To maintain balanced coverage, she reached out to leaders of all six Panhellenic sororities.

The Washington and Lee Panhellenic Council removed their office of Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion last month.

The role was renamed to Vice President of Community Engagement. Clara Avery, ’27, who currently holds the position, said the responsibilities of the office will stay the same.

“I like the name change because now I get to focus on what was covered in the VP of DEI role, but now I get to add on some things,” Avery said.

In order to change the title of a Panhellenic executive position, the council has to amend its bylaws. Four of the six Panhellenic sororities must vote in favor of the bylaw changes for them to be enacted.

Chi Omega voted no to the bylaw changes, according to a Chi Omega member who requested to stay anonymous due to the sorority’s media rule. By the time the sorority voted no, four other sororities had already approved the changes, she said.

The Panhellenic Council proposed to rename the DEI position in response to federal policies that call for the removal of DEI roles at colleges and universities, said Nava Berwick, ’27, the Panhellenic delegate for Pi Beta Phi.

“It’s important to know that DEI has not gone away,” she said. “Everything is going to be the same. It’s just the fact that we need funding. So, it needs to be worded differently to the outside world.”

Darcy Leight, ’27, the DEI chair of Kappa Alpha Theta, said she felt she was not informed about the vote before it occurred.

“I felt like we weren’t really given a chance to convey what our chapter wanted,” Leight said. “I know multiple other members of the chapter are upset about the name change and would have voted otherwise.”

Previously, Panhel had a position called Vice President of Programming and Community Engagement. This role was split, which created the Vice President of Programming role, as well as the VP of Community Engagement position.

The name change comes one month after the federal government sent a letter to universities threatening to cut funding if they don’t end DEI programming, according to previous Phi reporting.

“I’m not happy with these DEI changes across the board,” Berwick said. “What’s happening in colleges and workplaces in the U.S. is really unfortunate.”

The bylaw change will not require individual chapters to remove DEI positions from their executive teams, Berwick said.

“We have a DEI chair in ADPI right now, and I think having a representative like that is a really good idea to have on a governing body,” said Iman Haddad, ’26, the President of Alpha Delta Pi.

The Panhellenic Council oversees the five national Panhellenic sororities, as well as Delta Society, a local panhellenic-affiliated sorority. 

The Panhellenic Council “serves to enact positive change within our campus community, as well as promote active and engaged involvement of sorority women in university life,” according to its website.

The President of the Panhellenic Council declined to comment on the name change.