A former sorority member has shared the 'insane' rules she was forced to live by while at the University of Alabama in light of a bombshell documentary exposing the university's bizarre sorority culture.
Sydney Thomas is a sophomore at the University of Alabama, who is also a social media influencer on TikTok - boasting over 355,000 followers.
In her candid TikTok videos, she unveiled the 'ridiculous' reasons behind why she was kicked out of her sorority.
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The claims have come out in the open after the release of HBO documentary Bama Rush - which 'exposes the dark underbelly of the University of Alabama's Panhellenic culture'.
And it turns out this is for real, as Sydney was forced to leave because she simply 'stood on an elevated surface, went to a bar, and has a large social media following'.
Almost impossible to digest, isn't it?
In a three-part series on TikTok, Sydney unleashes the #BamaRush trend by speaking about her experience.
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She revealed that her sorority, Alpha Phi, had a rule that in the first three months of being in the sorority, they weren't allowed to stand on an elevated surface.
"So, I'm called into a J-board meeting, which is like a judicial board meeting, like a conduct meeting," Sydney explained. "And basically, they tell me that I was standing on an elevated surface, which I wasn't allowed to do at the time.
"At parents' weekend, a band pulls me up on stage and I go up there along with some other girls in my sorority, and I didn't think much of it at the moment."
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The student also revealed that they weren't allowed to go to bars: "So, you're also not supposed to go to a bar during your first three months of being in a sorority.
"But, for me, all of the older girls in the sorority had told me and my friends it was okay. They said, 'We did it all last year, they don't really care. It's a rule but no one follows it, so it's fine you can do it'."
Sydney confirmed that she, along with her friends, went to a bar, snapped some pics and sent them to the sorority board.
Each one of them was called to the individual meeting, however, only Sydney was kicked out of the board, claiming the reason behind her expulsion was her 'large social media' following.
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"They go into the fact that I have a large following on social media, so I'm more of a liability than the other girls," she said.
When she finally got confirmation of her removal, the official email read: "After a full review of the information presented during the hearing on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, the Beta Mu Judiciary Board committee voted by a minimum of three-fourths affirmative to terminate your membership with Alpha Phi."
Although Sydney's time in the social club was brief, she expressed that she harbours no animosity towards any of the present members of the sorority as a whole.
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Bama Rush further exposes the shocking truth behind Greek sorority culture at the University of Alabama.
Its filmmaker, Rachel Fleit, told Vice: "I wanted to create a documentary that was grounded in this culture, this Greek system.
"We could talk about feminism, and we could talk about competition between women, body image, racism, sexism, classism, and sexual assault on campus or in general.
"There were all these big topics that I thought we could explore in the film by going into the Greek system. And we did."
Topics: US News
Rashi Agarwal