NOVEMBER 3 • 2022 | 21

W

hen the Sigma 
Delta Tau sorority 
dedicates its new 
house near the Michigan State 
campus Nov. 4, Sari Cicurel will 
be front and center, 
beaming like a 
proud parent.
In a sense, that’s 
what she is. When 
Cicurel arrived on 
the MSU campus 
in 1983 as a 
freshman from Grand Rapids, 
there were no acceptable 
sororities on campus. Cicurel 
was disappointed at first, but 
then she and four friends 
decided they’d start a sorority 
themselves.
They did some research, 
invited some national sororities 
to make presentations and 
chose to “recolonize” a long-
dormant Sigma Delta Tau 
(SDT) chapter.
Sigma Delta Tau began at 
Cornell University in 1917 as an 
option for Jewish women who 

were unwelcome in the already-
established sororities there. 
The group’s Beta Beta Chapter 
was “colonized” (campus Greek 
lingo for establishing a new 
fraternity or sorority) at MSU in 
1964, but it petered out during 
the late 1960s when Greek 
life became less popular on 
campuses nationwide. 
SDT also has a large chapter 
at the University of Michigan 
and a small one at Eastern 
Michigan University.
Nothing in SDT’s charter 
defines it as a Jewish group, but 
its heritage as an alternative to 
older sororities that would not 
accept Jews has always been 
attractive to Jewish women, said 
Amy Rodnick, 42, 
of Bloomfield Hills, 
an MSU alumna 
who is a national 
vice president 
overseeing services 
to the sorority’s 61 
chapters. 
In the beginning, Cicurel and 

OUR COMMUNITY

Sari Cicurel

Sigma Delta 
Tau’s New Digs

MSU sorority celebrates its new home.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Amy 
Rodnick

The 
exterior

TOP: Top left to right: Jordyn Zeldes and Skylar Elbinger, both 
of West Bloomfield; Bottom left to right: Rebekah Weiskopf of 
Northville and Alexa Shepard of West Bloomfield. ABOVE: Vice 
President of Housing Laela Saulson of Franklin and Chapter 
President Ari Beard of Huntington Woods.
continued on page 22

