- Sydney, 20, was recently ‘terminated’ from Alabama sorority Alpha Phi
- She has spoken to DailyMail.com to reveal why she was kicked out of the group
- The college student also laid bare what comes after recruitment to a sorority
A former sorority member has candidly revealed the bizarre reasons she was ‘terminated’ from the sisterhood.
Sydney Thomas has garnered more than 378,000 followers on TikTok by documenting her day-to-day life in the Alpha Phi sorority at the University of Alabama.
But she has since spoken exclusively to DailyMail.com to reveal that she was kicked out of the group – which costs $8,000 a year to join – after other members deemed her a ‘liability’ because she was popular on social media.
The 20-year-old college student also opened up about the recruitment rituals and secrets of Greek life.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Sydney revealed that her impressive social media presence meant that people knew who she was before she even arrived at the university – adding that she was more popular online than the other girls in Alpha Phi from the outset.
She claimed that, as a result, she had a target on her back from the moment she arrived – with the older girls slamming her as being a ‘liability’ for the reputation of their sorority.
Sydney was in her freshman year at the University of Alabama when she ‘rushed’ and said her experience was unusual because everyone was ‘on edge’ about the rumored documentary on Alabama rush that would expose the dark side of Greek life.
She ended up joining Alpha Phi which costs freshman over $8,000 a year to be a part of – not including a room in the sorority house or tuition fees.
Overlooking the cost, the student said she liked the other girls a lot but the sorority leaders and older members had ‘all these rules’ they had to follow.
But Sydney was adamant that she did not want a girl that was only a year and a half older than her telling her what to do.
The rules included not going out to bars and not being allowed to stand on ‘elevated surfaces.’
Unfortunately, Sydney and some of her sorority friends got pulled up on a stage at a party, stating ‘the presidents didn’t like that.’
She then got called for a meeting where the leaders said that because of her ‘large following’ she was a ‘liability’ and just 72 hours later she received an email to say she had been ‘terminated.’
Sydney told DailyMail.com that she believes she was singled out after discovering the other girls who broke the same rules got away with a warning.
The recent HBO documentary Bama Rush exposed the dark side of Greek life and sorority recruitment at the University of Alabama.
Often, what comes after recruitment is kept quiet as sorority-newcomers are sworn to secrecy about hazing rituals and initiation tasks.
But Sydney laid bare some of the realities including that they had to do ‘swaps’ with fraternities.
This meant that new members of Alpha Phi were pressured to ‘hook up’ with new fraternity boys in front of everyone else.
She said that before going to ‘swaps’ the sorority members would also scream inappropriate chants in a basement to hype them up for the event.
One of the chants that the newcomers were forced to say was ‘we are the freshman, we f*** the best men.’
Alexis Gorin, 18, is another famous TikToker who goes to the University of Alabama.
She recently opened up in a video shared with her 12,000 followers that she ‘dropped rush.’
Alexis said she did not find her ‘sisters’ and her ‘home away from home.’
She called the process of rush ‘mentally draining’ and said that a lot of girls including herself ‘can’t do it.’
The social media star said that 18-year-old girls should not be criticized for what they wear, what they do and what they say.
Morgan Cadenhead, from Florida, also recently spoke about how difficult the rush process was.
She argued spending hours in the ‘crazy’ heat made her exhausted and that she could not afford the luxury designer brands that a lot of the other sorority girls were wearing.