A former University of Alabama student has claimed that her sorority fined her $4,000 for missing homecoming events for a week while her father was battling cancer.
Katherine Ellis, 24, from Boston, Massachusetts, has more than 45,000 followers on TikTok, where she documents her life as a sports reporter, podcast host and content creator.
In a recent video, she spoke about her participation in Bama Rush when she started her freshman year in 2017.
“Imagine you join a sorority in Alabama and you think it’s for the best thing,” she began, “but then your dad gets cancer and they’re trying to fine you thousands of dollars for it.”
Katherine Ellis, 24, of Boston, Massachusetts, went viral on TikTok after she claimed her sorority in Alabama punished her for leaving campus after her father was diagnosed with cancer
Ellis, who began her freshman year at the University of Alabama in 2017, explained that she and her sisters had to prepare for homecoming for eight hours a day for two weeks
Sororities and fraternities are an important part of campus culture at the University of Alabama, where 36 percent of undergraduate students belong to the Greek community.
The Alabama sorority recruitment process, known as the “Bama Rush,” has become a viral sensation in recent years as a number of prospective students vie to become a part of Greek life.
“I went to Alabama as a freshman, and like every single girl there who wants a social life, I’m in a hurry,” Ellis explained. “If you want to rush to Alabama, you have to make that decision months in advance and then go through the entire registration process.”
“Registration is an application that takes a lot of time,” she noted. “You must submit photos of yourself.” You must submit your resume [and] letter of recommendation. “I didn’t know I needed damn letters of recommendation to hang out with some girls and go to parties.”
Ellis said she tried to prepare by watching YouTube videos and talking to people she knew in sororities to figure out what she needed to do to get in.
However, she wished someone had warned her that her grade point average would hurt her chances of running for a fraternity.
“Thousands of girls are rushing through the crisis at the same time. So you can’t use the first round to choose who you want in your fraternity or not because the first round takes about five minutes,” she said.
“So the first round is all about dropping grades, and no one told me that if I got a GPA below 3.0, I’d be kicked out of almost every single house outright.”
They had to roll colorful tissue paper into tiny balls and arrange them into decorative portraits, a tradition in Alabama known as “pomping.”
Ellis said she wasn’t able to get going at full speed for a week after her father was diagnosed with cancer and underwent “life-threatening” surgery. She dropped out after her sorority fined her $4,000
“I also have no idea why the sororities even care about grades because I got a 2.9 at Bama and left with a 4.0,” she added. “If you can spell Bama — not even Alabama — you can get a 4.0 at this school.”
Ellis considered quitting after being rejected by most of the school’s sororities, but she stuck with it because she had already paid for enrollment.
In the end she was accepted into a sorority, but did not name which one, and decided to give Greek life a try for the semester.
The content creator explained that in honor of her homecoming, she and her sisters had to roll colorful tissue paper into tiny balls and arrange them into decorative portraits, a common Alabama tradition known as “pomping.”
“In the two weeks leading up to the homecoming, we had to be at the sorority house eight hours a day and get really excited,” she said.
Ellis claimed that her big sisters would take away their cell phones and college ID cards to prevent them from getting distracted or leaving.
“If you’re caught not actively hanging out, the hour doesn’t count, and for every hour you miss, you owe them $100,” she said.
It was then that Ellis’ father was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer and flew across the country to be with him while he underwent “life-threatening surgery.”
Ellis left the University of Alabama after her freshman year and transferred to Boston University, where she graduated in 2021
Ellis’ video has been viewed more than 3.7 million times, and some commenters were inspired to share their own sorority horror stories
Rather than meet with sympathy when she returned to campus, her sorority punished her for leaving during homecoming preparations.
“I missed a week and they fined me $4,000,” she said. “So I fell.”
Ellis left the University of Alabama after her freshman year and transferred to Boston University, where she graduated in 2021.
She told her story ahead of the release of last month’s sensational HBO documentary, Bama Rush, which exposed the dark underbelly of Panhellenic culture.
‘Sisterhood! I’m right?’ She captioned the video, which has garnered 3.7 million views since it was posted on May 6.
More than 2,300 viewers commented on their experience, and some were inspired to share their own horror stories of sorority.
“I was fined for missing an event because I was in the ER,” one person recalled.
‘It’s crazy. My daughter was in the sorority. “She missed meetings for surgery and was fined,” another responded.
“I was fined for going to my grandfather’s funeral,” added another.
Ellis noted in the comments that she didn’t pay the fine, and she was also happy to report that her father has been cancer-free for four years.