Student Works to Start First Historically Black Sorority on UNG’s Dahlonega Campus

Rayya Abdullah, a sophomore biology major at the University of North Georgia, is working to officially start the first historically Black sorority on UNG’s Dahlonega campus.

Abdullah, along with some of her peers, is looking to expand membership for the organization, which cannot be officially advertised until it is registered with the university.

Abdullah said the biggest challenge she and the other women of the group are facing is funding.

“We have everything we need except the money,” Abdullah said. She highlighted that her current dues are a little over $1,000 because she is one of the founding members and there’s just a small number of women in the chapter.

In an effort to raise money to officially include their chapter as a part of Greek life on the Dahlonega campus, Abdullah and one of her sorority sisters tabled outside of the Hoag Student Center. They were charging $3 to “pie” a member of their chapter.

Abdullah said there was a chapter of a a historically Black sorority created on the UNG Gainesville campus. However, she says it did not stay afloat because the founding members graduated.

Abdullah says the efforts to found a chapter on the Dahlonega campus are in partnership with the Black Student Union, and if the group can find the means to get an active historically Black sorority on campus, efforts to start a historically Black fraternity would begin shortly after.

To donate to help support the group’s fundraising, visit the organization’s GoFundMe page.