Scariest shit I've ever seen on twitter pic.twitter.com/XejVxn2lwB
— ITSBIZKIT (@itsbizkit) August 18, 2016
People on the internet have been both impressed and puzzled (some say terrified) by a video from Alpha Delta Phi sorority at the University of Texas at Austin. It shows a group of sorority girls performing a “door stack,” which I had never heard of until today, but found out that it happens a lot. Here’s a compilation video from Texas A&M a couple of years ago. What kind of tradition is this?
Door-stacking (also known as “door songs”) is a sorority tradition wherein new pledges form up in a pyramid or bulwark of Greek solidarity in the doorway of the house, singing welcoming songs to visitors and senior sisters. It can involve clapping and movement and any other sort of jazzy choreography, but the one essential component is SPIRIT, and obedience.
According to a post on Sorority Girl 101, at some schools, pledges can be fined for such minor infractions as stepping out of the door frame, making sound before or after the doors open and close, or saying goodbye to onlookers.
Some schools have even banned the ritual. You can read about it and see more examples of the practice at Atlas Obscura.