Sororities, and Greek Life organizations in general, gain much of their prestige from tradition and history. As a result, certain traditions and secrets are kept under lock and key, and members are trusted to keep it that way. But now, one former sorority girl may have to pay a big price for violating that sacred trust. A former Phi Sigma Sigma member who has been listed as “Jane Doe” is being sued by the national organization for giving up the sorority’s secret handshake, among other things.

The suit was filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, Washington. The reason for that location appears to be because that’s where a web comic site called Penny Arcade is headquartered. In one of the message boards on the site, a poster with the username “stepscloser” wrote about particular Phi Sigma Sigma rituals and secrets, specifically the group’s secret handshake, knock, initiation process, name, and oath.

The national organization for Phi Sigma Sigma is taking the disclosures very seriously, and claims that “stepscloser” knew exactly what she was doing when she leaked the information to the site. Karin Jones, an attorney for the sorority, stated:

The defendant knew that the information that she was posting had not been publicly disclosed and would damage [the sorority]. The defendant admitted in her posting that the confidential information she disclosed is never written down or recorded and that the organization and its members consider the information ‘sacred.’

Phi Sigma Sigma is claiming that “stepscloser” violated the contract she had to sign when she became a member, and the suit aims to obtain a court order to make her stop disclosing any other information in the future–although at this point it seems like they haven’t tracked down exactly who “stepscloser” was, and whether or not she was an alumna or left the sorority. However, the course of action does make sense, but they’re also claiming that she should pay monetary damages–echoed in the comment by Jones above, in which she claims that “stepscloser” would know about the damage she caused to the sorority. Given all the high-profile instances of Greek Life members behaving badly in recent months and years, these seem like rather inane pieces of information. While I’m sure they’re protected and important traditions, things like a secret handshake or knock don’t actually seem like they could be “damaging.”

This actually isn’t the first time that Phi Sigma Sigma has gone after the information posted about it on Penny Arcade. Back in 2012, Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade posted a portion of a letter sent to him by the sorority’s lawyer asking him to take the information down. He appeared to refuse to do so.

Whether or not Jane Doe/”stepscloser” will actually ever see this lawsuit appears unknown. Phi Sigma Sigma doens’t really have a good way to figure out who she is short of getting help from Penny Arcade–which seems unlikely–or asking for some sort of subpoena. That being said, the sorority has shown how far it will go to protect tradition.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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