At a university where many students’ identities are defined by two or three Greek letters, the social order came to a screeching halt last March 25 when JoJo “GDI” Coleman ’17 was seen at a downtown fraternity event.

After a fellow classmate set her up on a blind date, Coleman made the decision to attend Sigma Tau Delta’s (STD) spring formal. After years of seeing formals only through photos captioned with quotes about the drinks and Comfort Colors shirts as favors, she decided to accept the invitation.

“I thought I might as well see what all the hype was about,” Coleman said.

She put on a bright pink Tobi dress that appeared to be more of a long shirt and shoes that would inevitably become stilts of torture on her way to the Flying Bison at 2:00 a.m. Despite knowing roughly five people at the party held in a derelict house on St. Catherine Street, Coleman still managed to hold her own, which shocked fellow students beholden to the Greek system.

“I was unsure at first to ask her because she is outside the Greek system, and what kind of person doesn’t join Greek life here? But as it turns out, she just didn’t want to rush,” Coleman’s date, Ian Roberts ’18, said.

His fraternity brothers agreed. “I recognized her, but had no idea who she was even though we’ve been in classes for the past four years,” Chase Olin ’17 said over the bass of a Chainsmokers remix. “Overall, though, really chill.”