I often tell people that one of the best decisions I made in college was joining my sorority. My freshman year, I felt incredibly out of place on campus — to the point where I was considering transferring — and I really just wanted a community I felt I belonged in. The idea of belonging means a lot to me as a mixed-race woman. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been “too white” for some friends and “not white enough” for others. I was hoping to find a community that would embrace all of who I am during the time in my life when I felt most alone — and in my sorority, I did. Now, almost a year after making the decision to go through recruitment, I am very proud to not only be a part of a sisterhood, but also help ensure everyone in my org feels like they belong, too, through my role as my chapter’s first-ever Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) chair.Â
It is a very unique time to be an official advocate for DEI in the collegiate space (or any space, for that matter). In the past decade, DEI was finally becoming a priority within Greek life, with Panhellenic sororities visibly working toward creating a more inclusive and equitable environment for all members and potential members. This was obviously exciting for me — in fact, my sorority’s commitment to their inclusion policy was a selling point when I was explaining to my parents why I wanted to join. But now, attitudes toward DEI on a national scale have once again shifted, and inclusion has become one of the most politicized topics on college campuses.Â
In the time since President Donald Trump took office, the current administration has issued a series of executive orders regarding DEI, including one that has required colleges and universities to scale back and even eliminate their DEI policies, offices, and programs, under the threat of losing their federal funding from the Department of Education. When this was first announced, I honestly wasn’t really thinking about my sorority; I was thinking about whether or not I would have to change the way I lived my life. Would it be easier to simply be white-passing? Would it be safer to stop advocating for inclusion, something I care deeply about?
That’s how I began to see how it started to affect Greek life. The current federal rollbacks don’t directly affect the DEI efforts of my chapter, but the threat looms; members of other groups — namely cultural interest Greek Letter organizations (many of which formed because of the Panhellenic organization’s history of exclusion of women of color) — have expressed concern over the longevity of their chapters due to changes in their schools’ changing DEI policies.Â
Plus, there are all the indirect ways the rollback of DEI initiatives harms Greek life. The truth is, women like me would not have been accepted in my sorority at its inception — it was thanks to DEI efforts that this changed. And even now that we are allowed in these spaces, there are still some who believe we are taking up too much space. I often ask myself how our all-white founders would feel if they knew someone like me had made it through recruitment, never mind initiated. Sometimes, I even worry if my sisters — past and present — see me less as a sister and more as a checkmark in a box I never asked to be put in, taking up a space that wasn’t made for me in the first place, in a leadership role some think is “unnecessary.”
This is exactly why our chapter, our campus, and our world needs inclusion efforts in the first place. I worry that the elimination (or even just “rebranding”) of DEI won’t just cause harm to students’ belonging, safety, and support on campus, but also that it will validate the voices and beliefs of those who misunderstand the purpose of DEI — those who think that DEI is merely a pointless numbers game, or those who think that if a marginalized or underrepresented group is able to make progress, then those with privilege will become disadvantaged.
With sorority rush season upon us, my concern is that chapters will start to prioritize the “discomfort” of those who oppose DEI politically over the very real needs and concerns of marginalized members and PNMs — either intentionally or subconsciously — resulting in exclusionary recruitment practices once again becoming the norm. How inclusive we are during recruitment affects how we recruit, who we recruit, and who feels like they belong. And that is why I take my role as DEI chair so seriously during this time of year.Â
My role in my chapter during rush is relatively simple: I work with our VP Recruitment to host a chapter-wide work week workshop on inclusion, using resources provided by our national organization. But to me, standing at the front of the room and talking is just the bare minimum. That’s why I’m also hoping to facilitate an open and honest conversation about inclusion with my chapter. We have all experienced feelings of wanting to belong, and I think giving my sisters time to reflect on that will create the opportunity to build real empathy and understanding as we head into rush.
Whether or not someone has the right to exist in a space because of who they are is not something we can “agree to disagree” on.
I understand that members and potential new members of my chapter, my national sorority, and organizations across the country hold all kinds of political beliefs (and we are often advised to avoid discussing them), but I strongly feel that genuine respect and acceptance is a pillar of true belonging, not a “political belief.” IMO, whether or not someone has the right to exist in a space because of who they are is not something we can “agree to disagree” on.
At the end of the day, I don’t want my chapter to miss out on a PNM who could have made an incredible sister because we couldn’t see past our own prejudices, or because she didn’t want to continue with recruitment because she felt like she didn’t belong. True sisterhood is where inclusion and equity are a priority, diversity and difference is celebrated, and all are welcome. It starts with recruitment, and it starts with us.