In my freshman year of college, I made a conscious decision to not rush a Latina sorority overseen by the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) at my university, but to instead go out for formal recruitment with the Panhellenic Council (PHC). The MGC oversees culturally-based fraternities and sororities on campus which give a social element to the preservation of the culture and tradition of the respective ethnic origins of each chapter. PHC, on the other hand, oversees the six social sororities on campus who are governed by the national Panhellenic Conference, which focuses on social development for its members while also preserving the traditions and values of each respective chapter (without regard to race or ethnicity). Neither Greek council is ‘better’ than the other, but Panhellenic recruitment aligned more with the Greek experience I was seeking.
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I wanted to find my home away from home, a place to better myself and challenge myself, and I didn’t want to limit myself to only learning these things from other women of the same ethnic background as me. Truthfully, I wasn’t scared of facing racial prejudice. My university’s urban campus makes for a diverse student body, far more diverse than that of my high school. I saw this accurately reflected in the groups of both sorority women and other Potential New Members I encountered throughout the recruitment process. One specific attribute of my sorority, Delta Phi Epsilon, which appealed to me was the role of inclusiveness in our founding. Historically, we were founded as a non-secretarian sorority by five Jewish law students who refused to renounce their faith to join Christian-based sororities at the time. In practice, I see this shared value of inclusiveness in the way we recruit our next pledge classes; character and values are what determines if a woman is given a bid. As a result of this our sisters represent different cultural heritages and all walks of life. It’s those differences that make us unique as individuals and as a chapter, and that strengthen our collective ability to learn from each other and succeed. Any organization, Greek or otherwise, that is worth being part of will see and honor this. Sadly, there are those that don’t.
Other campuses struggle with inclusiveness in their Greek organizations; the University of Alabama is a disappointing example of a campus whose Greek system is infamous for failing to integrate diversity as a value in recruiting members for mainstream fraternities and sororities. But the headlines made by these troubled communities aren’t representative of all of us, and they certainly don’t represent my sorority. Even during the formal recruitment process, when I barely knew my now-sisters, this was apparent to me. There were many reasons I was terrified of not getting a bid to the house I fell in love with (and now call home)—I feared I wasn’t smart enough, or funny enough, or that I just wasn’t as cool as these gorgeous girls with super high GPA’s who had fundraised $50,000 for Cystic Fibrosis and also loved to go out (or stay in) together. But I never once feared that I wasn’t white enough.
I love and cherish my heritage and the special history it has. It even ties into the history of civil rights during World War II. The murder of my grand-uncle, Jose Diaz, at the Sleepy Lagoon Reservoir in Los Angeles catalyzed the Zoot Suit riots that swept through the state of California during the 1940s. The brutality and racism that tainted the investigation and the ruling (which was later reversed) resulted in racial hysteria promoting violence against Mexican-Americans as a ‘cleansing act for America.’ Law enforcement exacerbated the problem, and policy makers turned a blind eye to it. As news of the police brutality spread, so did the riots and the brutality against many Mexican-Americans throughout the country.
Thinking about the story is both humbling and sobering. Other aspects of my heritage, like making tamales at Christmas with my mom, and family barbecues whenever my extended family members can get together, are gentler reminders of the values that I’ve come to hold as a young woman. I value all of my loved ones as family and they are the most important part of my world. I value working hard for what I believe in and what I know I deserve. I value my ability to use my voice to bring awareness and justice to causes that others may not know enough to care about.
Through my sorority I’ve found over one hundred women whose values are shared and complementary to my own. I’ve found my best friends who love me for who I am, no matter how tired or stressed or hangry I may become. I’ve found my voice and the ability to stop allowing the fear of what others may think to police everything I do or say. The color of my skin hasn’t affected my ability to find my home in my Greek letters. My sisterhood is all about working hard and playing hard, elevating each other to success and supporting each other when our best-laid plans go awry. Each fall we recruit the next class of women who we see doing the same for their sisters and carrying on the legacy of what it means to be a Delta Phi Epsilon, not by how we think they fit some preconceived notion of what a ‘sorority girl’ is. The diversity of our chapter manifests itself in more ways than just our appearances. It’s in the variety of majors and career paths in our chapter, and in what we do when no one is looking. These are women who use their free time to work with veterans and homeless people, and help the community by volunteering with local hospitals, social services, and special needs children. I’m lucky to be surrounded by future diplomats and fashion designers, lawyers and engineers, who all happen to have their own heritages and histories that make their stories stand out, too.
So if you’re wondering what you have to ‘be like’ to go out for sorority recruitment, my answer is this: Just be yourself.