Weinberg sophomore Randi Ervin cannot be further from the stereotype of a blue-eyed, blonde-haired sorority member.
And she’s proud of it.
The only black member of Alpha Chi Omega, Ervin said she makes an effort to wear her Greek letters around campus, a visible symbol of her sorority.
“It’s my responsibility to wear my letters,” she said. “A black girl walking on campus will see me and say, ‘Hey, she’s in Alpha Chi. I could be, too.'”
Nearly 1,000 students rushed traditional fraternities and sororities this week, and though students such as Ervin remain in the minority, many Greek student leaders agree that Northwestern’s fraternities and sororities have become more diverse than ever.
The only black student in Delta Delta Delta was elected the sorority’s president in November, and members of a historically black sorority marched with members of a predominantly white fraternity in this fall’s Homecoming parade. The university also recognized its first Latina sorority in October and is considering recognizing its first Latino fraternity.
But some Greek members say the rise in cultural chapters segregates the Greek community. A minority student who wants to join the Greek system must choose between a cultural chapter and a traditional house, said Deanna Pihos, a member of the Panhellenic Association rush team. Traditional sororities try to recruit minority students, she said, but many join cultural sororities instead.
“It’s unfortunate that people have to choose any one process,” said Pihos, an Education senior. “You can’t join both, so obviously the (traditional) Greek system is not going to draw as many minorities.”
But she said diversifying sororities is a “huge priority” for her.
“We stress diversity during rush,” she said. “We definitely do not want girls who all think and act the same. You’re not learning anything.”
A focus on service
About 35 percent of NU undergraduates are members of the Greek system. Most are in traditional fraternities and sororities, which are represented by Panhel and the Interfraternity Council, national umbrella organizations that give support to individual chapters.
Traditional Greek chapters generally have university recognition and houses on campus. Most members rush during Winter Quarter.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council represents NU’s historically black chapters. Although these groups also have university recognition, they tend to have smaller memberships and do not have houses on campus. They accept new members during a longer, educational process they generally call “membership intake” instead of rush.
Whereas traditional Greek houses perform community service but often focus on social events, historically black chapters emphasize service projects.
Students formed NPHC at Howard University in 1930 at a time when traditional fraternities and sororities barred blacks from their ranks. Seventy years later, the organization remains predominantly black, although it does not prohibit students of other races from joining.
Average membership of NU’s two historically black fraternities and three sororities is about five students each.
‘The Race Thing’
When Ervin was in high school, she never thought she would join a sorority. She lived for three years in Dublin, Calif., a middle-class, racially integrated suburb of San Francisco. During her senior year at Dublin High School, Ervin made friends with students of all races – “one of every color,” she says.
Although Ervin once described herself as “anti-sorority,” she decided to rush the traditional sororities with her friends during her freshman year.
At first, Ervin said, she did not enjoy rush or want to join a sorority. But after spending a week meeting women at different houses, Ervin said she thought she would have wasted her time if she decided not to pledge a house.
Ervin said she didn’t think about “the race thing” until she saw other people react to her decision. Her high school friends laughed when she told them the news. Her father, uncle and grandfather, all of whom were members of the historically black Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, were disappointed and skeptical.
Although her friends and family have accepted her decision, she said, many NU students still do not understand her choice.
“You really do get the ‘sellout’ label from some blacks, and you get non-black students asking you dumb questions,” Ervin said. “If it ever comes up, it’s weird.”
Although many blacks choose to join NU’s historically black fraternities and sororities, Ervin said she had little interest in joining the service-based organizations. Instead, she said, her presence in the mostly white sorority has helped to break down divisions between races.
“In order to achieve racial equality, you have to make a presence where there aren’t black people,” she said. “If people get to know you, they can’t have their dumb stereotypes.”
Options
Other minorities in traditional sororities tell similar stories.
When Tri Delt President-elect Jennie Ellis rushed her freshman year, she recalls walking into the house and realizing she was the only black person there. Even when she pledged her sorority, Ellis said, she wondered if she had been chosen to fill some sort of diversity quota.
Now she said she loves Tri Delt and has never regretted her decision to join. Still, she said Panhel lacked a support network for black women, whom Ellis said sometimes face hostility from the black community.
“The first time I passed a member of NPHC on campus, I almost wanted to hide my letters,” said Ellis, a Weinberg junior. “I didn’t want them to think, ‘She’s a traitor to her race.'”
Last spring Ellis formed the “Sistah Group,” an informal organization of the 10 to 15 black women in traditional sororities. The group met three times Fall Quarter, and Ellis said she plans to hold a forum for black women before rush next year.
It took about three weeks for Weinberg sophomore Rachel Lopez to decide that traditional sororities were not right for her.
Although she rushed during her freshman year and pledged Delta Gamma, Lopez said she was concerned about the sorority’s history as a white, upper class institution and feared the cost of pledging could be prohibitive to minority students. She dropped out after the pledge period but said she remained good friends with women in the house.
“I didn’t feel that it was right to segregate a group from the rest of campus,” said Lopez, who is active in Alianza. “There was no effort by them to discriminate – it was very inclusive – but historically minorities don’t feel comfortable in that situation. I didn’t like the fact that everyone around me was of the same class.”
Lopez, whose father is Latino and whose mother is white, said she never considered joining Sigma Lambda Gamma, NU’s newly recognized Latina sorority.
When William Rakestraw decided to join Phi Gamma Delta last year, he said, he wanted just one thing from a fraternity: a chance to party.
Although Rakestraw is black, he said race was not a factor in his decision to join a traditional house. He said black fraternities’ community service mission does not appeal to him; he would rather his money go to support social activities.
“More minorities are joining historically white fraternities because that’s what they have to do to have a good time,” said Rakestraw, a Weinberg sophomore. “There are some Abercrombie & Fitch frats that don’t cater to an inner city black kid, but fraternities on the whole are welcoming.”
Although most traditional fraternities provide a comfortable environment for minorities, Rakestraw said, black students have a hard time overcoming the “stigma” of joining them. He said he still has not told some family members that he did not join a black fraternity.
“The problems with diversity here rest more on the minorities who don’t want to join the white fraternities,” he said. “You can’t really blame the white fraternities and sororities for not being very diverse because they don’t have the opportunity to be.”
Reaching across racial lines
Even though the traditional sorori
ties and fraternities could be more diverse, IFC President Dustin Cook said they try to include cultural chapters in their events. IFC, Panhel and NPHC co-sponsored a Unity step show in the fall, and Cook said he would like the traditional fraternities to hold tailgate parties with NPHC. In the fall, Phi Delta Theta, a traditional fraternity, and Delta Sigma Theta, a historically black sorority, teamed up to create a new charity that allowed students to donate their Bonus Bucks to a Chicago food bank.
“Diversity is an underlying theme,” said Cook, a McCormick senior. “If you see the Greek system doing something and it’s a diverse group of people doing it, you’ll be more likely to join.”
Panhel President Sarah Personette said she prefers to look at diversity across the entire Greek system rather than examining the traditional houses as separate from the cultural chapters. If one includes cultural chapters, she said, the Greek system is likely the most diverse organization on campus.
“The diversity of the entire Greek system is incredible,” said Personette, a Weinberg senior. “It’s not as easy as saying, ‘They’re all-white, Christian organizations.’ That’s just not true.”
Although the traditional sororities are not as diverse as she would like, Personette said, they can still welcome minorities without having a high minority membership.
“We don’t necessarily have to have the demographics in order to be sensitive to the needs of a diverse group,” she said. “We should focus on what it means to be an individual in the Greek system. Diversity in the Greek system reflects more than diversity in just one chapter.”
Other Greek leaders said the Greek system is no more segregated than other campus organizations.
“We probably get stereotyped as having less diversity than actually exists,” said Pihos, a rush team member. “I do think it’s as representative as the campus, but Northwestern is segregated in a variety of ways. The Greek system definitely does not deserve to be singled out.”
Ellis, however, said one pattern does exist: Sorority members overestimate the diversity of their chapters.
“Everybody thinks it’s more diverse than it actually is,” she said. “People sit there and praise their diversity, but if you look at their chapter and its composition, it’s not exactly true. You can’t have one woman of color in your chapter and think it’s diverse, because it’s not.”
The Greek Latinos
Weinberg junior Joy Matias helped found the Latino sorority SLG last year because she said the social focus of Panhel sororities did not interest her.
She said students in the traditional Greek community often do not understand Latinos’ cultural emphasis on family. For example, Matias said when she was a freshman, she spoke to her parents every day.
“When Latina women go off to college, it’s a big culture shock,” she said. “We have that in common. We needed a family community. That’s what it’s really about.”
SLG recently hosted a brunch for Chicago-area parents to familiarize them with the sorority.
“All those frat parties, that was their impression,” said Matias, SLG’s vice president. “Now they know their daughters are being taken care of on this campus.”
Members of Omega Delta Phi, an unrecognized Latino-based fraternity, said they are meeting with Dealph this week to apply for university recognition. The fraternity has nine Latino students and one Asian student as members. Weinberg senior Michael Wong said he joined when he and his roommate began to hang out with the group.
“What they stood for really appealed to me,” said Wong, who joined the fraternity last year. “They were set up as a place for Latino students to go, but they’re more than willing to accept you. Diversity is one of the things they strive for.”
Across the country the number of Latino chapters has skyrocketed since the late 1980s, and membership applications likely will grow more in the next decade, said David Ortiz, national president of ODPhi. He said the Midwest will see the biggest growth in Latino Greek organizations as students communicate via Internet with Latinos from coast to coast.
“We’re still in the early stages of development,” said Ortiz, a graduate student at Indiana University. “The majority of college campuses within the next few years will all have some type of Latino fraternity or sorority.”
Two national Latino organizations merged Jan. 1 to create the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations, an umbrella governing body similar to NPHC. Although NU’s Latina sorority has temporarily joined Panhel, the university’s Latino Greeks hope to bring the national organization on campus to represent them.
But NU’s ODPhi chapter has not yet gained university recognition, and the application process for both ODPhi and SLG has been “arduous,” Ortiz said.
He said NU administrators do not know how to interact with Greek chapters that do not fall under Panhel, IFC or NPHC and, as a result, slowed the application process to a crawl.
“It has been a formidable task for the young men in that chapter to deal with the university,” said Ortiz, who directed the fraternity’s Midwest expansion before becoming the national president. “Northwestern didn’t know how to react to this organization coming on board, so their reaction was to slow down the process.”
‘Faces like yours’
Like the Latino organizations, members of NPHC said they prefer to be separate from the traditional Greek system.
NPHC President Keith Carter said his historically black fraternity serves as a support network and helps him deal with the daily pressures of being a black man on a largely white campus.
When a journalism professor accused him of cheating on an assignment, Carter knew where to turn for support. And when he felt overwhelmed by family disagreements, he knew his brothers in Alpha Phi Alpha would listen.
“I’m more comfortable being around people who go though what I go through on a daily basis,” said Carter, a Medill senior. “I don’t believe the IFC chapters can really tell you what brotherhood is about. I don’t believe they would be able to provide me with the things I value in a fraternity.”
He said his fraternity’s community service focus and its small size help members bond. When a member needed money, Carter said, others ran to an ATM and gave him more than $100.
“When I’m with my fraternity members, I’m truly with my brothers,” he said. “I love all of those guys to death.”
Although traditional Greek houses try to reach out to black students, they emphasize social life more than some minority students would like, said Tanisha Drummer, Delta Sigma Theta scholarship chairwoman.
“A lot of their activities are geared toward things that white students are interested in,” said Drummer, an Education senior. “They aren’t geared toward attracting black students or students with different backgrounds.”
Drummer said traditional sororities have a long way to go if they hope to match the campus’ ethnic diversity.
“I don’t think that the average minority student would feel comfortable,” she said. “There aren’t enough faces like yours in the mainstream Greek community. If they’re honestly trying to attract minority students, they need to change something.”
Things have changed
Although diversity still remains an issue in the Greek system, the university has come a long way in including minorities, said Jim Eckelberger, president of Theta Chi in the 1950s.
When Eckelberger attended NU, Jews and minorities were barred from traditional fraternities and forced into separate chapters, he said.
Eckelberger returned to speak at NU for this fall’s Homecoming parade. As he spoke, a Chinese New Year float built by members of the traditional fraternity Delta Chi and the historically black sorority Delta Sigma Theta travelled along Sheridan Road. Eckelberger said this cooperation between races could never have happened while he was in school.
NU’s traditional Greek system is now far more inclusive than other schools, said Delta Chi member Kamel Aranki, one of the system’s four multicultural advocates who educate the community on diversity issues and NU’s
cultural events.
“It could be more diverse, yes,” said Aranki, a Weinberg junior. “But we need to realize that we’re doing a great job already.”
