Inclusivity is the Ultimate Sorority Value

Although sororities have been historically known as organizations geared towards white women as their main demographic, Greek life has become increasingly more inclusive in recent years. In addition to social sororities, there are Greek organizations that are meant entirely for Hispanic women. But that doesn’t mean women are confined to one type of sorority. Some of the best memories are made with women who are meant to be your sisters, regardless of where they came from or who they are.

Diversity and Inclusion 

Within the sphere of social sororities, every one of them has an inclusivity clause or a commitment to diversity. For example, Alpha Delta Pi has a document recognizing their previous involvement in oppression and racism and its new commitment protecting all members of color, past, present and future (PDF can be found here: ADPi Commitment to Diversity). Kappa Delta also had a press release stating their commitment to diversity and inclusion (Kappa Delta Commitment to Diversity). In fact, if you look up “sorority commitment to diversity”, a myriad of documents will pop up from various sorority organizations with their promises and commitments to helping previously marginalized women. 

Support from Sisters

Some of the most powerful support systems come through sorority members. I remember my freshman year, first semester as a new member and one of the older members made an announcement during chapter. This was in 2017 just after Hurricane Maria hit the island of Puerto Rico and caused destruction to millions of their citizens. My newfound sister was one of those citizens and many of her family and friends were still in the country. She was selling t-shirts to fundraise for relief efforts and many of the women in my chapter and other chapters on campus bought those shirts to help. It was a huge sale and I saw those shirts being worn all over campus.

From a Latina sister: Madisyn Cendrosky (ADPi)

“Being in a sorority as a Latina woman has benefited me in many ways. I am lucky enough to be a member of Alpha Delta Pi who has multiple women of diverse backgrounds. Through ADPi I have gotten connected with some women named Sara, Elena, Nikki, and Mariana who are all of a minority as well. We have talked about our shared past experiences as minority women including things like our families, cultural beliefs, foods, and holidays. I was also blessed to become an executive member of our sorority. Going through recruitment as a Latina woman on a predominately white campus, I saw the effort that social sororities were putting in to try to become more diverse. Although this effort was comforting, I knew as both a chapter and a Panhellenic community we could do better to be more inclusive and diverse. As an executive member of Alpha Delta Pi, I have gotten to use both my personal experiences and knowledge of different resources on campus to help our different officers provide academic and mental support to those women that are of diverse backgrounds. I also got to run a mini cultural competency workshop during our pre-recruitment week in order to better educate our women on how to be more inclusive and understanding of all the individuals going through formal recruitment.  As a Latina woman who is white-passing,  I have been privileged to not have people make preconceived assumptions about me strictly because of the color of my skin. With this privilege, I have been able to educate people all over campus about diversity and cultural competency. I hope in the future our Panhellenic community’s efforts to be more inclusive will pay off and minority women will feel more comfortable and accepted going through recruitment.”

From a Latina sister: Elena Golubovich (ADPi)

“Joining a sorority as a Latina woman, I had my reservations and concerns. To some people, my appearance can be interpreted as many different ethnicities: Latina, Italian, Egyptian, in some cases. This made me somewhat worried about the first impressions at the sororities I spoke to and ended up joining. However, throughout the entire process, women from all sororities were supportive and never mentioned or discriminated against me or other women of color in my chapter. If anything, they were eager to learn about my background and act as allies if the situation ever arose. I was able to connect with other women in the chapter that had similar backgrounds as me, and even made a traditional dish from my grandmother’s country with my little! She was so excited to learn about the work that went into it and it was delicious. For any woman nervous about joining or being in a sorority, I promise you will have the ultimate support system. I know that my sisters will support anyone who comes to our house looking for a place to belong.”