total 6 pages

Alexxa Crosby | Tianzhu Ding | & Josephine Webb

ATH 301 | Dr. Mark Allen Peterson

Final Project | Intercultural Relations

November 17, 2019

Greek Life: Intercultural Differences

Miami University has been coined the Mother of Fraternities due to the five fraternities

who were founded at Miami, known as Alpha chapters. Additionally, Miami is home to 22 1

Inter-Fraternity organizations (average chapter size 50 members per organization), 19

Panhellenic organizations (Sororities : average chapter size 80 members per organization), and 6 2 3

National Pan-Hellenic organizations (historically Black organizations: average chapter size 5 4

members per organization). Institutionally, Miami is a PWI (Predominantly White Institution)

which is reflected within the Greek community. The majority of organizations have membership

that is catered to the majority population at Miami. There are organizations whose purpose is to

provide a home for marginalized students who don’t necessarily identify with the majority

culture; at Miami these include the 6 National Pan-hellenic chapters - Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity

Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority

Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. [African

American/Black founding], Alpha Epsilon Phi [Jewish founding (typical chapter size 15-20)],

1 The Alpha chapter is the first chartered and established chapter within a Greek organization. 2 Two of the 19 are associate members (Kappa Phi: Christian Sorority & Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc.: multicultural sorority) meaning that the National Sorority organizations are not apart of the national Panellenic council. The other 17 are national members of the council. 3 Initially sororities were called “women’s Fraternities”. 4 National Pan-Hellenic is composed of the “Divine Nine”, 9 historically Black organizations. Miami has 6 of the 9 represented on campus.

Kappa Phi [Christian founding | typical chapter size 10-15], and Sigma Lambda Gamma

National Sorority Inc. [Latina/Hispanic founding- evolved to multicultural in the early 2000’s |

typical chapter size 5-10]. The intercultural conflict here is not a hard conflict, it is a soft conflict

in terms of representation in the community and conflict of structure. This leads to multicultural 5

Greek members not feeling as supported by their community or by the university compared to

their white counterparts. This climate contrasts the university’s attempts at bolstering their

diversity and inclusion initiatives. Miami is a public university in the state of Ohio, however, the

university has some of the lowest diversity representations. In the United States, students of color

are a growing percentage, however​, research on student diversity has shown that students from

underrepresented groups feel alienated from the rest of the campus community (B​oschini &

Thompson, 2002). This issue is important to the individual members of those organizations

identified above, the National headquarters of the organizations identified above, and Miami

University diversity and inclusion efforts.

The goals of this paper are threefold, the first of which is to identify factors within the

Miami Greek community that contribute to the lack of support in the community as well as the

structural conflicts that occur in terms of semesterly logistics. The second is to analyze these

factors and introduce two possible alternative policy actions that could have prevented the

identified problems. Lastly, recommend actions to be taken for the betterment of the community.

In efforts to consider these problems a wider context is needed, as such, all institutions have a

context- Miami University’s context is that of being a PWI, located in a more isolated

geographical location, and being a university that attracts upper class individuals. Further, the

5 Multicultural for all intensive purposes will include all non-majority culture groups.

institutional effect of Greek organizations is cultivated by the community itself (Boschini &

Thompson, 2002). In terms of organizations, Greek organizations are private in nature, having

their own governance, history, traditions, values, beliefs, and “brand” that defines their

membership and behavior (Kuh and Whitt, 1988).

The problem primarily came about when non-white organizations were charted and

started enacting their pillars and creeds on Miami’s campus. The current state of the issue is 6 7

temperate, there are community efforts at play to create a more inclusive community. However, 8

it is spearheaded by individuals that are diverse, in terms of not being part of the majority culture

at Miami, and a small number of allies in the majority groups. Representation in the community

is still not an equitable space, nonetheless, there have been improvements made in the last 10

years to increase representation and participation of multicultural Greeks on Miami’s campus.

For example, every year the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life holds three

yearly leadership opportunities for its Greek leaders until about 6 years ago only IFC and PHC 9

members were invited to participate in these activities, excluding NPHC leadership. The

representation overall in the community has been partial in terms of university support to IFC

and PHC sororities (within PHC: the larger and typically homogenous memberships). The

conflict of structure is the differences in how organizations operate logistically. Each council

operates in a specific way as well as each chapter functions in a different way. For instance most

IFC and PHC chapters participate in the formal recruitment process, whereas, NPHC chapters do

6 A metaphorical term for the purpose of identifying main values of an organization. For example; Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc, - Brotherhood, Scholarship, & Service. 7 A shared belief system via membership that aligns individual values with the larger organizations values. Typically is a private text only to be shared by associated members. 8 Efforts: Diversity & Inclusion module for all Greek members, goes into effect Spring 2020 9 Greek leaders include Individuals holding executive council positions with IFC (Inter-Fraternity Council), PHC (Pahellenic), or NPHC (National Pan-hellenic Council) & chapter presidents.

not have a formal recruitment process due the individualization of process between chapters.

Outliers in Panhellenic include Alpha Epsilon Phi & Kappa Phi who both engage in an informal

recruitment process as well as Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc. whose recruitment

process is modeled after Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.’s intake process . 10

The history of diversity at Miami University is not one of celebration until about the mid

2000’s when Miami started to take discrimination reports seriously while dialectically

establishing diversity and inclusion goals. Racial issues have typically been at the center of

Miami’s multicultural community. With the ability to interconnect via technology an individual's

awareness of racial equity and equality issues are growing as well as the support systems to back

up individuals’ experience is growing. Resulting in more students to speak out when something

is said or done which is offensive to that person's identities or sensibilities. Even though the

voices are becoming louder, does not mean that the space is equitable and inclusive. Historically,

Miami’s student body has engaged in racist, racially insensitive, and sexist occurrences. For

example; up until 2010 in Uptown Oxford a “Ghetto Fest” was held which since 2010 has been

abolished and conversations ensued on the racist event and it’s perpetuation of stereotypes and

stigmas of the black community held, maintained, and sustained by the white student body. The

event was called “Ghetto Fest” because the festival was located on the ‘poor’ side of town. This

created negative connotations further of the word Ghetto being ascribed to Black individuals,

which correlated their identities with being poor. At the event stereotypical aspects of Black

culture were appropriated and used facilitated entertainment for community members and Miami

University students. There have been over two dozen findings of blackface in editorials,

10 Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. helped found Sigma Lambda Beta Fraternity Inc, who in turn helped found Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority Inc.

yearbooks, and Miami Student newspaper archives ranging from 1960 to 2015 (Lumpkins Asst,

Briah. 2019). Which is an obvious sign of the tolerance level of racist acts in the community,

insofar that these acts were published in public text meant for community consumption. A more

recent example can be found as recent as 2017 - 2018 where there was a social media incident. In

which a white male student commented in a groupchat about an interracial couple, by calling the

black make in the relationship by the N-word. The white student then bragged about the use of

the word on social media. When reported the university did not address the situation outside of a

social media post saying a platitude about “Love & Honor”. These occurrences emboldened a

coalition of black students and allies to come together to protest the University’s reaction and the

racist environment that allowed the incident to go without consequence or a training in diversity

and inclusion. The coalition, named B.A.M 2.0 stood in Armstrong student center with signs and

recited chants together. A different white student took a Snapchat video of the happening with

the comment “who let the zoo out”. This Snapchat was shared around the community by an

unnamed whistleblower. After this incident and B.A.M 2.0 issuing a list of demands to the

administration regarding diversity and inclusion, President Crawford initiated a Diversity Task

Force due to feelings of “sadness and frustration at the hate” being shown on campus towards

fellow students (Murphy, K. 2018).

In terms occurrences at Miami, the whole community are participants in the actions that

occur. There are those that are proponents of systemic racism which shows through name calling

(N-word) and micro-aggression behaviors, there are those that are complacent with the current

community climate, there are those that actively voice opinions against racist happenings, and

there are those going about change in actionable ways through administrative policy reform.

There are a plethora of stakes involved, three of which will be introduced the first of which are

the multicultural students whose stake is a welcoming community climate. Secondly, student life

offices and administrators who are tasked with the wellness of the student environment. Thirdly,

Miami’s reputation, especially to non -white individuals. When the incident occured in

2017-2018, there were many families and students put off by the student environment and

consequently chose to go somewhere else. The importance of diversity is a stake, fraternities and

sororities are founded on the notions of brotherhood and sisterhood, scholarship, leadership,

service, etc.. As such expanding Greek life representation and membership to include more

diverse individuals will enhance the experience for the community.

Greek life at Miami is one of the main proponents of culture at Miami University due to

the reach and social influence some organizations have. If Miami University has a diversity and

inclusion issues then those issues are going to be reflected within the Greek community. A

possible solution to this problem is to conduct Safe Zone Training within every chapter, insofar

that each member is Safe Zoned certified . There are considerations and concerns attached to 11

this alternative action. In terms of cultural considerations, there are many chapters whose culture

is not to be open to outside education, whereas there are other chapters whose culture is to be

open to outside education. In terms of situation, there would need to be a way to facilitate this on

a chapter basis, since each chapter is different there will be different aspects of the training that

may be more relevant to some groups than to others. The broader social relations involve socials

being more of a priority then inclusive educational training. This alternative is feasible as long 12

11 Safe Zone Training is a service provided by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion in which is designed to educate students on intersectionalities and supporting an inclusive space for all peers. 12 A social is an event hosted by a Greek organization that includes another Greek organization, typically has alcohol available for members aged 21 and up.

as chapters are motivated to change. If not motivated to make a change then the long term

feasible effect of this bettering the community is slim.

In terms of long term bettering of the community scaffolding a longer term educational

program, where all of Greek life completes the Diversity and Inclusion modules presented by the

Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, Greek Office, (required Spring 2020),

building off of these modules would include workshops presented by the Center for Diversity

and inclusion in order to continue the conversation, and lastly for each chapter to be Safe Zoned

certified. Some Greek life members are stuck within their frames of the world and will not be

willing participants in the modules and educational activities, a way to work around this is for

each chapter, each council, and the Greek Office to be on the same page explicitly about the

goals and the purpose of these scaffolded educational activities. Paired with explicit

explanations, making these modules a mandatory educational module, for accountability if a

chapter does not complete the training then a monetary fine will be issued for each person that 13

did not complete the training.

Another recommendation would be a student led initiative that redefined Miami as

learning community, by asking the student what do you need from this community in order to

learn in a safe space. A safe and comfortable learning space looks different to different people,

consequently consensus procedure would be required in order to come to a consens. The

overarching question in this recommendation is who gets to be in the discussion rooms? If it is a

group of students that represent what Miami has been then change will not occur. If it is a group

of students that want nothing to do with the current situation then change is not feasible, the

13 Fines are used as accountability measures within Greek councils, for instance if a chapter has members that do not complete the minimum community service requirements then the chapter is fined per member that does not complete it.

majority propagate change. Therefore the discussion room would need to encompass voices from

different frames, purposes, and common sense.

Miami University stereotypically represents a culture of white cis upperclass individuals,

these systemic notions are bolstered by the history of this University and as such makes it more

socailly difficult to be represented if the chapter or organization does not represent the majority

culture. According to The National Study of Student Learning, “Greek affiliation had a

significant negative effect on openness to challenge and diversity of men and women. Which is a

direct result of the majority of groups being homogeneity and universities and administrations

not addressing these community climate problems with urgency until a group of student speaks

up and out for their community.(Pascarella and others, 1996)

References

Boschini V., & Thompson C. (2002). The Future of the Greek Experience: Greeks and Diversity.

New Directions For Student Services, 81, ​19-27. ​https://doi.org/10.1002/ss.8102

Kuh, G. D., & Whitt, E. J. (1988). The Invisible Tapestry: Culture in American Colleges and

Universities. Washington, D.C.: Asite Press.

Lumpkins Asst, Briah. ​“They would pretend to stereotypically be black: Ghetto Fest reflects

Miami’s history of racial insensitivity”​. The Miami Student. Web. 9 April. 2019. Retrieved on

14​th​ November, 2019 from:https://www.miamistudent.net/

Manley, R. E. (1990). Fraternities’ Future Holds Ethnic Diversity. ​Fraternal Law​. 31,1.

Murphy, K. (n.d.). “Racist Acts at Miami University Fuel New Black Student Movement.”

Cincinnati.com, Cincinnati Enquirer, 11 April 2018.

Pascarella, E. T., Whitt, E. J., Nora, A., Edison, M., Hagedorn, L. S., and Terenzini, P. T. (1996)

What Have We Learned from the First Year of the National Study of Student Learning?.

Journal of College Student Development​, 37 (2), 182–192.