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Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB
This may seem off-base, but I must say that I'm kinda surprised that UCI has an asian fraternity, since SO MANY of its students are asian. I'm guessing that many cultural GLOs come on to campuses when they feel there's a need for them, as in when their needs aren't being met...? If these are just social organizations, I'm surprised they didn't feel their needs were being met in the social GLOs on campus, which I believe have MANY asians. I was just looking at a photo of our Gamma Phi chapter at UCI the other day and was thinking how that photo was the complete opposite of one I'd see from another school...almost all the women were asian. It reminded me how diverse my sorority is from campus to campus.
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Lambdas (and I'm sure is the same with most ethnic fraternities/sororities) isn't all about meeting the "needs" of some underrepresented minority. Many people find it appealing because of the tight brotherhood. Unlike mainstream Greeks, we are much more like a close family than a large social group (if I'm wrong please correct me! This is just the impression I have about mainstream Greeks). In all LPhiE chapters, for example, everyone knows everyone else very well, partly because we're much smaller (usually no more than 40 actives) but mostly because it is expected of everyone. In short, basically we are all expected to treat each other like we would to a family member. We don't really consider ourselves a "social GLO". We are also strict about not letting our letters touch the ground or letting non-Greeks (Especially girls!) wear them. We just do things very differently and take some things more seriously, and there are some people who prefer this.
This is why there are many lambdas who aren't Asian (our chapter in Kansas is 60% white), because the tight brotherhood is what appeals to them and not the fact that our organization is an Asian *interest* organization. And this is why we have chapters in California because we're not all about meeting the social needs of Asians.
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Btw, if my view of mainstream Greeks is wrong please correct me! This is just from what I've observed on my campus.
