More Black students joining Latino Greek organizations

[L.O.C.K.]

Drawing any sort of large conclusions as to why a certain race or ethnicty joins a certain organization is very difficult to do, because you are bound to exclude some of the data you collect.

From personal experience, Asian American Greeks on the West Coast are VERY different than Asian Greeks everywhere else. This is probably due to Asian Americans having a bigger foothold in the communities and being more accepted.

Additionally, West Coast Asian American Greeks are generallymuch older than their East Coast (and rest of the country counterparts). The first organization founded outside of California (besides Rho Psi in 1916 at Cornell which has no collegiate members now), was my organization, Pi Delta Psi Fraternity, Inc., in 1994 in Binghamton, New York.

Moreover the reasons for creation are very different.

Pi Alpha Phi Fraternity was established in 1926 due to racial restrictions again Chinese Americans that prevented them from joining NIC orgs.
Sigma Phi Omega Sorority was established in 1949 as a haven for Japanese American women in response to the Anti-Japanese sentiment from WWII and following it.

My organization was established to unite various Asian cultures and provide a unifying voice and a haven for Asian American men.
Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority and other organizations established since the 1980's have generally followed this pattern of "Pan-Asian-ness", although it is interesting to note how South Asian American Greek orgs have developed their own niche as well.

While all of my brothers joined for different reasons, many joined because it promoted Asian culture and provided a Brotherhood that they needed.

There have been a few studies on Asian Americans in Greek orgs. One of the best is by Edith Wen-chu Chen which looks at Asian American women in White, Asian American, and Black sororities.

Her results show that the Asian American women in White sororities had no place to be comfortable or discuss their race/ethnicity - basically they had to conform.

Her results for Asian American women in Asian American sororities showed that it provided a haven where race and ethnicity issues could be discussed openly without fear of social ostricization.

Her results for the Asian American women in Black sororities showed that those women joined those organizations in order to transform how race is viewed in the U.S.

Note: She uses pseudonyms throughout the whole study, but uses real dates for Foundings, so it is clear which orgs are which.

Beta Tau: AKA
Pi Zeta Mu: DST
Gamma Phi Alpha: ZPhiB or SGRho (I can't remember)
Kappa Phi Kappa: SGRho or ZPhiB (I can't remember)

Grant it, this was done at UCLA, which is very different than East Coast schools. Her results show that all the Asian American women, except for one who was half Black half Asian, were in either ZPhiB or SGRho. Interviews with one member who was Filipina (and rejected) state:

"There was this social at the BT house, out in another part of town. And you had to dress up. They called it a tea but we didn't have any tea. (laughs) I stood out like a sore thumb. I was the only one who wasn't black. I was the only one. One thing happened that I kinda thought I was dog'd. I felt a little diss'd, like completely ignored. What happened was I was the first one to show up. And it turned out they gave prizes. And one of the door prizes was for the first person who showed up. They didn't give it to me. I didn't say anything. You know I wasn't like "Hey, wait a minute." But I think it would have been embarassing to give it to someone who wasn't black."

Karen then goes on to tell how she got rejected:

I got a letter in the mail a week after the tea saying "We regret to inform you..." But it was a real formal letter. And I assumed it was my G.P.A. But I ran into this girl, this woman who two days later came up to me. She was in BT. At the time I thought we were friends. And she was like "Karen, you know how it is, the voting process and everything. People just don't know you. And they have this impression of who you are because you're not Black". I think she said more than she was supposed to. Because another one of her sorority sisters was passing by and heard her and she was like, "Hilary, Hilary, come here." And that was it.

I think it's very interesting to see this. I in no way intend this to be a bash on a whole organization, because it clearly isn't. What I'm trying to show is that we all have preconceived notions of other races and ethnicities and stereotype them based on our experiences/beliefs. This episode just shows how one woman, who was Asian American, experience it when trying to join BT (AKA).

If anyone is interested in the study, it's REALLY good and well done. It's called "The Continuing Significance of Race: a Case Study of Asian American Women in White, Asian American, and African American Sororities"

Sorry for the long post!!