Getting a Man or Getting Ahead....

[Nuyorican]

First of all I would like to congratulate Erika Dunlap. As I retrieved my morning newspaper from my lawn this morning, I noticed the results of the Miss America Pageant. Suddenly I thought this might be an opportunity to obtain some first hand information. My name is Benny Torres and I am graduating this semester from the University of South Florida (Tampa) with a double major in Business and Sociology. I'm in the process of preparing a paper on a research project that was done in 1999; called "Getting a Man or Getting Ahead - A Comparison of White and Black Sororities, authored by Alexandra Berkowitz and Irene Padavic". I'll give a short overview. The researchers visited two different campuses and interviewed women from white and black sororities. Their conclusion was that white sorority women in this sample regarded sorority membership as a way to lead a productive social life that they hoped would enable them to get a man. In contrast, African American women's sorority participation centered on community service and career advancement. The two types of sorority appear to be structured to facilitate different agendas: for white women, short-term participation geared to meeting men and for black women, long-term participation geared to furthering both individual careers and the uplifting of the race through community projects.

I notice that Ms. Dunlap plans to promote her social program of "cultural diversity and inclusiveness". Therefore, I would like to know if her thoughts are similar to her "sorority sisters", or is your sense of community, race, and love; whether it is love for a man or family, different in each of you?

Thank you,
Benny Torres