Being of a historically marginalized identity at a predominately white institution, or PWI, is never easy. Dealing with the struggle of navigating a level of schooling my parents never experienced, sorting out semesterly finances and defending the validity of my voice in academic spaces are among the list of things I endured. Within my first year at SLU, the number of professors I met with to discuss some incident of cultural insensitivity or racism in class was six— aka half of them. Now with all of these hurdles, you’d expect that I would at least be able to find some solace in the student community, right?Â
Yeah, I wish.Â
“We, as students, form a diverse and vibrant university community.”
“This is the community I am building.”Â
These are the first and last lines of SLU’s Oath of Inclusion, a promise that students are meant to live by. So when I look around campus, I should be able to see that clearly. Unfortunately, I don’t feel like this is the case in all student groups, especially Greek Life. I’m going to focus more on sororities because as a woman of color, it is where I feel most unwelcome.Â
I’d heard all the stereotypes about sororities before coming to campus. None of them really bothered me, and honestly, I found a lot of those stereotypes to be a bit misogynistic. I’m sure a lot of us have watched the TikTok horror stories about the cases of “what not to wear” in sororities or about the difficulty of fitting in. I’ve never been in a sorority so I can’t speak to that, but I’m here to speak to another harsh reality of sisterhood: the exclusion of marginalized folk.Â
Freshman year, watching the girls in all white walk down West Pine playing Katy Perry, I felt like I was patiently waiting to spot the token minority in the group, with there being one or two members who were not white or completely white passing. Not only did this experience feel isolating as I had already noticed the racial tensions on campus, but it felt like I was unwelcome in those spaces.Â
This year, scrolling through Instagram the couple of weeks before recruitment was like another punch to the gut. I came back to my dorm the night after an event for a cultural group on campus and was finally feeling like I had found a place where I belonged and was welcomed with open arms. I was excited for the semester after speaking with new friends in a language I felt comfortable with. Although it was a small group of us, it was reassuring. That feeling lasted about 30 minutes until I opened the Instagram app to see a post from one of my mutuals, featuring her entirely white sorority here at SLU. I think what struck me the most was the fact that the number of girls in that post was larger than the number of people who were at the meeting I was at earlier that night.Â
It felt like a stark reminder that as a person of color at a PWI, I will have this feeling time and time again. Let’s bring it back to SLU’s Oath of Inclusion. What parts of echo chambers of white voices are diverse? How am I meant to believe that my fellow peers are building communities of inclusion on campus when they’re visibly not there? Not only does Greek Life make these spaces acceptable, it is another way to separate low-income students (who are mostly Black and Brown) from higher income students who are able to pay the exorbitant fees that come with being a member.Â
I could talk for ages about how sororities and Greek Life in general perpetuate the gender binary, as well as racism and classism. Instead, I want to make a request to my friends, classmates and anyone reading this who is involved in Greek Life. First, I want to make it clear that I understand that these outcomes are mostly unintentional, as many people I have talked to join Greek Life for philanthropy or for that feeling of “sisterhood.” As true as this may be, I’m asking you to look around at your fellow Panhellenic members and recognize the exclusionary force that exists as a result of your presence. If you consider yourself an advocate for marginalized folk or even someone who follows SLU’s Oath of Inclusion, what are you doing to challenge the structures put in place that are exclusionary in practice?