Why do multicultural GLOs/organizations exist?

[CaliPhiSig03]

Phi Sigma Sigma was founded because there was no one sorority on the campus of Hunter College that would accept all ten founders due to religious and economic reasons. The founders created the first non-sectarian sorority so membership was open to any woman, regardless of their religion or status.

[SapphireSphinx9]

Originally posted by Xylochick216
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was Phi Sigma Sigma.

yes, one of the founders of Phi Sigma Sigma was not given a bid by another organization because of her background. and thus Phi Sigma Sigma was founded as a nonsectarian sorority because the founders were of different backgrounds and they wanted to belong to the same organization - where the other orgs on campus did not offer that at that point in time.

[CaliPhiSig03]

Hey Beth, it's funny how fast Phi Sigs reply!!

[SapphireSphinx9]

Originally posted by CaliPhiSig03
Hey Beth, it's funny how fast Phi Sigs reply!!

[RACooper]

Originally posted by Taualumna
Rob,

Do you think that girls (at U of T, anyway) are less likely to feel uncomfortable being a minority? I'm asking this, since there are no longer any sororities that are historically "non white" or "non Christian" (I don't really think AOII counts as being "non-Christian" the same way as historically Jewish GLOs do)

I don't really know... mostly because I haven't thought about that particular context of recruitment before... whether or not one sex feels more uncomfortable because of any minorit status...

At UofT I'd say that the vast majority of recruitment is through friends or acquaintances, so the comfort level is based more upon the comfort level of groups of friends or acquaintances around the campus... and it also gives some insight into how chapters can evolve over time with regards to "minorities". As the campus community becomes more accepting and diverse, then recruitment will reflect that trend... a trend you can see played out over even the past two years.

[preciousjeni]

Slight Hijack...Don't Phi Sigma Sigma chapters have a committee that handles multiculturalism? I can't remember exactly what it's called, but I thought I remembered that.

[CaliPhiSig03]

I don't know about all chapters, but my chapter has one. Our chapter is one of the most diverse among the whole organization, so we like to have events where each sister can share their culture with the others.

[SapphireSphinx9]

Originally posted by preciousjeni
Slight Hijack...Don't Phi Sigma Sigma chapters have a committee that handles multiculturalism? I can't remember exactly what it's called, but I thought I remembered that.

yes, that is one of the committees that all of the Phi Sigma Sigma chapters should have. each chapter may call it different things, but i believe most are called multicultural/diversity committees.

/slight hijack (hehe)

[preciousjeni]

See now, I'm feeling that!! That's what I'm talking about. And, it made me think of something. Imagine that committee taking over the chapter. Everything that is done goes through that committee before it can be approved, until the entire chapter is that committee. That's what I think of when I think of the multicultural Greek movement.

I'm really concerned that in the future - if it hasn't yet happened - people will start using "multicultural" to bring attention to their growing organizations. But, they won't really be multicultural or multiculturally-minded. They will abuse the title until multicultural Greeks are a laughing stock. There's no way to avoid it except for us multicultural Greeks to continue to be as solid and committed to our ideals as we possibly can.

[BetteDavisEyes]

If you were to look at my chapter, you'd think that we were a multi-cultural GLO even though we're NPC. We're just extremely diverse & that's how the chapters are in my school. When I say diverse, I don't mean a few girls of other ethnicities. I mean that more than half of our girls are of non-Caucasion backgrounds.

I joined my GLO b/c I loved the message it spreads & I felt truly welcomed. It's different for everyone & while some people feel comfortable in an NPC group, others feel better in a different organization altogether. Nothing wrong with that. Different strokes for different folks.

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by Xylochick216
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was Phi Sigma Sigma.

Originally posted by Taualumna
Ummm, wasn't AOII founded because one girl wasn't given a bid because of her religious background?

YES.

Perhaps that also happened with Phi Sigma Sigma but it definitely happened with AOII too (Source: NeonPi, from a phone conversation that we had when I was living in the T.O. and she was living in the 'Peg)

[starang21]

Originally posted by Taualumna
If there are multicultural/historically minority organizations on campus as well as NPC/NIC, do you think the latter two would less likely become diverse? Would you think that it is an issue? Is there a way to encourage minorities to go through recruitment at historically white organizations (HWOs)? I'm just asking because many HWOs want to diversify themselves, but often find it difficult.

people are going to join what they want to join, and go where they feel comfortable. if a multicultural org is where they feel comfortable, more power to them. why should white greek organizations worry about appealing to minorities when their focus was never really geared towards minorities in the first place? and why should they worry about appealing to minorities when they should focus on finding good members regardless of color?

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by starang21
people are going to join what they want to join, and go where they feel comfortable. if a multicultural org is where they feel comfortable, more power to them. why should white greek organizations worry about appealing to minorities when their focus was never really geared towards minorities in the first place? and why should they worry about appealing to minorities when they should focus on finding good members regardless of color?

Because some groups want to better reflect their surroundings. A non-GLO group that I am involved with, for example, would like to reflect Toronto rather than a certain segment of the city. If we want to look like the city's make-up we have to like have ten times as many minorities!

[starang21]

Originally posted by Taualumna
Because some groups want to better reflect their surroundings. A non-GLO group that I am involved with, for example, would like to reflect Toronto rather than a certain segment of the city. If we want to look like the city's make-up we have to like have ten times as many minorities!

it looks like you want to focus on getting minorities vs. quality members. if you try and recruit more minorities, but your pledge classes are still predominantly white....will you think you have failed in some sort of way?

historically white sororities do not (in general, if i'm wrong...correct me) have national programs geared specifically towards the benefit of minority people. specifically recruiting based on race reeks of tokenism to me. that's like the bruhs making me just because they wanted a filipino bruh.

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by starang21
it looks like you want to focus on getting minorities vs. quality members. if you try and recruit more minorities, but your pledge classes are still predominantly white....will you think you have failed in some sort of way?

historically white sororities do not (in general, if i'm wrong...correct me) have national programs geared specifically towards the benefit of minority people. specifically recruiting based on race reeks of tokenism to me. that's like the bruhs making me just because they wanted a filipino bruh.

This non-GLO group I'm involved with usually gets its new members through the connections that actives have. I guess most people there don't have close-close friends who are minorities (you don't want to just approach someone at work and say "do you want to join this org?")