This was in the Chicago Tribune last week...I meant to post this story! Here it is:
One sorority's modest start
By Jenny Jarvie
Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published November 23, 2005
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Tottering on stilettos, Amira Shalash, a freshman at the University of Kentucky, tossed back her long, tousled hair and tugged at the neckline of her sweater, which had slipped off her shoulder.
Giggling, her friends--they wear hijabs, traditional Muslim head scarves--teased her that she wasn't dressed modestly enough.
The nine young women were gathered to learn about the nation's first Islamic sorority.
The motto of Gamma Gamma Chi: "Striving for the pleasure of Allah through Sisterhood, Scholarship, Leadership and Community Service."
The sorority hopes to establish its first campus chapter at the University of Kentucky.
Taking a seat at the introductory meeting, Boushra Aghil, 20, a junior in an olive green shirt and black hijab, studied the sorority's gold brochure. She was curious about how Gamma Gamma Chi would reconcile Islamic morals with sorority life--and the party atmosphere associated with it.
"My parents would never, ever let me join a regular sorority," Shalash said. "I don't know any Muslim sorority girls."
Yet many young Muslim women are intrigued by the concept. Since Gamma Gamma Chi was founded seven months ago, Muslim students from 14 states--and from Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates--have e-mailed the sorority's national headquarters in Alexandria, Va. The biggest response came from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, a city with a Muslim population of nearly 2,500.
The idea for Gamma Gamma Chi came from Imani Abdul-Haqq, 34, a business administration major at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C.
An African-American who converted to Islam in 2000, Abdul-Haqq considered joining a black sorority but worried that she would have to compromise her Muslim beliefs. Even the term for the nine predominantly black fraternities and sororities--the Divine Nine--makes her uncomfortable. Only Allah, she says, is divine.
"As a Muslim who dresses modestly and does not drink, I wouldn't want to set myself apart from the people I was pledging with," she said. "I want to feel the unity."
As the first Muslim sorority, Gamma Gamma Chi has the unique challenge of creating sorority life that is in keeping with Islamic law.
Although alcohol is banned in most sorority houses, a national study conducted in 2001 identified 62 percent of sorority members as binge drinkers.
That type of behavior won't be tolerated at Gamma Gamma Chi. Althia Collins, its president and executive director, has devised a strict induction process. An education consultant and former college administrator, Collins helped her daughter, Abdul-Haqq, establish the sorority.
"It will be a bit like `The Apprentice' or `America's Next Top Model,'" Collins said. "We will give them `Gamma mail,' which details a challenge for them to work on, like learning verses from the Koran."
If more than five students at the University of Kentucky submit membership applications by January, Gamma Gamma Chi hopes to establish its first chapter in February.
At her Nov. 6 presentation on campus, Collins wore the sorority's colors--lavender and green--as she explained the concept of a Muslim sorority. Collins, who converted to Islam in 1999, pledged Delta Sigma Theta--a traditionally black sorority--when she was a student in the 1980s.
Afterward, all of the women said they wanted to join Gamma Gamma Chi. They had just one question.
"Why," asked Aghil, "did you choose those colors?"
"Green is for the color of the Prophet," Collins said. "Lavender is a peaceful color; people like to smell it before they go to sleep."
Aghil frowned.
"I've never been a fan of purple," she said later. "But, I know, it's very superficial of me to worry. We could have a Muslim sorority, here in little town Kentucky."
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