Affirming Identity, Advancing Belonging, and Amplifying Voice in Sororities and Fraternities

Edited by:
Pietro A. Sasso, Delaware State University
Mónica Lee Miranda, University of South Florida
J. Patrick Biddix, University of Tennessee

A volume in the series: Identity & Practice in Higher Education-Student Affairs. Editor(s): Pietro A. Sasso, Delaware State University. Shelley Price-Williams, University of Northern Iowa.

Published 2024

In the wake of the #AbolishGreekLife and other calls for racial justice, the role of identity development also becomes ever increasingly important as we consider how to make the sorority/fraternity more inclusive for our students. In the end, it may really be the power of inclusion on college campuses that leads to many of the educational goals that we yearn for in student growth: the formal and informal social interactions, bonded in reflective learning, that help build social and academic success. In this we can celebrate together, especially those of us who have romanticized so many “bright college years.” This text is a response to a call for existential exploration as an attempt to critically revivify our understanding of the sorority/fraternity experience as it contributes specifically to students’ identity development and learning.

The text is grouped around centering their experiences through three A’s: Amplifying Voice, Affirming Identity, and Advancing Belonging to highlight the identity experiences of the diverse spectrum of fraternity and sorority members across the intersections of identity so often excluded from the literature. Chapters in this text attempt to foreground how the fraternity/sorority experience explicitly contributes to these areas of student development across multiple identities including race, ethnicity, culture, gender identity, social class, and ability. Authors critically interrogate systems of oppressions that subjugate marginality from those with intersectional identities to recognize the larger challenges facing the sorority/fraternity movement as an attempt to disrupt these systems to better identify influences on identity development.

ENDORSEMENTS

"Pietro Sasso and associates are leading a game-changing conversation about the impact of fraternity and sorority communal experiences on student identity. Pietro Sasso and the contributing authors of this robust text successfully endeavor to inform practice through critical analysis, framing important questions, and offering pragmatic solutions that are timely, relevant, and practical in both the academy and the fraternal system. This book is a "must-read" for anyone seeking to understand or have a relevant impact on the intersections of sense of belonging, identity development, and sorority & fraternity life." — Jason L. Meriwether, Campbellsville University

"In their most recent book examining contemporary sorority and fraternity life, Sasso, Biddix, and Miranda have curated discerning chapters that expand existing scholarship by exploring the impact of fraternity and sorority membership on identity development, belonging, and student voice through critical lenses. This book should be on the bookshelf of all higher education administrators and faculty." — Gavin Henning, New England College

CONTENTS
Foreword, Vasti Torres. Introduction, Pietro A. Sasso, Mónica Miranda, and J. Patrick Biddix. SECTION I: AFFIRMING IDENTITY. Fraternities and Sororities as Learning Organizations: Applying Frameworks for Practice, James P. Barber, Shea Kidd Brown, and Daniel A. Bureau. A Contemporary Profile of Sorority and Fraternity Members, J. Patrick Biddix, Caroline E. Douglas, and Maggie Krzeminski. Melanin Faces in Historically White Spaces: How White Supremacy Principles Affect BIPOC Members Today, Bridgette R. Wynn and Victor Javier “Javi” Rodriguez. Centering Our Stories: Asian American Womxn Identity Development in Asian-Interest Sororities, Kristen N. Wong, Sylvia Hall, Huong Truong, and Diana B. Lee. Examining LGBQ+ Identities and Development in Sororities and Fraternities, Javier Ramirez and Antonio Duran. Trans*Spectrum and Trans*Expansive in Fraternity and Sorority Life, Sydney Epps. Identity Development and Belonging in Latinx/a/o Sororities and Fraternities, Juan R. Guardia and Mónica Lee Miranda. The Challenge of Whiteness on Campus and in Sororities and Fraternities, Shyam K. Sriram and Preston Lee. The Multiple Identities and Experiences of Multiracial College Students Through a MultiCrit Lens in Sororities and Fraternities, Jeanette C. Snider, Pietro A. Sasso, and Kim E. Bullington. SECTION II: ADVANCING BELONGING. The Experiences of Desi/South Asians in Black Greek-Letter Organizations, Bilal Badruddin, Shane Nelson, and Kriskumar B. Singh. Color Complex: The Line of Division Within Sorority and Fraternity Organizations, Leslie Ekpe and Ezinne Ofoegbu. Centering Commuter Students in Sorority and Fraternity Life, Michael D. Giacalone and Sam Waltemeyer. Utilizing Counter-Storytelling to Amplify Marginalized Student Voices and Sense of Belonging: A University’s Strategic Partnership and Response, Jessica Guzman-Rea and Casey Dowling. “Othering” and Involvement: The Impact of Sorority Membership on the Sense of Belonging of International Students, Maureen Manning. A Context Analysis of Mattering and Marginality in Fraternities and Sororities, Savannah Matherly and Mike Jefferson. Honoring the Cultivation of Gamma Delta Pi, Inc. Native American Sisterhood, James David Wagnon, Natalie Rose Youngbull, Amber Silverhorn-Wolfe, and Robin Zape-tah-hol-ah Minthorn. Historically Native American Fraternities and Sororities (HNAFS): Women Reclaiming Space for Native Students in Higher Education, Brian Peters, Brittany Hunt, Ashley McMillan, and Melissa Faircloth. SECTION III: AMPLIFYING VOICE. Generation Z in Fraternity and Sorority Life, Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace. It Takes More Than Money: Nuancing Social Class in Sorority and Fraternity Life, Sonja Ardoin, Michael Anthony Goodman, and Brittany M. Williams. Decentering Whiteness and Hegemony in Fraternity Men Towards Authentic Masculinities, Pietro A. Sasso, Bilal Badruddin, Javier Ramirez, and Alyssa Roush. Violence and Representation of Trans*Spectrum Identities in Sororities and Fraternities, Syndey Epps. Connecting Feminism and the Sorority Experience: Looking Back to Move Forward, Brittany Devies and Lauren A. Haynes. “Today the Need Remains the Same”: Community and Identity Development in NPHC Organizations, Robbie S. Miller, Michelle L. Boettcher, and Dax Boatwright. An Asian American Feminist Approach to Social Justice Advocacy in Asian American Sororities, Amy C. Wang, Lillie Ko Wong, Sylvia Hall, and Huong Truong. Faith and the Fraternity and Sorority Experience, Nicole Cronenwett and J. Cody Nielsen. The Practitioners Themselves: Exploring, Understanding, and Embracing Identity/ies in the Advising Process, Michael A. Goodman, Lorae V. Bonamy, Viancca Williams, and Kim Monteaux De Freitas. About the Contributors.