Slide References
Figure 1. The new ADPi pledge class. August 24, 2022. Rachel Kivlan.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1px107R_Ahzf_f5KDb0Os9FP9Xws3j9Qm4eLyIsKtOag/edit#slide=id.p
Presentation script:
For most people, the first thing that comes to mind when mentioning sorority girls is that they are superficial and ditzy when in reality they are much more than that. In my senior year of high school, I had to start applying to colleges and was also faced with the question of if I wanted to join a sorority. Like everyone else I thought of the many stereotypes associated with sororities and didn’t want to be labeled under them. I think sorority stereotypes stem from how shows and movies portray them comparatively to how shows and movies portray high school cheerleaders as the “popular mean girls that run the school”. Many of these assumptions may hold true for some people’s experiences, but I wanted to be able to formulate my own opinion based on the observations I conduct. Through my research, I want to figure out what motivates girls at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to join sororities even with all the negative stereotypes stigmatized with sorority life and what social impacts being in a sorority has had on their life.
For my first observation, I attended a formal chapter meeting at the ADPi house. When I entered the house, I noticed the Alphas (new members) in freshly steamed dresses with their hair and makeup perfectly done. However, the upperclassmen had dresses thrown on over their sweatpants and sweatshirts accompanied by slippers and a messy bun. This related to Cheryl Nelson’s findings that many PNMs worried a lot about how they presented themselves to each house. She says how PNMS would precisely plan out their outfits, hair, makeup, jewelry, and shoes for each round (Nelson 2021, p. 37). I also observed how at the end of the meeting the upperclassman stayed late to talk to many of the freshmen.
For my second observation, I interviewed Katelyn a new member of ADPi. She described how she was planning for rush week all summer including planning out what outfits she was going to wear for each round. She explained that she wanted to be a part of a sorority because she wanted to experience a sisterhood as she was never able to do so biologically. She also described the process and how she instantly felt a connection at ADPi. She said that when she walked into the house she was “blanketed with a sense of relief because she knew she could be herself.” She then went on to say how she has already met some of her closest friends in college through her sorority and has never been surrounded by a more supportive group of girls that she would consider family even after only knowing them for two months now. In this slide, you can see the ADPi pledge class on bid day and the group of girls Katelyn now refers to as her family.
After conducting my observations at ADPi it is evident that the members consider themselves a part of a family. Although, I did find overlaps between my research and Nelson’s concerning the importance of appearance in a sorority my research argues that these presumptions are quickly disproved once they experience the actual process. I also found that girls are motivated to join a sorority because they want to be a part of a “sisterhood” and essentially have a family away from home. More research must be conducted to support my findings since my research was only conducted on one sorority. Further research should consist of interviewing more people in different sororities and at many different colleges because each girl’s experience could be different. Overall stereotypes give a negative connotation to sororities when they have had positive impacts on many girls’ lives.
Explication of Research:
I. Preface
For most people, the first thing that comes to mind when mentioning sorority girls is that they are superficial when that may not be the case. In my senior year of high school, I started applying to colleges and was faced with the question of if I wanted to join a sorority. I had never really thought about joining a sorority before or even knew what the organization entailed. Although I didn’t know much about what a sorority entailed, I did know about the negative presumptions and stereotypes that are associated with sororities. For instance, some of the societal stereotypes typically correlated to joining a sorority are that People deem that they only accept young women who are wealthy or fit a certain beauty criterion. Although, some of these assumptions may hold true for some people they will vary on a wide scale based on the school. Through my observations, I want to be able to formulate my own answer regarding this topic. I believe my findings will argue against some of the stereotypes made about sororities. Through my research, the main goal is to evaluate what factors motivated girls at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) to join sororities regardless of all the negative stereotypes stigmatized with sorority life and what social impacts being in a sorority has had on their life so far?
II. Background
UNC consists of 11 national panhellenic sororities and one associate member (Pi Beta Chi) who has a separate recruitment process. To join a sorority, potential new members (PNM) must first partake in the “rush” process. This consists of multiple rounds, going to various houses, and talking to their members. As the rounds continue the attire becomes more formal and the PNMs visit fewer houses each round until the preference round where each PNM will visit two houses and dress in formal attire. After this round, PNMs submit their top house and on Bid Day they receive a card either from their top or second house depending on if their top house wanted them as well. However, some people could not receive a bid at all. This system is supposed to replicate a matching system where both the person rushing, and the house mutually selects each other. Cheryl Nelson examined this process in her study “From Student To “Sorority Girl”: Class And Presentation of Self In Formal Sorority Recruitment”. Nelson found that many PNMs worried a lot about how they presented themselves to each house. She says how PNMS would precisely plan out their outfits, hair, makeup, jewelry, and shoes for each round. Nelson also pointed out how “PNMs continue to perceive the importance of displaying visual indicators of wealth” which plays into the stereotype that PNMs need to be seen as wealthy to be “accepted” (Nelson 2021, p. 37).
UNC’s panhellenic sororities have a joint account where head members of each sorority can post to the media stream. These posts consist of benefits to raise money, pictures of “sisters” attending events together, and posts with inspiring messages. One stream of posts I found particularly interesting was the posts that preluded the rush process. These posts consisted of pictures of each house, some of the members, what their philanthropy is, and a message from the president. I examined UNC’s Alpha Delta Pi (ADPi) sorority. The president of ADPi, Grace Gao, was quoted on this stream of posts that said: “They say that people make the place, and ADPi is a true testament of that. I am constantly in awe of the appreciation for individuality in our sorority…I immediately felt welcomed and valued” (unc_panhel).
The national ADPi sorority was founded in 1851 and was first termed The Adelphean Society. Hoggs a former member of ADPi argues that sororities use rhetorical practices to create a sense of belonging. She describes that this process occurs right after receiving a bid from the sorority. After you receive a bid, you are sent to the house to change into matching bid-day shirts. Hoggs says this along with the “sororities, letters, colors, symbols, and composite pictures of each member smiling” are all ways the sorority is entrenching the idea of belonging to their members (Hogg, 2018, p.424). Another place we see this idea of belonging is in the article “Family away from home” when one of the girls interviewed said, “I found in the sorority, the comfort I needed, the family away from home, the motivation to stay (and graduate) at a predominantly White institution”. The authors of this article examined how women of color felt during the process of joining a sorority and many girls felt the same that they too had found a sense of belonging in a sorority (Delgado-Guerrero, Cherniack, and Gloria, 2014).
III. Observations
For my first observation, I attended an ADPi formal chapter meeting on October 2nd at the ADPi house. When I entered the house, I noticed many girls clustered in various groups. Each girl dressed in formal wear however, not every girl was necessarily dressed formally. Many freshmen filed in with freshly steamed dresses, their hair and makeup perfectly done, and the perfect accessories to complete their outfits. While the older girls tried to mask their grout fit by throwing a dress on over their sweatpants and sweatshirt accompanied by slippers and a messy bun. By the older girls dressing like this it portrayed a more casual environment to the new members.
Once the meeting began, the president, Grace Gao, spoke about upcoming events, fundraisers, and deadlines. After the meeting concluded I noticed how the juniors and seniors ascended back upstairs while the sophomores made their rounds smiling and making small talk with each of the freshmen. I could tell that many of the freshmen were closer to the sophomore class. I overheard many of them making plans to hang out and get lunch and others hugging their friends goodbye. This showed me that many of the girls had friendships outside of the sorority and don’t only interact when they are forced to due to a meeting.
For my second observation, I interviewed Katelyn Carapezza, a current new member of ADPi. I asked her to describe how she felt the first day of rush and what the process was like for her. She replied “It was the moment I had been waiting for all summer. I prepared my outfits much in advance to make sure I had the perfect attire for every round… Not only did I make sure my outfits were pristine, but I also had my nails freshly done and woke up hours before to start getting ready making sure I had adequate time to perfect my hair and makeup.” This relates directly to Nelson’s findings that PNMs cared a lot about how they presented themselves to each house.
She then continued to explain the rush process and the rounds. She described how she went into rush with an open mind regarding what sorority she wanted to be in but that she naturally gravitated to ADPi. She said “Every time I walked into the ADPi house I was blanketed with a sense of relief and calmness. I was greeted with the biggest smile, and everyone knew my name. I didn’t have to filter what I said I just could be myself. This is how I knew I wanted to be in ADPi.” Fast forward to Bid Day Katelyn received a bid from ADPi and said “I opened my card saw ADPi and immediately started crying tears of joy I couldn’t wait to run home. It was one of the best days ever”. Much like Katelyn, I had similar experiences during the rush process. The house presented itself with an environment that made me feel like I could truly be myself.
Finally, I asked her why she wanted to join a sorority and what her experience has been like so far. She began to tell me how she only has a brother and was envious of the bonds her friends had with their sisters. She always wanted a chance at being able to experience this type of bond and joining a sorority would allow her to do that. She proceeded to tell me that she has already met some of her closest friends in college through her sorority and she has never been surrounded by a more supportive group of girls that she would consider family even after only knowing them for two months now. Similarly joining a sorority has enabled me to meet some of my closest friends many of whom are in the class above me.
IV. Conclusion
After conducting my observations at ADPi it is evident that the members consider themselves a part of a family. Through Katelyn’s emotions, I could tell that she genuinely thought this about ADPi. However, when Katelyn discussed getting ready and how she prepared for rush it matched up with some of Nelson’s findings that girls felt they had to present themselves a certain way to be accepted by the sorority. After these observations, I think it is evident that many girls go into rush with these misconceptions but as the process continues, they find otherwise. We see this when I observed how the older girls threw on a dress over their sweatpants while the new members were all done up. I think many of the women joining a sorority, like Katelyn, wanted to become a part of essentially a home away from home. I found that sororities had a positive social impact due to the various friendships being made. My findings disprove many of the stereotypes and even my presumptions as well. Although my findings are inconclusive due to the limitations, I think they are still important to consider when thinking about sororities.
References:
Hogg, C. (2018). Sorority rhetoric’s as everyday epideictic. College English, 80(5), 423–448. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26773391.
Marla Delgado-Guerrero, Cherniack, M., & Gloria, A. (n.d.). Family away from home: factors influencing undergraduate women of color’s decisions to join a cultural-specific sorority. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 7(1), 45–57. https://doi.org/DOI: 10.1037/a0036070.
Nelson, C. (2021). From student to “sorority girl”: Gender, class, and presentation of self in formal sorority recruitment. The University of Mississippi. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. https://www.proquest.com/pagepdf/920003194?accountid=14244.
unc_panhel. https://www.instagram.com/unc_panhel/.
unc_panhel. Meet our chapters alpha delta pi, welcome to alpha delta pi! Originally called the adelphean society, ADPi was originally founded. https://www.instagram.com/unc_panhel/.
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Google Images, Creative Commons license