Campus Greek Life organizations are adopting diversity and inclusion committees.
Maya Momon, dance management senior and Alpha Phi president, said Alpha Phi began talking about a potential diversity and inclusion committee when the Black Lives Matter protests gained further media coverage this summer.
“We were talking this summer about how maybe we should have a diversity and inclusion chair or person, but if it’s one person, that is the most taxing thing,” Momon said.
Momon said there are two people from each grade on Alpha Phi’s diversity and inclusion committee.
“That way, once this presidency ends and I’m gone, this is a lasting thing that continues,” Momon said.
Katelyn Curtin, acting senior and Phi Mu president, said the Black Lives Matter movement played a role in the creation of Phi Mu’s diversity and inclusion task force.
“Mackenzie Vanvee, one of our sisters, reached out about doing a Black Lives Matter fundraiser, and I was super on board,” Curtin said. “I didn’t want to stop there, so I created this task force over the summer and now we have some freshmen on it too, which is really awesome.”
Curtin said Phi Mu’s National Conference has created a diversity and inclusion task force.
“There will be collegiate and alum representation on that board, and I think that’s really important that there’s national leadership provided for each organization, because when it happens on a broader scale, it’s much easier to educate those individual chapter members,” Curtin said.
Curtin said Phi Mu’s diversity and inclusion board has already started working with its chapter members.
“During recruitment process, we worked a lot on implicit bias and what that looks like in sorority life,” Curtin said.
Russ Tallchief, director of student diversity and inclusion, said it’s great to see diversity and inclusion spreading throughout universities across the country.
“We’re thinking more inclusively as a country, while simultaneously we have these race riots and we have so much conflict. Concurrently with that, we’re seeing places like universities start to formalize diversity inclusion into their institutional programming,” Tallchief said.
Darius Freeman, acting senior and diversity chair for the OCU chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha, said Lambda Chi also recently added a diversity and inclusion chair and small committee.
“I am the chair, and I have two or three people that are on my diversity committee,” Freeman said.
Freeman said Lambda Chi’s diversity and inclusion committee has been active through the fraternity’s Facebook group and Zoom meetings.
“For now, we’re just posting things on our Facebook, whether it be things going on in the news or just little articles that I think could be important, and then at meetings I’m giving a presentation just talking about something going on in the world. It doesn’t even have to be just about Black people, but just about people of color and people of the LGBT community,” Freeman said.
Freeman said he hopes the Lambda Chi’s diversity and inclusion committee will help end stigma about fraternities not caring about important issues.
“I wanted to be involved with the actual diversity and inclusion person on campus, so I could at least mediate things that go on and try and get this stigma away from fraternities that we just don’t care when we actually have opinions. We actually want to help and change the world,” Freeman said.
Gretchen Bush, vocal education freshman, said she believes every campus organization should have a diversity and inclusion board.
“I think that no matter what it is, whether it’s your major or a club that you’re in, or a sorority or a fraternity, it should have a diversity and inclusion board,” Bush said.
Curtin said she believes the diversity and inclusion committees will benefit sorority life.
“When you have an inclusive, equitable, and diverse group of sisters, your sisterhood and connection is overall going to be better, and I think that’s the goal at the end of the day,” Curtin said.
Great job, Josh!!!!