Yesterday the Los Angeles Times reported on Greek Muslim life. Or rather, I mean Muslim Greek Life. Gamma Gamma Chi is the newest sorority house on the block. Hijabs are welcome:
The motto of Gamma Gamma Chi: “Striving for the pleasure of Allah through Sisterhood, Scholarship, Leadership and Community Service.”The sorority, whose national chapter is in Greensboro, N.C., hopes to establish its first campus chapter at the University of Kentucky.
Taking a seat at the introductory meeting, Boushra Aghil, a 20-year-old 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 about 2,500.
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p>The very idea seems like a contradiction at its face. As someone who avoided Greek Life as much as possible, I’ll admit that I am no authority on the matter. Still, it would seem to me that every possible benefit that a sorority could offer is erased by establishing such a homogeneous environment. I realize that we already have predominately Jewish houses, as well as African American, Asian, and even Indian houses. This Muslim sorority is not a whole lot different. I understand the reason that African American houses were originally established but I think that the rest of the groups are even further diluting an already broken system. I have often wondered if social fraternities and sororities are even relevant anymore? Colleges offer so many groups and programs to make the large fishbowl seem smaller, that I personally feel that the Greek system has outlived its usefulness (no personal offense to any Greeks out there who I know are quite loyal to their houses).
“The American white-bread sorority girls wouldn’t always understand our issues,” Aghil said. “We already wear a scarf, we recognize we are the odd people out, but we need a support system, a group that can support us in the Islamic way.”Gamma Gamma Chi is not the first sorority to offer an alternative to traditional, predominantly white American sororities.
Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first of four major black sororities, was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington. In 1991, Latina-oriented Gamma Phi Omega was established; in 1997, the multicultural Theta Nu Xi; in 1998, the South Asian Kappa Phi Gamma.
This year’s (Ughhh) South Asian Students’ Alliance (SASA) conference is even featuring South Asian Greek Life. There is a (I kid you not) Greek Dating Game.
S.A.S.A. 2006 invites all Greeks to take part in our 1st Annual Greek Sororities vs Fraternities DATING GAME! On the evening Friday Jan 13th, inside the New Yorker Hotel Ballroom, eligible bachelorettes will have 10 minutes each to ask 3 eligible bachelors anything they want- but neither side will get to see each other, until the final decision is made!
It’s not just a regular dating game for young South Asians who registered for SASA. It is a Greek dating game, more exclusive, you know. Makes sense to feature Greek Life at a conference that is supposed to promote…actually, I never have figured out was SASA’s purpose is. I’m going to assume that nobody from Gamma Gamma Chi applies to be on this game show since it seems pretty “white-bred.”
When SASA first started, it was tiny and laser-focused on progressive politics. It’s been coopted by partiers.
SASA is a sham now. An empty shell of what it could be. So much wasted potential. Just look at the sponsers. With this kind of revenue they have every incentive to keep partying and chuck everything else of any value. I wish another group would rise up as the anti-SASA. I bet you’d even find more quality dating potential at that conference. 🙂
i agree with abhi.. never understood the greek life.. and it was huge at usc, my undergrad.. huge.. i think it makes people more fragmented.. and secular… kinda sad.. since we could all learn a lot from each other… yes it is nice to hang out with others who share similar faiths, views, hair color and MAC lipstick favorites..but then again, diversity is a great thing.. like the united colors of benetton, the cheesy but powerful ad that captured me when i was growing up… looking back i never joined the ‘indian club’, or those associations.. that segregated all the brownies.. just not my cup of chai…
I just realized that they are still looking to fill their speaker and panel spots. Guess who won’t be getting an invite? 🙂
You mean a bid 😉
re: greek life, it depends from school to school. there are some engineering schools with a strong male sex bias in the middle of nowhere nice (worcester poly anyone?) were frats are a crucial way to meet chicks because they organize socials on a large scale. in places like whitman college in walla walla, WA (eastern washington, by idaho), there isn’t much of a town life and the college is small so you won’t be doing stuff in the research labs or what not, so it is a nice way to aggregate kids. i think it is less relevant to those who have gone to larger universities where you can easily find what you need without aids.
hahah, yo SASA is by far the lamest thing invented by ABCDs in this country. breeding grounds of the idiot desi kids in this country. i feel like ice-t at the hater’s ball. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE
but i was greek, phi kappa psi, Hopkins, which is far from a party school. Ironically i had a ball, maybe cause i was “white-washed” equating to smoking weed, drinking beer and farting. Either way my big brother in my fraternity was indian, and so was my little and little little. We have a desi lineage. I’m not sure exactly what it means. However i know the majority of desi’s who are involved keep it off the radar in the eyes of the parental units. I am not pro greek life, it clearly suits certain types of people. As for an All Desi fraternity…i am biased and going to assume that it will blow ass, all knowledge of groups of desis congregating equate to lameness and sausagefests. Desi Sororities… well GO FORTH…dark biscuits unite!
I understand the reason that African American houses were originally established but I think that the rest of the groups are even further diluting an already broken system.
It’s not like the non-ethnic houses are all that diverse either. They’re mainly white, and then mainly homogenous within that in terms of background and outlook. If all you wanted was to create small social groups, you would assign people randomly. Since they don’t, you end up with high levels of conformity even in the absense of ethnic greeks.
Yep, that’s exactly why I labeled it a broken system.
There are muslims in south asian sororities. Like this one
epoch, muslims shouldn’t eat food with pagans. so those are bad muslims.
As a not-so recent college grad, I would like to add that i was part of greek life as an undergraduate and happy it was in what was traditionally a “white” fraternity. Our chapter was the most diverse on campus – we had jocks, nerds, jews, blacks, black-jews, surfers, guidos, pretty boys, queers (some closeted some not so closeted)and yes Indians – (i was the third one in the chapter).
Since I graduated (and eons passed) new chapters at other insitiutions had an influx of Indian members as well. This despite a presence of all Indian fraternities – which frankly I never cared for.
lastly, some of the chapters of my fraterny in these schools are now predominantly Indian and thus changed the demographic of a fraternity that was founded by two white guys who in the 1800s didn’t take kindly to people of color!
Amen, Turbanhead. And a “Stothrum!” while I’m at it. I was a Delta Gamma and we also had Catholic, Jewish, Agnostic girls and a Zoroastrian if I recall correctly. There were no Jewish sororities b/c there was no need for them…this isn’t 1909. If you want to go Greek, then GO GREEK and rush the real thing. Sure it was mostly white. So what? So was the rest of my childhood and neighborhood and judging from a year’s worth of comments, so were yours.
If you want to hang out with just brown people, you can join SASA or your school’s equivalent. And before someone says that they felt left out and THAT’S why they joined a brown house, then why the hell is SASA doing something like a GREEK dating game and…leaving…people…out?
:+:
Abhi-kins, I don’t think any of the mutineers has to worry about not getting a bid to speak at SASA. We’re bloggers, we’re not party-hard material. 😉
Uh I think some of you people dont realize that Muslims come in all colors so this is not simply a question of hanging out with “just brown people.” I think because of your desiness that once you hear “Muslim” you only picture “desi” Muslims and not others (like “gasps” white and or black or latino american ones)I mean first girl interviewed is most likely an Arab,judging from her name. Don’t project your “rebellion towards your desi parents” onto this situation.
Uhh no. Read the whole post please. The post isn’t just about the Muslim sorority. It is also about the all brown South Asian ones.
When you say this, “I realize that we already have predominately Jewish houses, as well as African American, Asian, and even Indian houses. This Muslim sorority is not a whole lot different” It is misleading. For a Muslim there is a framework for dealing with. For most ethnic fraternities/sororities and for most ethnicities in general there isnt an established framework for this.Meaning that yeah, you can be Hindu and be accepting of other peoples cultures, but youre no less of a Hindu lets say if you dont and even look down on other peoples cultures. Now the question is is this Muslim sorority doing stuff thats inclusive or are they not? The article doesnt delve into that. It just jumps into “well Muslims are just like jews, blacks, Indians, etc” All of those categories are ethnicities and are determined by superficial stuff such as skin color, last name, language, etc. Someone is Muslim based on their actions. Even if you use the argument of being “born Muslim” well thats kind of moot because everybodys “born Muslim” in Islam. Basically Muslim is not an ethnicity whereas all those other categories are.So its not the same as your other examples
You’re so right, Fat Tamil. Hey, did anyone mention how much fun religious social organizations are?
Right, they did not. ‘Nuff said.
The girls can have their sorority, but it won’t help them assimilate any faster. As support networks go, this is an idiot idea.
And to anyone who gets their ire up over me assuming they WANT to assimilate–well. They DID start a sorority at a college, didn’t they?
We don’t have fraternities/sororities here in the UK.
However, I guess some university “Halls of Residence” are more ethnic than others, especially in London and the Midlands (Leicester, Birmingham etc), so can become unofficial focal points for fraternity-type South Asian social life.
When there are very large numbers of South Asian students — eg. in the aforementioned locations — they often tend to voluntarily segregate themselves off from other ethnic groups, during “lecture hours” along with their on- and off-campus social life. At least, that’s how it was when I was at university in London about a decade ago. Perhaps BongBreaker or other UK-based Mutineers in their early 20s would be in a better position to comment on how things are these days.
The medical students tended to be regarded as the “frat bros” of South Asian college life and the centre of “where it’s at”, often in conjunction with the particular college’s “Asian Society”. This was obviously less the case in colleges without a medical/dental faculty.
two quick points:
1) african american and latino/a fraternities and sororities have traditionally had a very strong focus on community service and leadership. So I don’t think that it’s strange to have fraterities/sororities that are separate from the usual animal house crowd.
I don’t feel the same can be said about south/asian greek organizations, though I’m certainly not an authority. I would welcome greek organizations, just like any other, that are actually community-focused (and I agree that SASA just plain sucks and should be co-opted).
2) On the whole tip about an alternative space, anything know what Chingari is up to?
the REAL question is:
What kind of ceremonial initiation will these muslim sorority members implement for newcomers?
I’m trying to think of something funny/daring, but I’m drawing a blank.
Maybe “race-walk across the quad with your hijab slightly revealing four times”
hyuk!
I don’t see what these girls are so concerned about, i.e. that “American white bread” girls won’t understand them. It seems to me like that a) they’re worried about others’ opinion of their hijab b) their parents won’t allow it. but what i wanna know is, what exactly will this sorority do? why don’t they just start a Muslim Females Club or something, cuz i don’t see them doing bikini carwashes with frat guys or mixers.
I also agree with ANNA. Greek life is all about socializing with a tight knit group of friends, so why not get the full experience and rush a “white” frat/sorority? yes, back in the day, they didn’t let non WASPs in, but those days are long gone. why try to pretend that American college society is the same as it was a hundred years to justify one’s aversion to mainstream Greek life? i have respect for black and Jewish houses ,cuz they were started when blacks and Jews weren’t welcome into white Greek life, and thus have established something of a tradition. But I’m in a “white” frat, and no one actually cares about anybody’s ethnicity. I didnt hafta do a hundred extra pushups during just cause I happened to like curry.