A collaboration with Dr. Crystal Garcia, UNL, and Dr. Michael Goodman, UT-Austin

Our names are Dr. Crystal Garcia, Dr. Antonio Duran, and Dr. Michael Goodman, and we are writing to you as we begin a new study: Exploring Racial Equity Efforts in Sorority and Fraternity Life (SFL) Communities. As researchers with different affiliations and connections to SFL, we recognize the immense power SFL possesses and the potential it has to affect societal change, yet we also acknowledge that chapters need guidance in harnessing that power. However, few studies have provided insight to how practitioners should address these challenges or specifically how SFL professionals have addressed race-based incidents on their local campuses, the success of these initiatives, and to what degree this work has been sustainable over time. Through this study, we seek to fill this knowledge base by exploring ways SFL communities have engaged in efforts to address racial equity related challenges.

The purpose of this multi-site case study is to understand how SFL communities conceptualize and engage racial equity efforts. Namely, this qualitative investigation will center on higher education institutions that have experienced a public incident related to racial injustice and explore how their community responded. Our study will investigate subareas of interest such as: identifying specific steps that SFL offices take after a publicly-facing racial justice issue, looking at hiring practices within an SFL office, curricula around racial equity used in leadership development for SFL students, how offices support culturally-based sororities and fraternities, and more.

In particular, we are looking for institutions that have experienced a publicly-facing racial justice event in the past 5 years. Publicly-facing involves events that are recognized on a local, state, or national level. The chosen phenomenon is how institutions move forward from these issues and attempt to center racial equity. We are recruiting at least 5 institutions to participate, and once we identify these institutions, we will select key stakeholders including students, SFL professionals, and student affairs professionals to provide perspective on the chosen phenomena. We will conduct individual interviews with a senior student affairs officer, as well as the primary SFL contact (e.g., directors), in addition to other SFL coordinators (if present). Moreover, we will collect data by having focus groups with students in the different councils present on campus. Depending on recommendations from our contacts at the institution, we may also choose to interview practitioners from diversity affairs offices or other student affairs professionals. Finally, data collection will consist of document analysis of manuals, training documents, campus newsletters, and other relevant documents available.

We are offering a $10 gift card to a local bookstore or coffee shop for each individual who is able and willing to engage in the research. Note that within this participant pool, we hope to recruit 3-5 students from each of the councils on campus (e.g., MGC, NPHC, NPC, and IFC) for separate council focus group interviews in addition to 3-5 individual interviews with professionals on each campus resulting in approximately 20 participants per campus. This small participant payment recognizes the time individuals invest in their interview and collecting supporting documents. Ultimately, this project will add to the limited scholarship on racial equity in SFL, together with helping inform student affairs practice.

We hope you will consider participating as a host site, and working with us to engage students and colleagues in this important work. Please let us know by January 12th if you are interested in participating, and we are happy to speak with you before or after that time. Thank you so much for your consideration.

This study is sponsored in part by the Timothy J. Piazza Center for Fraternity and Sorority Research and Reform in partnership with Sigma Delta Tau Sorority and the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors. We hope you’ll consider participating!