| "I decided to
make a Greek costume," Sridhar, a sister of Delta Phi Omega,
says. "Then I was inspired to do a sari type thing. I did an
East and West fusion. I had Indian jewelry, but I kept it really
Americanized."
Like Sridhar's approach to the contest, South Asian
men and women on college campuses around the United States have
taken the well-established model of brotherhood and sisterhood in
fraternities and sororities and have added their own ethnic twist.
A Little Bit of History
The first fraternities can be traced back to the Greeks and Romans,
who formed religious, secret societies. Young men had to be initiated
into a group and then bonded with other members. In the Middle Ages,
these organizations became less secret and joined together men of
a specific trade or skill. The first fraternity in the United States,
Phi Beta Kappa, was founded at the College of William and Mary in
Williamsburg, Virginia in 1776 and the first sorority, Alpha Delta
Pi, was founded in 1851 at Wesleyan Female College in Macomb, Georgia.
Today, there are hundreds of fraternities and sororities at college
campuses all over the United States. Each is based on a set of pillars,
or values, and is categorized as a social, academic, religious,
cultural or philanthropic organization. Membership tends to be predominantly
white, although there are many well-established African American
and Latino organizations.
The concept of a South Asian sorority or fraternity is still relatively
new. The first South Asian fraternity, Iota Nu Delta, was founded
on February 7, 1994 at Binghamton University in Binghampton, New
York.
"There were always minority organizations for everyone, but
none for South Asians," Shalin Shah, a member of the Gamma
chapter in Philadelphia, says. "The eight men who founded it
wanted to bridge the gap for South Asian culture, learn about [their]
roots, and give back to the community." Because of its urban
setting, Iota Nu Delta's Gamma chapter is city-based instead of
campus-based and has members from surrounding universities. Iota
Nu Delta has expanded to nine other schools in the past 12 years.
The West Coast did not see its first South Asian fraternity until
1999 when Beta Chi Theta was founded at the University of California
in Los Angeles. In the past decade, the fraternity has slowly crawled
its way to East, and now boasts chapters at Baylor University in
Waco, Texas and Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. After
only seven years, Beta Chi Theta was inducted into the National
Interfraternity Council, an umbrella organization that advocates
for its 64 member organizations—an achievement of which some
fraternities that have been established more than 100 years cannot
boast. Although the fraternity is officially recognized as a social
organization, its approximately 300 brothers nationwide have completed
over 10,000 hours of community service.
The newest colony (a new chapter not yet officially recognized
by the national chapter) was founded last year by a group of men
including Rahul Kapoor, a senior at Florida Atlantic University
in Boca Raton. Kapoor now serves as the colony's president.
"We have parties," Kapoor says. "Along
with parties we have a lot of mixers, which [are] when we get together
with a lot of sororities. We also have a lot of socials. We want
to bring South Asian culture into the mainstream."
The first South Asian sorority in the East, Sigma Sigma Rho, was
founded in 1998 at St. John's University in New York on the principles
of sisterhood, society and remembrance of their South Asian ancestors.
Since then, it has expanded to two more chapters and three colonies
along the East coast.
An Emphasis on Philanthropy
"We've worked with Horses for the Handicapped, Habitat for
Humanity, the American Heart Association and the HELP Foundation,"
Geesa Thekkumkattil, cofounder of the Beta chapter at the University
of South Florida in Tampa, says. "Sometimes we raise money
and sometimes we just volunteer our services."
In order to raise money for the HELP foundation, which sponsors
children's education in India, Sigma Sigma Rho hosts the annual
Qayamat Greek Goddess competition." There's no event that joins
all the South Asian sororities and fraternities together like this,"
Louleen Kandhari, cofounder of Sigma Sigma Rho, says. "At our
first show we raised over $8,000 and the second year we raised about
$10,000."
A Bond of Sisterhood
Shiv Vydyula, host of online television show, The Shiv Show, judged
the women's performances along with Harjot Bassra, founder of iStyle
Magazine.
"Regardless of what segment I am judging, I am looking for
one universal element, and that is the ability to communicate confidence,"
Vydyula says during the intermission.
For Sridhar, that confidence was derived from her sisters.
"A bunch of girls are coming up to see me and we're driving
up together," she says the night before the show. "It's
the first time I've had an overwhelming response from the girls
and it’s great to see how much they support me. They're what
kept me calm throughout this whole thing."
The bond of sisterhood could be heard throughout the night.
"Every time I came out on stage, I could hear them cheering,"
Sridhar says. "I could distinguish their individual voices."
Becoming a Greek
Each organization officially recruits members during what is often
referred to as "rush week" before the start of every school
year. In addition to academic requirements, potential members must
express their dedication to the organization. The South Asian fraternities
and sororities are no exception.
"We don't just let everyone in," Kapoor says. "We
have a full week of events that include community service and socials
with other sororities. If a hopeful comes out to every event and
we see that he is determined, we take the next step. Not everyone
who comes in is brotherhood quality."
Although membership is limited, members are not required to be
South Asian. "We welcome anyone to rush," Neha Chabria,
a member of the Delta Phi Omega chapter in Philadelphia, says. "In
some of our chapters and colonies we have Egyptians, Caucasians,
African Americans and Asians. All of our sisters are completely
different from one another. Some like to go out. Others are shy
and quiet. They have different interests and majors. We originally
started out as South Asian, but will expand as the years go on."
Jaison James, the president of Sigma Beta Rho at the University
of South Florida said that instead of locking him into a South Asian
lifestyle, his fraternity opened his eyes to many new cultures.
"One of my brothers is from El Salvador and another one is
from Jamaica. Sigma Beta Rho was primarily South Asian to begin
with but now the ideal has become to learn about other cultures.
Even within the South Asian culture, there are so many diversities.
I know other South Asian fraternities that have stayed predominantly
Desi, but I think we're growing because we're not like that and
we don't discriminate."
Sigma Beta Rho is the nation's largest South Asian fraternity with
1000 members and 30 colonies coast-to-coast.
One benefit of becoming a part of South Asian Greek life as opposed
to more mainstream fraternities and sororities is that since the
groups are so young and relatively small, each member can have more
of a significant impact within them.
Ultimately, Kapoor thinks, the Greek organization a person chooses
should not be based on cultural orientation alone.
"What it comes down to is values," Kapoor said. "I
don't think it has anything to do with 'I'm South Asian so I only
want to be in this.' When I was looking at fraternities as a freshman,
the others did not have what I was looking for. It comes down to
the values and traditions of that fraternity."
Shah said that his brother is a member of a predominantly African American
fraternity and that he would look at other fraternities if there
were no South Asian ones on his campus.
"Greek life is good," he said. "It's something you
should definitely be exposed to in college."
Strengthening the Bond
James's chapter is very involved with other chapters in the region.
"We have local trips to surrounding chapters and a national
convention every year," James says. "In the South, we
have regional conventions, regional retreats and camping trips."
Chabria says that her chapter also attends conventions and events
specific to Delta Phi Omega, but last year began making an effort
to unite all the South Asian Greeks in the Philadelphia area.
"We started an annual barbecue picnic with all the South Asian
Greeks in Philadelphia. " Chabria notes, "Everyone contributed
food or games and we had a fun day in the park together. Whenever
we have parties now we take the initiative to invite all members
of the South Asian Greek community."
Back at the Greek goddess pageant, at the end of the night, Saisangeeth
Daswani of Kappa Phi Gamma is crowned the Greek Goddess of 2006.
"Honestly I can't thank my sisters enough," Daswani says
after the show. "They've been here to support me all along."
Daswani watches members of different fraternities
and sororities talk and mingle as they leave the theater. She stands
at the foot of the stage with a crown on her head and a bouquet
of flowers in her arms. "If anyone asked what I want, it would
be to see more of this," she says. "A lot of different
South Asian Greeks in the same room. We're all unique in terms of
our [Greek] letters, but we're all South Asian."
Vinti Singh is majoring in journalism at the University of Missouri - Columbia and is the section editor of her campus newspaper, The Maneater.
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