To Our Community,
In light of the recent increase in anti-racist discourse and the Black Lives Matter movement, we as the UCSB Panhellenic chapters wish to recognize our history and privilege, as well as our dedication to continued learning and improvement. Panhellenic sororities across the nation were founded on ideas surrounding exclusion and white supremacy since they were initially created for white women. Regardless of intention, we recognize that there are traces of bias and racist practices present at the root of our organizations. We as the UCSB Panhellenic chapters take a strong stance against racism, and recognize that there is work to be done. We have engaged in important conversations to identify where racism is present in our organizations and are committing to initiatives to make our sororities, and community, more inclusive. We are continuing to educate ourselves on our privilege and issues of race, while taking steps to combat racism in our organizations. We hope to recruit new members who are eager to take these steps with us, and are passionate about continuing this conversation and educating themselves. This discussion will not end anytime soon and will continue to be a priority for our chapters for many years to come. We hope for a future in which systemic racism and oppression have been eradicated from our organizations.
We as the UCSB Panhellenic chapters wish to affirm our support for the following:
- We recognize that educating ourselves and our members is an important first step. We commit to hosting and attending more educational based events within our chapters and on campus so our members can become educated on issues of race and other pertinent matters. This includes, but is not limited to: viewing educational documentaries regarding race and other important topics, hosting book clubs and engaging in educational literature, hosting roundtable discussions for members to share their voice, and attending on campus events such as speakers or panels.
- We recognize that the history of our organizations are rooted in white supremacy, originally being places designed only for white women. We feel this aspect of our history should be included in our new member education to help further educate our future members and make sure the discussion of race in our organizations continues past our time as undergraduates. We feel our new members should be educated on the weaknesses in our organizations’ history in addition to our strengths. This includes our history of white supremacy and exclusion. We also feel our new members should be educated on the history of sorority women as activists. This includes the larger political context of Panhellenic sororities throughout history and how we can continue to further that legacy.
- We recognize that there are many financial burdens placed on our members which have discriminatory effects and limit access to our organizations. One of the ways this occurs is through fining systems present in our organizations for attendance, especially for Ritual Events. We believe our organizations should work to change the rhetoric around attendance and events in order to shift away from a fining system. We feel alternative systems to fining members should be established in a way that still encourages attendance and engagement in our organizations by our members. We also feel that important events, such as Ritual, should be shortened when possible, in accordance with our Inter/National Organizations guidelines, to help shift away from fining and to prevent taking our members away from work and other commitments longer than necessary.
- We recognize that if a bias incident or inappropriate behavior were to occur in our organizations, it is imperative that they are taken extremely seriously and handled diligently. We agree to use our organizational judicial processes to address bias and racism. We will work to make sure our members are educated on this process and feel comfortable reporting an incident without fear of retaliation. When necessary, we will encourage our members to report the incident to the University’s Bias Incident Report Form.
- We as the Panhellenic chapters feel it is important to stand in solidarity and take a stand against inappropriate actions of chapters in other councils (IFC and USFC). If a chapter has a racist, homophobic, or other allegation against them, we believe each of our chapters should commit to not socializing with them until the incident has been addressed and appropriate outcomes have been implemented. We will empower our members to report bias incidents they may witness in the other councils to the University's Bias Incident Report Form. The Greek councils are currently engaged in a marketing initiative to help educate our members on this resource and make students more aware of it. Incidents or issues witnessed by chapter members or chapter leadership can also be brought to the attention of the Collegiate Panhellenic Council, the Inter Fraternity Council, and the United Sorority & Fraternity Council as necessary.
- Certain events our organizations partake in often have themes in which members are encouraged to dress to theme. We wish to state that we will only dress in outfits that are not racially charged or culturally appropriated. We will be cautious in looking through a cultural lens to make sure the themes and outfits associated with an event are not perpetuating any cultural or offensive stereotypes or discriminatory in any way. If any of these things do occur, incidents should be reported to the respective councils.
- We recognize that in addition to efforts taken by our organizations, individual initiatives are also valuable. We will encourage our members to take individual action outside of their chapter to support anti-racism and other important causes. We will encourage advocacy in many avenues whether it be online, in person, locally, nationally, on-campus, or off-campus. This includes but is not limited to: encouraging our members to sign petitions, contact legislators and public officials, and take extra steps to educate themselves.
In addition to the areas we addressed above, we wish to address Recruitment specifically. Recruitment is a large part of our organizations as it is the way we grow and advance our chapters. We as the Panhellenic sorority chapters at UCSB wish to affirm our support for the following:
- Our chapters should not require active members to have certain hair styles for recruitment, acknowledging the discriminatory effects that practice may have as well as its role in promoting Eurocentric beauty standards.
- Our chapters should work to make clothing requirements for active members during recruitment as accessible as possible so members do not have to purchase clothing in an attempt to limit any unnecessary financial burdens put on chapter members.
- We will be intentional about preventing harmful practices that can occur during recruitment including but not limited to tokenism, microaggressions, and matching.
- While letters of recommendation have not historically been prominently used in our community, we recognize that the existence of this system has discriminatory effects which privilege those who have historically been allowed to join Panhellenic sororities and have had greater access to institutions of higher education. These practices can have racist effects, advantagening white women and disadvantaging women of color. In an effort to promote more inclusivity in our organizations and minimize barriers to joining, we as the UCSB Panhellenic chapters strongly discourage Potential New Members from submitting letters of recommendation and feel there is no need to do so because they add no value to our recruitment process. PNMs do not need to submit them to have a successful recruitment.
- Similar to letters of recommendation, legacy treatment puts those who have historically had access to join our organizations at an advantage. By treating legacies, those who have relatives in our organizations, differently than non-legacies during recruitment, there are discriminatory effects on women of color and first generation college students who may not have a history in Panhellenic sororities. In an effort to promote more inclusivity in our organizations and minimize barriers to joining, we as the UCSB Panhellenic chapters support the Panhellenic Council’s decision to stop collecting legacy information by removing the legacy reporting feature from our recruitment registration form effective September 1, 2020. Several of our national organizations have already made the decision to stop legacy treatment nationally or leave it up to the discretion of each chapter. We wish to show support for the national organizations (including those who don’t have chapters on this campus) who have chosen to take that important step. The following NPC organizations have made that choice: Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Phi, Alpha Xi Delta, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Sigma Sigma, Pi Beta Phi, and Sigma Sigma Sigma. We feel other NPC organizations should follow in the footsteps of their sister sororities and we are committed to championing this within our organizations.
In addition to the items outlined above, each respective chapter has engaged in their own initiatives to promote inclusivity. For more information, see the respective chapters' social media accounts.
Lastly, we wish to acknowledge that this letter is not exhaustive and there is more work to be done. Fostering inclusivity and fighting against racism in our organizations will remain an ongoing discussion and a priority for our organizations. We commit to continuing this conversation to work to become better than we were.
With Panhellenic Love,
Madison Tilner, Collegiate Panhellenic Council President
Sara Bredice, Alpha Chi Omega (ΑΧΩ) Outgoing Chapter President
Vanessa Hill, Alpha Chi Omega (ΑΧΩ) Incoming Chapter President
Wendy Zanker, Alpha Delta Pi (ΑΔΠ) Chapter President
Tabatha Stevens, Alpha Phi (ΑΦ) Chapter President
Molly deBoisblanc, Delta Gamma (ΔΓ) Chapter President
Sarah Bluman, Gamma Phi Beta (ΓΦΒ) Chapter President
Fiona Dolan, Kappa Alpha Theta (ΚΑΘ) Chapter President
Sammi Knotts, Kappa Kappa Gamma (ΚΚΓ) Chapter President
Jennifer Nyugen, Phi Sigma Rho (ΦΣΡ) Chapter President
Maggie Alves, Pi Beta Phi (ΠΒΦ) Chapter President