Overcoming stereotypes in sororities and fraternities
The panhellenic council accounts for over two-thirds of the total organizations in UF’s Greek life. Although each council represents something unique, there is
6 | spring 2020
Pi Delta Psi is one of the only Asian American fraternities in the multicultural council at UF. When asked to describe the brotherhood of Pi Delta Psi, Andrew Pero, the president of the organization, compared his experience at Pi Delta Psi with his time at Sigma Pi, a large panhellenic fraternity his brother founded at the University of Central Florida. Pero said when his brother returned to the fraternity he founded a couple of years after graduation, no one really knew who he was. He contrasted this with the tightknit brotherhood at the UF chapter of Pi Delta Psi. In the Pi Delta Psi chapter at UF, there are only about 20 active members, in comparison to the panhellenic fraternities and sororities with over 100 active
members per organization. Lili Tzou, the president of alpha Kappa Delta Phi, shared a very similar experience. She said that alpha Kappa Delta Phi, an Asian American sorority in the multicultural council, only had about 33 active members. Tzou also emphasized that although the size of her chapter may not be as big as a panhellenic one, their sisterhood is very strong. Tzou compared some panhellenic pledge classes of over 80 girls who may not know everyone’s name to the 32 people she sees and spends time with every week. Along with being underrepresented in numbers, Asian American Greek organizations face other issues such as stereotyping. Pero addressed this issue
design/ Kaylyn Ling
At the University of Florida there are a total of 64 fraternities and sororities, with a total of four councils separating them. These include the panhellenic council, the national panhellenic council, the interfraternity council and the multicultural council.
still an underrepresentation of Asian Americans and other minority groups throughout Greek life at UF.
photo/ Michael Bryan Ortega
W
hen you think of a sorority girl, what do you picture? Maybe a blonde white girl in an oversized t-shirt clutching onto her Starbucks. What about a frat boy? Possibly a shirtless white boy chugging a beer. Although these descriptions may fit some people in Greek life, there is a large variety of students who are not fully represented in this social aspect of college.
by Georgia Meadow
When Asian Americans Go Greek
