Department of Educational Administration
Date of this Version
2021
Citation
Garcia, C. E., Walker, W., Bradley, S. E., Smith, K. (2021). Sorority and fraternity life: Examining racial discourse via institutional websites. Journal of College Student Development, 62(5), 547-562.
Abstract
Scholarship has provided some insight into inequities that exist within sorority and fraternity life (SFL), whereas members of culturally based sororities and fraternities within Multicultural Greek Councils (MGC) and National Pan-Hellenic Councils (NPHC) report being treated as inferior to those in historically white organizations. However, few studies have examined institutional efforts to render culturally based sororities and fraternities visible to campus communities. This qualitative critical discourse analysis examined how SFL offices at 18 research universities in the southeastern United States communicated information about councils through institutional SFL web pages. Findings show that few communities attempted to represent council information equally, with MGC and NPHC most often underrepresented within these spaces. Using tenets from critical race theory and critical whiteness studies, we describe three forms of discourse apparent through our analysis of SFL web pages: discourse of color evasiveness, discourse of erasure, and discourse of equality. Research and practice implications are discussed.