All students in Greek organizations come from upper-class backgrounds. Only those with legacy status will be recruited into certain houses. First years living in Old Dorms have a recruitment advantage over those living in New Dorms.
Stereotypes such as these, coupled with the lack of formal statistics to refute them, prompted the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life to undertake a census project.
The census was distributed to the chapters of the Inter-Sorority Council and the Multicultural Greek Council. Plans are yet to be made for distribution of a census to the other two Greek governing councils, the Inter-Fraternity Council and the Black Fraternal Council.
Meghan van Horne, graduate intern for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, proposed the idea of distributing a census after attending an ISC Executive Board meeting several weeks ago during which some questions were raised that could not be answered given the lack of current resources and statistical information, ISC President Cahill Zoeller said.
"She decided that the best way to get these answers was by conducting a census," Zoeller said.
The censuses were given to chapter presidents for distribution among their members over a month ago, Multicultural Greek Council President Melody Han said.
The majority of chapters from both councils have completed the censuses and Van Horne is in the process of compiling the data.
Van Horne was unavailable for comment yesterday.
"One of the reasons we did this was to find out who we are actually recruiting," said Chris McGill, program coordinator for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, who supervised the process. "There are a lot of stereotypes associated with people in fraternities and sororities and the census breaks down those stereotypes."
Statistics drawn from the censuses will help address common criticisms of sorority women, Zoeller said.
Census questions included general background information such as name of sorority or Greek organization, year, school and ethnic background.
Other questions addressed whether members have University or Greek organization legacy status, pay membership dues on their own or through scholarships, are involved with other student organizations or work part-time jobs, Zoeller said.
"In terms of ethnicity and cultural background, the census was helpful in gauging differences among the councils," Han said. "When people think of multiculturalism, they think it's just about minorities, but it's about diversity in the truest sense of the word."
Each chapter will have access to its own data once it is compiled. Plans for an official report or formal distribution have not yet been made, McGill said.
The data will be useful in assessing areas for strengthening recruitment efforts.
"We noticed that a lot of women were coming from old dorms," McGill said. "This indicates on a broader scale the need for more recruitment efforts in new dorms."
In addition, the census will provide statistics that can be used in orientation sessions and recruitment brochures.
"When parents, administrators and the women themselves are asking questions at different forums, you want to be as accurate as you can in portraying your organization," Zoeller said. "These numbers bring us closer to having the most defined picture of our membership as possible."
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