Student government members are approximately three times more likely to be involved with a Greek organization than the rest of the student body, according to SGA’s recently released State of Diversity Report. Seventy-two percent of SGA members are affiliated with a sorority or fraternity, while only 25 percent of the general student body participates in the Greek system.
Drake Pooley, Diversity and Multicultural Affairs committee chair, said the disparity most likely stems from lack of communication opportunities.
“It’s so easy to go to a chapter and speak for 30 seconds and reach 200 people,” Pooley said. “There aren’t many other places on campus you can do that.”
Students in Greek organizations are more likely to have higher socioeconomic backgrounds than their non-Greek peers, Pooley said.
“If you look at Greek Life, specifically fraternities, it’s not very diverse at all,” Pooley said. “In a perfect world, if Greek Life was fully diverse, I don’t think these would be too much of a problem.”
The other State of Diversity Report categories — race, gender, year, college and international students — were more balanced. The vast majority of the student body, 79.5 percent, and of SGA, 86.6 percent, identifies as white.
The only major disparity in the race category was the “other” option. The options listed on the survey included white; white, Hispanic; black or African-American; two or more races; Asian; and Hispanic. Approximately 7 percent of the student body chose “other.” Nobody in SGA identified with that option.
Women make up more than half of SGA. But, Pooley said, that might be misleading. Five out of seven executive board members and nine out of 11 assistant vice presidents are men. Women hold the majority of minor positions, however.
“I don’t think you need the report to see the problem,” Pooley said. “All you need to do is go to the website and see who holds the top positions.”
SGA President Jesse Westerhouse said a new SGA branch, outreach, was created this year to combat the diversity issue.
“Communication with sororities and fraternities is so streamlined,” Westerhouse said. “Greek organizations kind of have an advantage when it comes to getting people ready. (The outreach branch) will be tasked with going around campus and keeping people updated with what we’re doing. We’ll have a presence in big organizations and small organizations.”
Harlan Bailey, appointee for assistant vice president of outreach, said he’s still figuring out his new position at SGA’s Feb. 29 meeting.
“Since it’s new, I have a bunch of questions, and if you have a bunch of questions, ask me,” Bailey said. “And if you have any suggestions, also let me know because we are looking for outreach from SGA.”
Claire Tully contributed to this report.
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