Running Head: National Pan-Hellenic Council 1

National Pan-Hellenic Council

Matthew Cheatham and Megan Lorincz

Virginia Tech

National Pan-Hellenic Council

National Pan-Hellenic Council 2

Introduction

There are several different councils that comprise an institutions Fraternity and Sorority

Life (Greek Life) office. The different councils at Virginia Tech include the Interfraternity

Council (IFC), National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), Panhellenic Council (PHC), and the

United Council of Fraternities and Sororities (UCFS) (Councils, n.d.). Each one has its own

unique purpose and group of students that they serve at the institution. For example, NPHC is a

governing council comprised of the nine traditionally Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLO)

and tends to attract African American students as members. The organizations that make up

NPHC were initially created as clubs that benefited the social interest and collegiate

developmental growth of its black members at a time when black students were not readily

welcomed on college campuses (Finkelmen, 2009; Kimbrough, 1995). Today, many campuses

are more welcoming to students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds than in previous

decades, yet these traditionally black organizations remain a safe harbor for many black students

that are no longer barred from joining traditionally white organizations. Clearly, there are

positive experiences and benefits that are associated with joining a BGLO that keeps students

involved and keeps these organizations alive, which begs the question how has being a member

of a National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternal organization impacted students collegiate

experiences?

Positionality Statements

Personally, I come from a mixed background. However, I have associated myself with

white culture for as long as I can remember. At times, I am accepted as passing as white, while

other times, I am asked for my racial heritage background, so I have the unique experience of

being both white and not-white simultaneously. I can see how I come across as the white
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majority, but I believe I have an understanding of what it means to be othered that may impact

my interpretation of stories during our research. Next, I am a cisgender, heterosexual female. I

cannot relate to what it is like being a fraternity man, gay, straight or otherwise. I may struggle to

understand some of the questions surrounding masculinity because that is a part of society with

which I have never had to conform. Finally, I was a member of a National Panhellenic Sorority,

so I have some ties to the Greek letter community. I have a base knowledge of NPHC through

my interactions, and I may have some preconceived notions from my past because I knew

members in NPHC during my undergraduate years. I also serve the Virginia Tech Fraternity and

Sorority community as a Graduate Assistant, so while I do not work with NPHC specifically, I do

work with colleagues that do. I often hear updates about NPHC from an administrative

perspective, which I might bring to conversations with students. I need to be aware that I may be

perceived as an authority figure, and I need to mitigate my prior knowledge in interactions.

Something important to note before conducting any research on the NPHC and the

culture that makes up that population is to acknowledge my own positionality as a researcher. I

would identify as a white, heterosexual, Christian, male who grew up in the suburbs outside of

Richmond, Virginia. Since I have grown up in white culture, I do not have many experiences

with other diverse cultures and how they differ. Also, I am not affiliated with a social or service

fraternal organization, so I do not have any ties to the Greek letter community or culture.

Because I am not affiliated, the only knowledge of Greek letter organizations comes from my

friends who were members of the community, so my base knowledge is rather skewed towards

their views. My work with Housing and Residence Life exposes me to a variety of people and

cultures, but the culture of NPHC is one that I still have not had the opportunity to experience
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here at Virginia Tech. This is my fifth year at Virginia Tech, so I do have a rather strong grasp on

the culture of the university and the lack of diversity on campus.

Racial Differences in Fraternities

Before looking too deeply at the research related to the National Pan-Hellenic Council,

one should understand the significant differences between the organizations within the NPHC

and the historically white fraternities. Even the reason behind the creation of the fraternities is

different with Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLO) as they were created with

macropolitical roots as socio-political movements (McClure, 2006, p. 60). On the other

hand, historically white fraternities were originally created to have social clubs for the elite white

men at universities. Another facet that is different between the two types of organizations

includes when the students typically join the fraternity. For historically white fraternities,

students usually join during their freshmen year whereas, for BLGOs, they typically join later in

the college career (McClure, 2006, p. 60). In addition to when students join these organizations,

the rushing or pledging process differs between the two types of organizations. For historically

white fraternities, the rush or pledge process is rather public and everyone knows the specific

organization that you are trying to join. However, for BLGOs, this is more of a secretive process

that very few individuals are supposed to know which organization an individual is attempting to

join or really any information related to that process (Kimbrough, 2009). There are several other

components that are different between the fraternities that include the attitude or focus of the

fraternity, the structure or function of the university, and the students backgrounds coming into

college.

BLGOs have a greater focus or emphasis on community service and can provide an

opportunity for a social outlet for the undergraduate minority population (McClure, 2006, p. 61).
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However, historically white fraternities typically focus on social priorities and provide plenty of

activities for the members of the organization (McClure, 2006, p. 61). As previously mentioned

another component that separates the two types of fraternities is the structure or function of the

organization. For historically white fraternities, they are usually larger organizations and can

share a house that is owned by that institutions chapter (McClure, 2006, p. 61). While BLGOs

are rather smaller with, typically smaller than historically white fraternities, and they do not

usually share a house that the organization owns (McClure, 2006, p. 61). Another stereotype

that can also be considered a difference between the two types of organizations is the students

socioeconomic class. For BLGOs, the average student comes from a lower socioeconomic class

versus for the historically white fraternities, students typically come from middle to upper

socioeconomic classes and could determine some of their motivations for being at college and

what they want to accomplish (McClure, 2006, p. 62).

Masculinity

When looking at the history of African American students in colleges, there tends to be a

negative perception of black men. They are said to be emotionally hardened and shutoff from

their emotions at times, and, as mentioned previously, they typically come from mostly urban

and poor areas (McClure, 2006, p. 62). McClure noticed after interviewing several of the

members of these BLGOs that joining one of the organizations was a clear departure from these

negative images (McClure, 2006, p. 63). She found that these organizations in her study could

assist those students who really wanted to succeed in college and not fall into the stereotypical

negative black man lifestyle. Although this happened in the organizations McClure studied, we

cannot generalize this to all BGLO, but we can still see similar traits in these organizations

across the country. One member identified the reason behind joining the fraternity was that you
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see these guys at a party having fun like everyone else and the next day youll see them in

business attire doing a professional program (McClure, 2006, p. 64). This new age of black

students on college campuses shows that students want to be successful and to be seen more in a

positive light as a black man on campus. However, we are not saying that students in the past or

students who are not in these organizations are not successful, but that there is a positive

correlation from being in a BGLO.

Another component that falls within masculinity includes what happens when gay

individuals want to join a fraternal organization. This is a topic that is rather prevalent today,

especially with the heightened cultural awareness, and connects with the social advocacy that

some organizations are doing. According to Stewart, gay membership in a BGLO impacts

hazing, whether some brothers want to remain active and how the organizations impact

communities (Stewart, 2014, p. 11). Additionally, having gay black males in their fraternal

organization challenges their fundamental ideas about brotherhood, loyalty, trustworthiness,

and, most importantly, masculinity (DeSantis and Coleman, 2008, p. 291). Both of those quotes

identify how the culture within BGLO is not always the most accepting of gay members and

some say that the black community is more homophobic than its white counterpart (DeSantis

and Coleman, 2008, p. 291). While this might be surprising it could help explain why gay black

males either do not feel welcome in the fraternity. In this one example the idea that a guy who is

gay is not getting in my frat is evident and when an openly gay male tried to join the fraternity

this is what happened: He was not welcome. He knew it. We never saw him again (DeSantis

and Coleman, 2008, p. 299-300). All of the said, the concept of masculinity can be partially

defined by a students sexual orientation and could cause issues within a fraternity if there were

students who did not identify as heterosexual.

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Hazing / Traditions

Hazing is an issue that continues to plague the fraternity and sorority community as a

whole. McKenzie (1986) and Kershner (1978) claim that fraternal hazing has its origin in

upperclassmen hazing freshman, which became a part of American collegiate culture as far back

as the 1850s; black fraternities experienced hazing as collegiate underclassmen and, in turn,

implemented hazing practices in their fraternities, which they learned from their undergraduate

institutions (as cited in Kimbrough, 2009). Crump (1983) hypothesizes the reason that black

fraternities and sororities were created were so that black students could have some kind of

organization to protect their interests, and to afford some systematic means of providing

wholesome recreation and social pleasures (as cited in Kimbrough, 1995, p. 2). Historically

black fraternities did not create the process of hazing, but the practice has become more violent

in some cases as the organizations have aged (Kimbrough, 1995; Kimbrough, 2009; Jones, 2000;

Parks & Dorsey, 2013). Many of the historically black organizations participate in underground

pledging, which means the pledging process is secret, which makes hazing potentially easier for

chapters due to lack of outside scrutiny (Kimbrough, 2009). It is the hope of organizations that

hazing rituals bond members because of the shared experience and trial in order to create

continuity and structure within the organization (Jones, 2000, p. 113; Kimbrough, 2009). In the

1990s, the leadership of eight NPHC organizations met to revamp their new member intake

process in the hopes to shift chapters away from hazing activities and move towards a more

education-based pledging system, but students have pushed back because they feel as though the

national organizations have taken away a key element in the collegiate members bonding

process (Kimbrough, 2009). Parks and Dorsey (2013) claim that it is the role of student affairs

professionals to help guide and mentor traditionally black fraternities away from hazing, but,
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currently, professionals are deficient and lack the requisite cultural competence in order to

properly advise these organizations (p. 126). While there have been multiple attempts at a

solution to ending hazing within black fraternities, there has yet to be a conclusion on how best

to tackle the problem.

Involvement

Despite the potential negatives associated with membership to a black fraternity, there

has been research done which supports the idea that being a member of a traditionally black

fraternal or sororal organization can actually lead to increased campus involvement and

improved leadership skills (Kimbrough, 1995; Kimbrough & Hutcheson, 1998; Patton, Flowers,

& Bridges, 2011). According to Patton et al. (2011), African American students in Greek-letter

organizations were more engaged in effective education practices at historically black colleges

and universities (HBCUs) as compared to the same population at predominantly white

institutions (PWIs); overall, affiliation in general was associated with more involvement on

college campuses (p. 119). Kimbrough and Hutchison (1998) experienced similar results when

they discovered that students affiliated with black Greek-letter organizations were more involved

on both HBCU and PWI campuses with the added information that black fraternal students were

more confident in their leadership abilities as compared to black students not in black Greek-

letter organizations. Kimbrough (1995) found in an earlier study that over half of the students

researched in traditionally black fraternities and sororities found that their leadership had

improved since joining the organization (p. 6). In that same study, black students in a Greek-

letter organization considered themselves leaders at a level of 92.6% even though not all of

them held an official organization office at that time, yet students in fraternities and sororities

were found to be active in at least two or more other groups and held a position in another club
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(Kimbrough, 1995, p. 5-6). In short, there is value in joining black fraternities, which is, in part,

why they still exist today.

Research Plan

In reviewing the literature, we were able to identify four main topic areas within existing

research revolving around NPHC membership, including racial differences between IFC and

NPHC organizations, masculinity, traditions/hazing, and involvement. Based on existing

research, we developed four hypotheses that ultimately answer our research question of how

membership in an NPHC organization impacts students experiences in college. Our first

hypothesis is that being a member of an NPHC fraternal organization does change a students

collegiate experience for better or for worse. It is too soon to say if the experience is completely

negative or positive, but a type of change does occur through being a member. Next, we believe

that becoming a member of a traditionally black fraternity can lead to members becoming better

men because they are able to witness other black males acting in professional settings. With this

hypothesis we are not implying that those black men joining the organizations are not good

men, but that they will just become better by joining the organizations. Another hypothesis is that

NPHC fraternal membership increases overall campus engagement. Research implies that once

students join a BGLO, they are more likely to get involved in other campus organizations and,

potentially, take on leadership roles, which is a shift in a students experience prior to being in a

traditionally black fraternity. Finally, we believe that traditions play a large role in members

lives, because at the core of traditions are rituals, which in turn are grounded in values. The

entire reason Greek letter organizations were created were to help students feel accepted and

improve the world around them through the use of values. Students who join these organizations

are frequently reminded of their values, which they are more likely to incorporate into their day-
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to-day lives, shifting away from how they were before they joined their Greek lettered

organization. In summary, our hypotheses are as follows:

Being a member of this organization has affected their collegiate

experience.
Being a member of this organization has made them a better man.
Being a member of this organization has increased involvement of

the student.
Being a member of this organization exposes the student to

traditions which impact his daily life.

As mentioned above, there were four different hypotheses that we were able to come up

with based on the literature that we found. After establishing these hypotheses, we were able to

create several questions that we have for members of the organization within the NPHC, the

Theta Psi chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi. For the first hypothesis, that being a member of the

organization would have affected their collegiate experience, we thought of these questions:

How has your college experience changed since joining your

fraternity?
Is there anything that you would change about your fraternity or

your fraternity experience?

If you were conducting this study, what would you do?
What story can you recount that would help me better understand

your experience?
Who would agree or disagree on your views about your fraternity?

As for the second hypothesis, that being a member of the organization had made them a better

man, it came from the idea of masculinity and its role within traditionally black fraternal

organizations. From that, these questions were created:

Do you feel like you are a better man because of your fraternal

experience? Why or why not?

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Being a member of the organization has caused the student to increase their involvement at the

institution is the third hypothesis formed and is based on the literature that was found on

involvement with the fraternal organizations who are members of NPHC. The questions for this

hypothesis include:

Have you gotten more involved on campus or taken on more

leadership roles since joining the organization? If so, expand or describe in more

detail.

The fourth and last hypothesis is related to how traditions play a large role in the experience of

the members in the organization. These questions include:

What roles do tradition and ritual play in your chapter?

Why are traditions and rituals so important or not?

As of right now, Kappa Alpha Psi does not have many events on their calendar. We

intentionally want to go to organization specific events in order to get to know the Kappas and

see them in their element, independent of NPHC. For Kappa specific events, we plan on

attending the St. Jude Stroll Off on February 25th and the new member presentation sometime

later in the month of March, which has yet to be officially released. There were two other events

on the Kappa calendar, but we did not believe a pre-game and the PN (also known as Pretty

Nasty) events would be conducive to proper research. That being said, NPHC has a few events

on the calendar that may also provide time to interact with members, such as the NPHC

Executive Board weekly meetings and an upcoming Laser Tag event. The current president of

NPHC is a Kappa Alpha Psi, so these are potential opportunities to not only connect with him,

but also to talk about leadership and involvement outside of his own organization. These general

NPHC events allow us to really dig into the entire BGLO community and get a glimpse of what

it might be like to be a part of the Divine Nine. Next, our hope is that we will be able to attend a
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chapter meeting or an executive board meeting for Kappa Alpha Psi. We have plans to reach out

via email with each of the four members directly to set up one-on-one conversations, but we are

also open to holding a group discussion due to the smaller size of the Theta Psi chapter outside of

chapter organized events.

Kappa Alpha Psi is not particularly active on social media. When the organization does

post, they tend to utilize social media as one of their main forms for advertising events and other

important notifications for the fraternity, such as recent awards or honors. Currently, they have an

Instagram (@thetaspinupes), Twitter (@ThetaPsiNupes), and Facebook. The Instagram account

was created last year and is only really used to advertise upcoming events and celebrating current

or former members of the organization. The Twitter account is used for rather similar purposes,

but also used to acknowledge other NPHC organizations, Black Student Alliance, and other

organizations at Virginia Tech. On the other hand, the Facebook page has only been used once

since Spring 2016 and seems to be their least active social media outlet. Even though their social

media pages on not that active, they are still the main ways for communicating events with

GobblerConnect as the only other location for events or information to be posted.

References

Councils. (n.d.). Virginia Tech Fraternity and Sorority Life. Retrieved from

http://fsl.vt.edu/organizations/councils.html.

DeSantis, A. D. and Coleman, M. (2008). Not on My Line: Attitudes about Homosexuality in

Black Fraternities. In G. Parks (Ed.). Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First

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Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun (291-312). Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of

Kentucky.

Finkelmen, P. (2009). Fraternities, university, and college. Encyclopedia of African American

History 1896 to the Present. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from

http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195167795.0

01.0001/acref-9780195167795-e-0451?rskey=Z8pW97&result=1.

Jones, R. (2000). The historical significance of sacrificial ritual: Understanding violence in the

modern black fraternity pledge process. Western Journal of Black Studies, 24(2), 112-

124.

Kimbrough, W. (1995). Self-assessment, participation, and value of leadership skills, activities,

and experiences for black students relative to their membership in historically black

fraternities and sororities. Journal of Negro Education, 64(1). Retrieved from https://0-

search-proquest-com.read.cnu.edu/docview/222060699?accountid=10100

Kimbrough, W. (2009). The membership intake movement of historically black greek-letter

organizations. National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Inc. Journal,

46(4), 603-613.

Kimbrough, W., & Hutcheson, P. (1998). The impact of membership in black greek-letter

organizations on black students involvement in collegiate activities and their development

of leadership skills. Journal of Negro Education, 67(2), 96-105.

McClure, S. M. (2006). Improving Masculinity: African American Fraternity Membership in the

Construction of a Black Masculinity. Journal of African American Studies, 10(1), 57-73.

Parks, G., & Dorsey, S. (2013). Student affairs professionals, black greek hazing, and

university civil liability. College Student Affairs Journal, 31(2), 125-138.

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Patton, L., Flowers, L., & Bridges, B. (2011). Effects of greek affiliation of african american

students engagement: Differences by college racial composition. College Student Affairs

Journal, 29(2), 113-123.

Stewart, P. (2014). Going Greek: While Many Black Greek Organizations Celebrate Centennials,

Criticism Grows of Their Relevance. Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 31(2), 10-11.