Searching for Synthesis: Stopping Stereotypes

While an undergraduate, I had the unique opportunity to be an out lesbian and a member of an international sorority, Delta Delta Delta. I was presented with a similar conundrum in graduate school as the InterFraternity Council advisor and then Panhellenic Advisor while still being open about my sexuality and gender expression. Many of my colleagues in student affairs seem to believe that my sexuality and sorority membership or two years of working with the University of Massachusetts Amherst sorority and fraternity communities are contradictory parts of my identity. While there are times I am inclined to feel frustrated by the lack of synthesis between my experiences, I still believe in the potential to initiate social justice education within a sorority and fraternity system. This essay is a personal reflection of my experiences as a lesbian, masculine female, fraternity advisor, sorority advisor, and member of a sorority. I have also included some of the tools that I used to begin the conversation of social justice during my work with sorority women and fraternity men