Three two one, (clap) hello and welcome back everyone my name is Sienna Kaske I use she and her pronouns and I am the AYA women of color initiative leadership liaison. And hello everyone my name’s Tamara Lash I use she and her pronouns and I’m the Aya Women of
Color graduate assistant. As we do with every episode we’re gonna start off with the land acknowledgement. Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes dreams and energy to making this history that led to this moment. Some are brought here
Against their will some are drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Truth and acknowledgement are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We begin this
Effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth what we now call Corvallis Oregon is located within the traditional homelands of the Mary’s River or Ampinefu band of Kalapuya. Today living descendants of these people are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde community of Oregon and the
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians we pay respect to their elders past and present please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence displacement migration and settlement that bring us together here today. So for today’s episode we are chatting with some of the amazing women of culturally
Based Greeks on campus. So let’s go ahead and let them introduce themselves. Hi my name is Stephanie Plata and I am the executive director of the multicultural Greek Council as well as the vice president and a proud member of Gamma
Alpha Omega Sorority Incorporated. Hi my name is Alexis Valadez, I am the director of event programming and public relations for the multicultural Greek Council and I’m also the president of Gamma Alpha Omega Sorority Incorporated sorry my pronouns are she her hers and yeah. And my name is Dominique Holman, I am a
Representative of the National Pan-Hellenic Council here at OSU. I’m also a member of the Sigma Delta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. My pronouns are she her hers. We’d love if you can just kind of walk us through
Your journey and how you found your org. Start it wherever whoever feels called to speak first. spring ’18, spring ’17 (laughter) So I am from out of state. I’m from Sacramento California area so I wanted to leave home to come
To college because I just, my whole family and my whole life has been there but I was ready for something new and so I decided to come to Oregon State originally for pharmacy school but that didn’t work out. But I wanted to be
Involved in a way that was something new. My parents had never been to college so I was like why not try Greek life and so I actually did go through Pan-Hellenic recruitment and so I did rush for two days and when I was there I didn’t feel
Really connected or I felt like represented in the way that I felt I was and so I decided to drop and it was at least I think winter term when I saw I was studying in the SEC lounge yeah and I saw Greeks outside
Like strolling and I heard music and I was like what is this like I need to know more about this and so I looked outside and just saw like a jacket with Greek letters on it and I
Was like what is this and so I searched it up and I actually found out that there is multicultural Greeks on campus and I was really excited and I found that Gamma Alpha Omega was Latina founded I was like wow that’s really cool and so I
Actually ended up emailing them I reached out and I was like I really want to know more about your organization and like what it holds and so when I met everyone it was at the time for but or four of them and so I was really nervous
But I was excited and they honestly opened like their arms wide open and like were like you seem really nice and like we’d love to get to know you more like we really want to be that support system and for me being out of
State and I was really having a hard time connecting to campus I felt really safe and comfortable with them and so I decided to join and I yeah it was the best my decision. It’s brought a lot out of me and it’s made me kind of like who
I am and made me very confident in myself and how I carry myself. Awesome. Well I was… like when I first came to OSU I like automatically wrote off like Greek life just from what I saw in the movies and TV shows I was just like no this isn’t for me.
But it wasn’t really until I knew there were like culturally based organizations or Greek organizations but it didn’t really like I didn’t really try to like go in-depth and to see like what more there was and it wasn’t until I want to
Say maybe two years or no I think it was my sophomore year that I like saw the Phi Beta Sigma so they had members come out and they’re one of the fraternities within the NPHC and I was like oh my gosh like this is
Pretty cool so then I started doing a little bit more research in to see what the sororities were because in the NPHC there are four sororities and there are five fraternities, so a total of nine. So then I did my research and I
Remember there was a probate happening this was my junior year now at this point and there was a probate happening in Eugene for AKA and a probate is basically like the introduction of the newest members in the chapter. So then I attended that and it was pretty amazing like seeing all
The women there and in their pink and green and I was like “so cute” so then leaving there that day I was like okay this is I think this is what I want to do so I did my research even more and then later that
Spring that of that year I… I joined. So it was pretty… it’s been amazing like I’ve met so many of my best friends um closest like peers and supporters and I’ve met so many different women who have just been here on this journey with
Me to shape me into like the woman who I am today so I really wouldn’t be the same without my chapter did you bring it back to OSU yes so like our chapter is a dual chapter so we have UO and OSU so
We’re all one chapter under Sigma Delta and before so Spring, or no, Fall 17 when they came there was only they were only at University of Oregon so yeah so when me and Amber she’s she graduated this past year we were the only ones on this
Campus sh yeah it’s been very great though. Cool. Like I’ve been holding it down. What about you Steph? Um so I was a transfer student. Um a little like backstory I went to study in Colorado for a little bit and that kinda wasn’t
Fitting me and so I went to like another junior college. So it was like a junior college to a junior college and then I moved here. And so I really like didn’t have like that kind of traditional sense where I was like oh like there’s all
This stuff to do when you’re freshmen because I was just like get my degree and then see where it kind of takes me and just like kind of being here I knew that I wanted to do something more in the community because I was really involved
It like my other junior colleges as well as like in high school I’ve always wanted to be a part of something and like help plan and do things like just having a community and being a part of like a group of people who are just
Doing work and towards one like one complete goal and so I actually moved in with some random roommates. I lived in an apartment where like they kind of like randomly match you up and one of them was actually in a CGC chapter and so she’s like hey like go
Ahead like come on like feel free to come to recruitment and like I just like okay like I’ll just get a taste of it and I never really heard back from them so it’s like okay maybe like I didn’t fit them or they didn’t fit me and then
I’d heard that another like Pan-Hellenic chapter was doing like COB, like continuous open bidding and sometimes that just happens when they need to fill some spots in their chapter houses or their chapter facilities or they just have
Some openings and I also didn’t make it in that one was as well but I think throughout that process I didn’t really fit the same way like I didn’t make the connections that I did until I like went to like a bienvenidos event and I was
Able to like, I think I actually met with Alexis honestly and like just talking like it felt a lot more natural and I felt more comfortable and like I could embrace myself a little bit more because I noticed like when I first did that like
That was for a whole year I didn’t really joined like my second year here like I could just tell I kind of like changed myself to try to fit in but like when I was there like I… just talking to Alexis and like some of the other
Sisters who were there I just don’t really like welcomed and like I didn’t have to like I feel like I had to change myself to like be accepted or like so just even have like the opportunity to talk to them so that was like my first
Experience kind of seeing like multicultural orgs and then they had like a game night that night, like you should come, and I was like okay and then like I went and I just had like a blast and just like seeing how close everyone
Was and they like really you did that like home away from home that I really like was kind of craving being so far away and not really having that for a whole year and feeling like and during that year I was like really really upset
And sad and like I wasn’t doing really good academically but like as soon as like joining like I felt like encouraged and I felt like supported and it was like everything that I really needed and honestly the reason why I’m still here
Probably hidden I’m so like integrated into the communities because of my sisters. Amazing. Can you like walk us through a little bit all of the acronyms because your girl doesn’t know what is going on (laughter) so like what is maybe starting off with the difference between like NPHC and
Multicultural Greeks. And then like from there there’s just so many acronyms. I was like, I’m listening, but what’s going on? Just for like our viewers too. Well NPHC stands for the National Pan-Hellenic Council and it just encompasses the historically black Greek letter organizations of course we’re not
Exclusive to just black people or people who identify as black and you want to talk about MGC? Yeah I mean I’d like to like say a little bit of the history like MGC organizations like really don’t exist or wouldn’t be able to exist
Without NPHC so I think we have a lot of honor and like thankfulness that their existence was able to lead the way for us to be able to exist as well because without them yeah like we wouldn’t have that ability too. Dominique is like yeah. But in that sense like we
Exist to like you know be that space that’s kind of outside that so we are at least MGC supports like our multicultural and culturally based so those who identify within that or even outside of that and just like willing to like have that experience and learn and just kind of create that community
Within like people who may not identify as like the majority. Right there’s definitely like a closeness between like our two councils just yeah because of the history which is like at least for NPHC and I feel like MGC as well like we were created specifically because during a time in the early 1900s
When black people weren’t allowed into your traditional PHC and IFC fraternities and sororities so there’s just like kind of bond over that history. Like a sad history but like it unites us. Yeah. So I’ve seen a lot of Instagram
That y’all… both of your sororities have a lot of connections with U of O so is that out of necessity because there’s not many like people of color in Oregon or is that just because we’re close by, or like how does that relationship work? So for us recently our U of O chapter
Just came back. They were dormant for some time and one of our alum actually brought them back with some other sisters so it’s really nice. They’ve only been since the beginning of fall, they now have 15 members. Wow. They’ve grown a lot.
So we’re really happy to actually finally have a chapter near close by to us our nears chapter was University of Washington which is four hours away. Wow. So it’s nice that we have that connection of sisters that are only like an hour
Away. It’s still some distance but we’re trying to connect as much as we can and like we understand like they’re newer and they’re trying to figure out everything and so we’re trying… we’re trying to build that bridge together and
Like we understand that like it’s hard to be in a multicultural Greek on campus sometimes and so yeah we’re actually planning to do a paddle exchange soon. Oh that’s fun! Decorate a little paddle and like have their like nicknames and like the things they like
On it so it’d be pretty fun. Yeah. And then your sorority is like a joint. Yeah so it’s like a school chapter so like it’s not too common but yeah so my chapter was chartered on both campuses so yeah. It’s pretty cool I actually
Really… at first when I first heard about it I was like like oh wow that’s interesting like I never heard of that and it benefited me quite a bit just because I never would have been able to meet any of those girls out there and
Now we have like this one thing unifying us like although there are rivals (laughter) But at the end of the day it’s like all love. That’s really cool. So what does the paddle represent? I’ve seen the movies I’ve seen it and like with people doing exchanges but
What is it actually? Can you tell us? I think like if you like kind of go back to like what stereotypical or like what you think of like through like hazing and different things like that has like some sort of like history with
It but I think now it’s kind of evolved into just like a gift or like offering that like you do look like you’re big and little or just like something that you want to do as like a gift for like a fellow sister or like another member of
A different organization some people like to do that. I think they’re just like physical symbols that like you just gift. So I think like what is y’all’s overall hope for each of your sororities? Growth, representation. Like here on campus like we’re
Here like we’re just as important as PHC and IFC and CGC. Yeah I think especially seeing like being also on the council for MGC’s like seeing and PHC grow like and also our MDC chapters like we have a Native American sorority I would love to
See grow. We have also a second latina sorority and like I just want to see everybody grow and see the community grow because it’s nice knowing like you have that community. Especially when you’re like going to Greek life and
Sometimes you may not connect with some people I think like think about my own like experience and like it’s just nice knowing you can see people be like hey like mm-hmm we get each other like you know like we’re there we found that special connection and so yeah. A lot of
You talked about as you’re going through your stories and how you found your orgs like the importance of that community and so can you speak to me a little bit or like the both of us about what having that community here at Oregon State
Has meant for you especially being a predominantly white school, and how being a part of MGC or NPHC has maybe like you like you said it made you want to stay. Like it’s the reason why you’re here and maybe why. I just
Feel like it is so hard going to a university where like going to a PWI like so when I first came to OSU I was kind of shocked I don’t really visit before so I didn’t know what to expect even though I’m from Oregon but still just
Never made had the time to go visit so when I did come here I was just a little surprised that there it was just there wasn’t much black people or people of color just in general. So I went to
The black cultural center on campus and they house our… the divine nine or the NPHC. So… seeing those, because there was a lot of there was some Greeks there at the time too so being able to be a part of something with other women
Who you know embody the same values that you do and can understand the struggle of what it’s like being going through college at a PWI it just kind of helped bond more and like gave you all that camaraderie so that’s kind of what it
Was for me. I feel like I definitely agree with Dom like I didn’t do my Start program here so I did it in San Francisco because it was closer and cheaper for my family so honestly I didn’t know about a lot of
The resources on campus I just applied to get a job to work at the dining hall so like I was just connected in that sense like I only knew the dining hall and my classes and so I was just very to myself… experiencing… like I felt
Alone a lot of the times it was really hard for me my freshman year and so I think I was trying to find that connection and so when I did Pan-Hellenic I didn’t feel it and so I was kind of just like okay well we’ll see how
This year turns out like it was really a am I gonna stay or am I gonna leave and so that winter when I finally met and like learned about multicultural Greeks I think it was kind of a hope for me because I felt like it was a way for
Me to connect with other woman that kind of looked like me and felt the same way as me so it definitely was very nice and I think like something I’m proud about for our like a sorority in general is like we have different identities and
Different cultures and so I think it’s really beautiful when like we can all come together and be like we’re here to help support you through your academic journey and like we know that you’re struggling and like it’s hard claiming
Yourself on here but like we’re gonna do it and we’re gonna do together and we’re gonna succeed. I agree like having that like a shared experience like and I think because maybe we’re both out of state like and just like showing our
Experiences now like they’re very similar in like a sense like we did have that moment of being like a loner not knowing where we fit in or like how to like navigate through the space of being at a PWI and like not looking
The same or not like maybe having the same interests as some of the people here so like yeah just having that like shared experience was like good to know that it was like kind of already there I didn’t have to explain myself or I didn’t
Have to like explain why I was feeling certain ways or why I like how to like do certain things or why I tried so hard to fit in sometimes so I I really agree with that as well and I think that’s what made me stay was like knowing that
Like I didn’t have to explain those I mean even like if I did have other things in my experiences like I would be accepted for it and I wouldn’t be like shunned away or I wouldn’t like be thought of differently like it was just
Like, just love and like open arms the whole time. That’s really cool. So kind of… okay just kidding… No you go. I just want to know like if there’s one thing that you could tell our viewers about your orgs. That’s what I was gonna say!
Like what would you want people to know because I like went here an undergrad and I like joined a Panhellenic sorority and like did that all four years and it wasn’t until I started to work at the BCC that I even knew that we
Had d9 orgs or like other orgs on campus there was just like nothing out there when I came here six years ago or whatever so the fact like seeing everybody grow right now is amazing but there’s still
So much I don’t know and so like what’s the one thing that you would hope that people can walk away with after watching this. I’d say that we exist and that there’s a space for everyone who is looking for it here. I think that we are
Really fortunate at OSU to have that. I know it’s really hard at other universities especially other PWI’s that they don’t have like that community we do and I feel like our community right now is I kind of growing in that sense where we have connections like with like IFC, Pan-Hellenic, CGC
Like we have those now but like we have that space where we’re taking it and I think that’s what’s really important. Yeah I just like… don’t be afraid to ask questions also like there’s so many times like my freshman
And sophomore year of just like I would see things I just didn’t… I wouldn’t… I was too shy to ask maybe I would have joined earlier if I asked sooner but just utilize the CFSL which is the Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life
Because the people who work there are really amazing Wesley and JP they’re always willing to help you find where you belong so like Stephanie said there’s a there’s a place for you. Yeah and if like you see us on campus like
Don’t don’t like be afraid to like come to us because I think it’s important like just asking questions and like doing… I know doing research can be hard like going on the CFSL website is a great tool and
Like I think just like it’s like we want people to feel comfortable and I know it’s a scary thing so it’s like take the time you need to come but know that like everyone is here to open arms and like if you want to learn more about
Another org or another council like I’m not afraid to talk about those things and so like if I’m like hey like I see you’re really vibing with this like maybe I’ll take you to this chapter and like I think you’d connect really well
So yeah. I think just building connections with people in it or just like having like just regular friendships I think a lot of the times like new members are like people you’ve met in the past or like something like
Oh I didn’t really know like this but like this is really cool I’m interested in what you’re doing now and like and like What to say like recommending people so I can try new things or go out and like meet other people and kind of like
That networking that you can do and just like being friends with everyone like I feel like our community especially like in PHC and like MGC is like they’re they’re really close in that sense or like we have all like taken either similar classes or done like similar programs and so like there’s
Like smaller connections in between that and then just like it turns out later on that they ended up going Greek. I like that. Yeah. That’s awesome, well thank you so much for joining us today we had such a good time I learned a lot
Actually. Yeah me too. Is there any like Instagram handles or like social media or whatever like for the peoples to know to get connected with you all. We can also list that in the bubble too. Yeah okay. I think that’s easiest. We’re
In the process of changing branding for MGC so, yes. Look out for that. Re branding is happening. Thank you so much for tuning in we will drop some links on how to get involved with all these lovely ladies that you just met thank you so much for tuning in
And we’ll see you next week. Bye
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