Lions, Tigers, and South Asian Greeks: Oh, My! The Opportunity for More Research!

Within colleges and universities, fraternities and sororities face many of the same issues affecting the larger society. Each university fraternity and sorority community is a microcosm of the campus community in that the challenges within fraternities and sororities are reflected in the broader college and university environment. One of these challenges relates to race and ‘who gets counted.’ Given that “diversity initiatives regarding campus climate, retention, and representation [tend] to focus on Blacks and Latinos” (Accapadi, 2012, p. 78), the absence of the Asian/Pacific Islander/Desi-American voice in conversations about race epitomizes this broader, campus-wide problem. To date, fraternity and sorority research focuses heavily on organizations with predominately White membership. Only recently have scholars like Gregory Parks, Walter Kimbrough, Lawrence Ross, and Juan Guardia focused on the experience of Black and Latinx organizations. Still, there is a lack of research focusing on fraternities and sororities with a focus on Asian identities, resulting in the lack of effective support from university administrators.