Sorority Rituals - Reflections On Rites of ... - Mari Ann Callais

when do we use it? How do we use it? Is it a living document? Do we incorporate it into
our daily lives? Do we review the ceremonies after we perform them so we all are
absorbing what is said? Or do we keep it locked up in the closet only to dust it off a
couple of times a year? Do we conduct our services with the reverence they demand? Or
to we squeeze them in late at night so that few make the time for appropriate preparation
and reflection? Nationwide there is a call to 'get back to the basics'. Our reaction to
violence and lapses in moral character demands that we do so. Greeks in particular come
under fire because we sometimes seem to stray from our values. We now must put a stop
to that and get back to our basics: 'The Ritual of Alpha Sigma Alpha' (p. 2).
These examples encouraged me to pursue my belief that research on the effects of ritual is
important in the sorority community. I began searching for research that had been conducted
about this topic, and found no prior studies that evaluated the effects of the ritual ceremonies on
the behavior and values of students. One study had examined organizational induction and its
impact on individual values, but had examined only fraternity men and not sorority women
(Rayburn, 1993). In studying student development theories and the differences in that
development as it relates to women, I decided to that I would focus on women only for this study.
As stated in much of the literature concerning women’s development, the voice women is
different then that of men. Theories by Carol Gilligan, Margaret Belenky, Eisenhart and others
indicate that women value the approval of others (Gilligan, 1977), can strengthen themselves
through the empowerment of others (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule, 1986, 1997), and
women acquire a peer group culture that draws on what was already known (Eisenhart, 1990).
This development is different from men who value justice and think in terms of right and wrong
as opposed to compromise and resolution (Gilligan, 1977).
I believe that if more programs and discussions placed ritual at the core of sororities from
the undergraduate perspective, many of the challenges that are faced today would not be part of
the sorority experience. Indications are that much could be accomplished if ritual was being
taught and research was being conducted about the impact of sorority rituals on behavior and
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