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

the majority of authors . . . have generalized or misrepresented findings to the experience
of college women. Traditional theories of college student development grew out of the
male experience and the amount of literature and research pertaining to the experiences of
college females is limited and unsystematic (p. 21).
In a search for studies about identity and moral development of sorority women, once
again the available studies included information that combined both sorority women and
fraternity men. One study addressed the matter of identity and moral development, but only
referenced Kohlberg and Chickering’s theories. The study compared the differences in the impact
of Greek affiliations on women and men at one campus. It even acknowledged the need for
gender-based differences to be evaluated when determining programming and the effects of
membership in fraternities and sororities, but continued to use theories that were male driven
(Kilgannon & Erwin, 1992).
Within the last 30 years, theories of student development by such researchers as
Chickering (1969), Kohlberg (1984), Astin (1977, 1985, 1996, 1999), have traditionally been the
foundation for most student development personnel. Tinto (1975) has also conducted research.
Respectively, each of these and many other researchers have added to the advancement of
developing campus learning environments for student populations even though, as we continue
to see, these populations seem to be constantly changing. The works of such researchers as Carol
Gilligan (1982), Margaret Eisenhart (1990), and Mary Field Belenky and her colleagues (1986),
suggest that the theories presented concerning human development had primarily been written
from a male perspective. This has been said to indicate a gender bias in these studies. Carol
Gilligan and the previously mentioned research have attempted to provide an alternative to the
traditional means of studying development. Gilligan and others present a perspective that it is
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