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

Year Currently in School
Freshmen 0 0
(The interviews took place before the beginning of the Fall Semester)
Sophomores 16 31
Juniors 18 36
Seniors 17 33
Leadership/Involvement in Their Sorority
Has held at least one type of minor office or committee position 32
Has held an Executive Board position 17
Has never held any type of position in their sorority 14
*Note: Some of the responses were based upon the fact that some of the participants held both
minor office or committee positions and executive board positions.
Table 3 contains sorority involvement information including the year that the participants became
new members, year currently in the chapter, year currently in school, and the leadership and
involvement in their sorority.
Dynamics of Focus Groups and Individual Interviews
During the individual and group interviews, there were several dynamics that seemed to
indicate the comfort level of the students while discussing ritual. The individual interview
participants appeared to be more open and comfortable in discussing their feelings and thoughts
about ritual. The level of comfort may have been increased by the confidentiality element of the
interview. The focus group interviews were different in that not all of the participants seemed
comfortable with discussing ritual in the presence of other sorority women from different
chapters. This factor is reflective of the participants understanding that ritual is “secret” and
should not be discussed. Many sorority women have taken this concept to the extreme in that not
only do they not discuss ritual outside of their chapter, but also many of them do not discuss
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