Many international students nationwide are increasingly fusing their ethnic and religious roots with a longtime American tradition: the nation's Greek system.
Last year saw the creation of Gamma Gamma Chi, a national Muslim sorority based in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Sigma Psi Zeta, which has been in existence for almost 12 years, is an "Asian-interest" Greek organization with chapters in California, New York, Nebraska and Pennsylvania among other states. Gamma Phi Omega, founded in 1991, is a sorority geared towards Hispanic students.
Despite its emphasis on internationalism and approximately 6 percent international students in its undergraduate population, this trend has not extended to Tufts.
Tufts has no such special-interest Greek organizations and does not track the demographics of those students, according to Todd Sullivan, Director of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.
Sophomore Ian McClellan, president of Theta Chi, agreed that at a school where there is a large and influential international population, there is a disproportionate lack of international students in the Greek system.
One of the reasons McClellan suggested for this phenomenon was that these students are already ensconced in a social group by the time rush occurs.
"We do rush for freshmen in the spring, but in the spring all the international groups have been working with the kids since fall," McClellan said.
Sophomore Diler Erdingez, a sorority sister from Cyprus, said a lack of outreach towards international students could be one of the reasons they are not very well represented, but Greek organizations at Tufts do not direct special efforts at any specific groups.
"The Greek system neither targets, nor excludes, any specialized student population," Sullivan said.
Yet the handful of international students who have gone Greek say that the lack of specialized groups has aided their integration with the larger Tufts community and American culture, creating strong bonds between students of different backgrounds.
"It's this great cultural exchange that we have," Erdingez said. She requested that her sorority not be revealed, since doing so would compromise her position as a Rho Gamma - a neutral sorority member who assists with the recruitment process.
As an international student, Erdingez says she sometimes feels in a minority within the Greek system.
"I'm one of the few students who is international and still joining something that's a complete American tradition," she said.
Erdingez did not consider rushing a sorority before coming to school in the states, and neither did Kacie Nakamura, a current sister in AOII. Nakamura, who went to a British high school in Madrid, had little conception of what Greek life entailed.
"My idea of a sorority was something where girls went and were very ditzy," Nakamura said.
The issue ultimately comes down to personal choice. For senior Olivia Jaras, who went to high school in Chile, membership in a sorority was something she considered, and then rejected.
"I definitely did consider rushing a sorority, but then the whole stigma that comes with it definitely turned me off... It was fun, but it was not really something I wanted to do with my time in the States," Jaras said.
