Many of the subjects I interviewed said that they believed that the reason that Greek organizations may seem exclusionary and prejudiced was that they have an inherent in-group mentality. A couple of my male subjects said that they believed that fraternities just chose men that they liked. However, one of my female subjects mentioned that she thought that Greek Institutions are looking to uphold a certain image, meaning that they recruit students who are like them, and Muslim Americans are not generally the norm. This is not to say that there are not Muslim Americans in Greek Organizations on campus. I discovered a great many who were in organizations, but many of them said that they were liberal Muslims, that they were not religious, or they did not participate in the part of Greek Life that conflicted with their values (i.e. drinking alcohol). My subjects did unknowingly point to some differences between sororities and fraternities in how they selected members, and even in their tolerance levels. In Derose's dissertation, he cited Bushman and Bonacci in saying that people naturally place themselves into "in-groups" and "out-groups" and this natural process of typology and classification into these groups can be a cognitive slippery slope to stereotyping and prejudice. In addition, a need to feel accepted in the "in-group" can create negative outlooks on the out-group. Some would say that this natural grouping of people into subcultures is not a negative thing, because people need to reaffirm identity through their chosen outlets. In the case of this research study, this would hold up, however a problem does arise, when people are not okay with not being able to identify, because they are told from the outside that they cannot. It is a far different thing for a Muslim American to be told by a Greek Organization that they do not belong, than to not be interested in Greek Life because a Muslim American does not choose to identify with it for religious reasons or otherwise.
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