Diversity, Equity, Inclusion

National Organization DEIAB: https://www.tridelta.org/our-story/deiab/ 

Greek communities were founded on discriminatory practices and University of Washington is not excluded from that narrative. With high prices and a culture that thrives on legacy, Western beauty standards, and large amounts of leisure time, it is no surprise that Greek Life is overwhelmingly white. UW Tri Delta is by no means perfect, but we are striving each day to make our organization more inclusive and welcoming to all women, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, (dis)ability, religion, sexuality, origin, beliefs, language, or culture. Our chapter has passed the following policies and changes in order to aim to create a better community. This is just the beginning, and we are so excited to create long lasting change. We welcome conversation from all individuals and inside and outside of Greek Life.

 

Dear Tri Delta Theta Alpha members, alumni, and volunteers, 

The work to further DEI efforts in our community is never done, despite the amazing strides that we have accomplished. Here are some of the ways we as a chapter are going to continue to implement changes and expand our DEI policies in the coming year. 

2023-24 DEI ACTION PLAN

Policy Changes 

• Non-Discrimination Policy: Add and improve in the Theta Alpha chapter policies. 
  • This will expand the use of inclusive language upon the non-tolerance for discrimination policies not requiring the use of songs with any specific religious meaning. 
  • Amend and update the accountability policy against discrimination into our chapter policies.  
  • Expand the reporting system to become more accessible to members 
  • Implement chapter specific required DEI training for all active members, new members and incoming officer classes which will be administered by a hired independent educator independent of the Panhellenic directed trainings
• Mandating DEI training on microaggressions, biases, etc. during Work Week, rather than just voluntarily implementing it

Recruitment

• Implementing a Bias Training during Work Week to make members more conscious of their own biases while recruiting
  • Encourage all members to recommend other recruiters based on personality traits and values
• Actively working with our recruitment team to avoid stereotyping when matching recruiters with PNMs
• Allowing more time for discussion about how recruitment and DEI intersect and have challenges 
• Include personal pronouns on name tags
• Education for active members during recruitment on the selection process and protocol that will be followed by MSC.
  • Document methodology of the selection process.

Social Media 

• Continue to use our social media platform to share relevant world news and media outside of normal sorority content
• Continue to conduct quarterly audits to ensure that all members of the chapter are being properly represented on our social media channels included but not limited to our website, Tik Tok, and Instagram 
• Share demographic data of our chapter on our website, comparative to UW’s undergraduate demographics 
• Add a “DEI” tab on our website acknowledging the racist/problematic history of PHC sororities.

Social 

• Extend invites to NPC and non-IFC fraternities to our philanthropy events and encourage member engagement in all Greek fundraising events, including those  outside the Panhellenic and IFC organizations 
• Expand our social calendar to non-PHC and IFC houses 
• Choosing other philanthropies to support/bring awareness to, in addition to St. Jude
• Highlight on our social media First-Generation Students, Scholarship recipients, those who are the president of a club, who work part-time, etc. 
• Transition towards a more representative and less curated social media presence that represents a holistic picture of our house’s values and members. 

Programming

• Implementing more of our own voluntary training, programming and workshops at chapter meetings and events
• Starting a weekly DEI announcement at chapter where we discuss DEI-related current events (ex: the conflict in Iran, the rise in Anti-Semitism on social media, etc.)
• Bringing in guest speakers to talk about DEI
• Implementing quarterly DEI movie nights
• Train on how we can discuss politics, religion, etc. in a more meaningful, open, and respectful way.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Committee Addition

• Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) Chair & DEI Committee 
  • TriDelta nationally is proud to have implemented a full DEI Committee in all of its chapters, with the Vice President of Community Relations as committee chair. This committee is composed of the VPCR as well as one representative from each MC of the chapter who work with various areas of leadership to integrate DEI more into all facets of the chapter. 

Recruitment

• Legacy Status Consideration  
  • Amend chapter bylaws to include that while legacy status may be noted (see current policies for legacy eligibility) it not only will continue to not impact the recruitment process and will be blind to the active members participating in recruitment.

Recruitment Attire and Decor

• Implemented a “Recruitment Outfits” Slack Channel for members to share, borrow, and donate recruitment clothes so that other members do not have to spend money on clothes
• Continue to collaborate with Panhellenic to help prohibit wearing of material items that might indicate socioeconomic status and promote a more casual dress code for PNMS.
• Encouraging members to embrace their preferred hairstyle during recruitment; not mandating a particular style
• Transparency of Membership Selection Process 
  • Pictures of PNMs will not be released prior to recruitment. Will only be utilized for facial recognition during voting (after the active member has met the PNM). 

Finances

• Dissolved any and all fines outside of dues
• Promote several scholarship opportunities in our Slack channel
• Transparency during recruitment about chapter dues 

Programming

• Participating in DEI-focused programming provided by UW Panhellenic and implemented our own DEI workshops throughout the year