Introduction
The first sorority’s here at TCU were founded in 1955, and it wasn’t until 1972 that the first African American sorority was formed on campus. Furthermore, Kappa Lambda Delta, also known as the campuses first Asian sorority was formed in 2005. There is a fifty year gap that is present when discussing the history of greek life on campus and its lack of a space for Asian women to feel included and accepted. In the school newspaper published on September 28, 2005, the first lines read: “We have formed out of necessity.” Cleda Wang, who is formerly known as the founder of Kappa Lambda Delta is quoted saying, “If you notice in the Greek community at TCU, we’re the only ethnicity left out-- like we don’t exist.” The intention of Kappa Lambda Delta was to form a sisterhood for Asian women on campus, and it continues to do just that with its members today. I believe that women such as Cleda Wang are important to the history of TCU not just because she is the first to start an organization that is different from others, but because it is both monumental and inspiring for other women of color to look at this piece of history to further push them to create spaces where all can be included. Pushing the boundaries of the status quo and creating a space that wasn’t intended to be there in the first place, is something that is long overdue by fifty years.
Context: The Search
The history of Asian students on TCU’s campus is brief, however, it is a history filled with stereotypes. These stereotypes can be helpful in exploring “intersectionality” as coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw as a way to describe the extensive experiences of women of color. For example, a skiff published on January 3, 1953 discusses Nancy Shui-Wen Su, a Chinese woman from Hong Kong. Nancy, was a 26 year old economics major with a B.A. degree in economics from St. John’s University in Shanghai. Su, was here on a one year scholarship to study abroad at TCU. The article uses words such as “Oriental” to describe Chinese people. To be more clear, there has always been quite a debate on whether or not the term “Oriental” is considered offensive, and to be direct, it is. Oriental is defined as “of, from, or a characteristic of Asia, especially East Asia.” Oriental, could be used in the context of art forms. For example, a person could use “oriental rug” to describe an object with that of Asian characteristics. However, this kind of vocabulary should never be used to describe a person of Asian descent. The reason being is that “Oriental” is associated with other racial slurs in the Asian community such as “chink” or “slant” that target the appearance of Asian eyes. Additionally, the article also mentions other stereotypes of Asian people by interviewing Su, but frames it in a way that is comparative to American culture. For example, it compares Chinese women to that of American women by saying “American girls are more active than Chinese women, and more oriental women believe their places are in the home.” This kind of mentality has followed us into the present day. An example of this can be seen in a skiff published on April 4, 2000. The article is representing the Asian Student Association that is hosting an event to “showcase art, food, clothing and dances.” Michael Ly, who is apart of the association says, “people want to group all the Asian cultures into one, but each one is a unique culture different from all the others.” Continually speaking on stereotypes, the formation of Kappa Lambda Delta was followed by a worry of the sorority “damaging the Asians academic image,” by distractions of partying and other social events. However, that same worry never seemed to be applied to Anglo sororities on campus. All of these stereotypes have contributed to a feeling of exclusiveness and a sense of invisibility to Asian women on campus. The collection of skiffs, highlights stereotypes and serve as a blanket of assumption over all Asian women on campus and assumes that they have all had the same experiences and all act the same. In reality, the term intersectionality can help us understand the different intersections of Asian women and validate their experiences.
Connection: Cleda Wang and Women of Color Feminisms and Relevance Today
Thanks to Cleda Wang, the forming of Kappa Lambda Delta has created a space for Asian women to overcome these feelings and take a step towards acknowledgement of different intersections among themselves to further empower themselves. The state of women of color at TCU is a complex one, but is filled with generations of women who work to create an equitable environment for women and students of color as a whole at TCU through being voices in CRES and SGA. It is a long journey to implement change, but the goal in mind is that although women in these areas may not see change while they are still a student here, their one hope is that future generations will be able to be in an environment free from the feeling of exclusion. Women like Cleda Wang are prime examples of this. In Audre Lorde's “The Master’s Tools,” a work based upon embracing relational differences to create a better future for women of color, she focuses on concepts such as “define and empower vs. divide and conquer” as well as going from a state of “I” to “be.” Cleda Wang, defined an issue of the lack of an Asian sorority on campus by researching other Asian sororities across the United States, all of which didn't match her expectations. The creation of Kappa Lambda Delta created a space for empowerment by letting Asian women flourish in their relationships by sharing their different intersections. Oppositely, “divide and conquer” was never apart of the narrative, although the sorority is the first of its kind at TCU, Wang states that “membership is open to any female regardless of race, creed, color, sexual orientation or physical disability.” The “I” to “be” narrative, focuses on letting differences animate you and to create a source of creativity. Differences/intersections can be a source of empowerment to further help Asian women break the barrier of silence created from a repeated history of stereotypes and have their voices heard on campus and someday in the workforce. I believe that Kappa Lambda Delta is a stepping stone for that, and in hope with Cleda, would one day like to see this sorority spread to other Texas Universities and beyond.
Content: Interview with Cleda Wang
About Cleda Wang:
Cleda Wang was born and raised in Fort Worth. Her parents immigrated to the United States and she identifies as a first generation college student. She attended TCU after being awarded a community scholar package, and started off as a biology pre-med major and had aspirations to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. Wang had a change of heart whenever her advisor, Dr. Hartman influenced her otherwise. Wang graduated from TCU in 2008 with a major in communication studies.
What pushed her to form Kappa Lambda Delta:
In her Wang’s first fall semester at TCU, her roommate Grace, a fashion merchandising major, came back from class one day and was talking about how everyone in her classes was talking about rush and Greek life. This caused confusion between them because neither of them were familiar with what the process of rush was. Being a first-generation college student, Wang claims “we didn’t understand how all of the different systems worked around campus, fraternity and sorority life weren’t part of our vocabulary. All I had planned was to figure out my major, make friends and graduate.” This led Wang to begin doing research on the different types of sororities on TCU’s campus, as well as other organizations at the national level, all of which led her to realize that none of the people in them looked like her. At the time all of Wang’s friends who were seeking community on campus were all involved in ASA (Asian Student Association). However, this wasn’t enough for them, they wanted to create a space for sisterhood and a closer support system. Wang and her group of friends were aware that they didn’t have a large population of people who identified as them, but they knew campus needed more education around Asian students. From June to September in the fall of 2005, they spent hours laying the foundation to what would become Kappa Lambda Delta. The colors, motto, processes, and constitution were all decided from scratch and were nothing short of intentional in describing who they wanted to be as a group. They went through the process with TCU, and on Monday September 25, 2005 they were approved to be a part of TCU’s fraternity and sorority life.
The primary reaction to the sorority:
Wang says it was never a question of “why?” but rather, “why not?” She goes on to say that TCU already had organizations for people who identified as Latinx or Black, all that was missing from the puzzle was a space for Asian students. Wang herself said she wanted to be a part of Greek life because “that’s just what everyone at TCU did.” Outside of forming the sisterhood, she wanted to be a part of the philanthropy, scholarships, and service.
What it taught her:
As her time as a student at TCU went on, Wang also got involved in leadership council. People in these aspects of campus recognized her passion for working in those spaces. Wang ended up going to a leadership conference and applying for grad school with less than a month to spare. This led Wang to where she is now. She no longer works in sorority life, but it involved in residence work, university housing departments, inclusion work, and multicultural affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since grad school she was been part of MAASU (Midwest Asian American Student Union), an umbrella organization for ASA in the Midwest. Wang served as a director at MAASU for three years and now is on the board of advisors. After all of her achievements and steps towards awareness, Wang states that “If people have a dream, if people want to create something, it is important to think about how their idea is going to create a better opportunity for another person in the future.”
Sources
Megan Souvanna