Five years ago, Mu Delta Alpha, at the University of Texas at Dallas, made headlines when it became the nation’s first ‘Muslim-based’ sorority. And today, Wichita State follows suit, welcoming Mu Delta Alpha.
Saniya Ahmed, a junior studying Health Science, started the sorority after not feeling personally connected with any of the other options that the campus provided. “I just felt like I would have to compromise a part of myself to fit in,” says Ms. Ahmed. “A part of Greek life is about finding your home, and you can’t really be at home if you feel like you have to compromise a part of yourself.”
After some research, Ms. Ahmed discovered Mu Delta Alpha but didn’t know how to bring it to campus. “In fall 2017, I kind of started this endeavor knowing that I wanted to create a space for Muslim women to benefit from a lot of the things that Greek life emblemizes, like sisterhood [and] service.”
A goal for the sorority, Ms. Ahmed says, is to be able to serve as mentors for younger generations. “A lot of us right now don’t have the mentors. We don’t have the people that we can look up to that are Muslim women in the fields that we have chosen…. It’s time we change that.”
In 2018, the Student Government Association recognized Mu Delta Alpha as a registered student organization and this year, it gained its official chapter status.
