This exhibit was created over a ten week period, specifically during the 2016 fall quarter by Andrea Modugno. The researcher and curator of the exhibit, Andrea, is currently a senior political science and English Major at Santa Clara University.
The primary intent of Andrea’s exhibit was to find accurate, unfiltered answers about Santa Clara University’s disaffiliation with Greek life. Greek life and its relationship with Santa Clara University has traditionally been a taboo subject. No one, especially those involved in the Greek system, understand why Fraternities and Sororities are not affiliated with the University. Andrea recognized many students have attempted to answer the question themselves by manufacturing outrageous rumors. With six Fraternities and five Sororities, more than twenty-five percent of Santa Clara students are involved in Greek life. It is important to find answers to questions such as why is Santa Clara Greek life disaffiliated from the University so students may better understand the history of organizations they currently belong to and the legacy they have left behind.
Over the course of ten weeks, Andrea has collected information from the Santa Clara Archives, San Jose State Archives, and conducted personal interviews. She found that analyzing old “The Santa Clara” newspaper articles gave tremendous insight into the student perspective and response. Contrastingly, administration documents and emails allowed Andrea to understand the University's position and reaction better. Over the course of research, the scope of her findings grew to include the history of Fraternities and Sororities obtaining charters, minute details of its philanthropic and academic accomplishments, day-to-day correspondence with the University, and finally, the reasons why the administration chose to end its relationship with Santa Clara Greek life. Though important to point out Andrea found positive information about Greek life, she opted to keep the scope of her research specific in answering her initial question: why is Santa Clara Greek life disaffiliated from the University?