Alabama sorority in the news again--should we be surprised?

You mean like have a quota?

There is more than one African-American competing for Homecoming Queen. It looks as if the black sorority council has its own candidate. To my suprise, one of the other candidates is a master’s degree candidate.

Here’s an article with photos and info about the candidates. http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2015/10/meet_the_2015_university_of_al.html

I don’t know how any of us could tell whether it have to do with race or not. In Alabama it is even harder to convince people that it doesn’t.

I am impressed with this young lady. Apparently she is so threatening to this Secret Society that they feel the need to try to coerce her sorority sisters to vote against her. What about her could be so threatening? Hmmmm.

I’m not pointin’ any fangers. But I think it coulda been done better. So, how 'bout, no bags this time?

The ΑΓΔ chapter might not be racist, but that does not preclude the possibility that some of those in “The Machine” who are applying pressure on the ΑΓΔ chapter are racist.

Of course, it could be that there is no racism involved and that “The Machine” has other reasons for supporting the other candidate. But the “The Machine’s” influence and how it uses it certainly is not pretty in any case, and perhaps shining more light on that can improve things in the future.

It said in the article that every student group could put forth a name for Queen, but it is clear every sorority, fraternity or other group does not do that or there would be 300 nominees (more?). The Machine has perfected its power to get people elected, and that is by keeping the number of nominees small and then using all the votes to get that person (or a few) elected. If every one of the Greek houses nominated a person for SB president or home coming queen, the votes get too spread out and some outsider from the band or a dorm or science club could win!

We don’t know that the SB president was opposed by the Machine last year because of his race. It may have been that he wasn’t Greek. The Machine’s purpose is to support Greeks just like the democratic party’s roll is to support democrats over any other candidate and tell its party members that they too should support only democrats. Party members can vote for anyone they want, but they can’t expect the party officials to be happy about it. The first election I ever worked (I was 13) was in a county where you could just ‘vote the ticket’ and many many people voted only for democrats. The dems won every seat in the county, but lost every statewide election and Mr. Nixon carried the country but not our county. Did we ‘pay the price’ when it was time to award federal contracts? Oh yes.

That’s all the Machine is telling the Alpha Gamma Deltas. The Machine is supporting candidate A, and if you don’t support the party’s candidate, don’t expect to be rewarded.

What exactly are you surprised about, @boolaHI? That UA still has a long way to go before The Machine is completely neutralized? Or that a university still has a “homecoming queen” in 2015?

Not only did Alpha Gam support Spillers , they have done nothing but loved and treated Halle with respect. Look back at her articles when she first was asked to join Alpha Gam, remember she did not rush she was invited by them to join in order to diversify the sororities. Halle speaks of feeling loved and part of an amazing sisterhood that immediately accepted her. I don’t know how that turned into her story now about how hard it was but she knew she had to push on for the good of other black girls … really?? I don’t understand why she would remain in that sorority if it was so bad. why would she hold executive offices in it, and why she would want to leave where she was living this year and move into a house with racist members. I don’t understand why she would allow them to nominate her for esteemed positions on campus like xxxl. and mostly I don’t know why she would call these girls her best friends and sisters on all of her pictures and social media. I would never travel socially with a group that I thought was racist or attend any of their most private family events like family birthday parties, cotillions,and various high society country club parties… No I wouldn’t do that… Perhaps she sold her sole to win so bad that she created an environment that would cause an uproar that reminded people of the worse in UA’s history. Perhaps the seed planted in her campaign was to make sure the media spanned it in such a way that said poor little black girl is turned against in her sorority but maybe just maybe it’s the other way around…maybe she turned against them.

Really? Are they just not allowed to be in the picture? https://websites.omegafi.com/omegaws/alphagammadeltaalabama/files/2014/04/IMG_42763.jpg

Halle Lindsay is in several photos on the chapter’s website, and there’s an Asian woman, too (I think), but there’s no one else who looks remotely like a person of color.

You know what they clearly need at this sorority, in addition to racial diversity? Hair style diversity. Could someone maybe get a haircut?

of course if they are running a story about racism they are not going to choose a photo that shows all the black sisters. This house happens to be one of the ones with the most African American girls. They just took in three this year and a few last year, thats what makes part of this story unfortunate. It is slandered to make it appear as if it is something it’s not.

That picture is actually from several years ago… That’s Bizarre to use an old picture. no different then me posting an old picture of all the presidents of the US and stating we never had a black president!

https://websites.omegafi.com/omegaws/alphagammadeltaalabama/gallery/

^Isn’t the photo from the sorority’s own website? I am scrolling through the gallery and don’t see much diversity.

Is there a better place to search for current membership photos?

BoolaHi,
Thank you for posting these threads. The social life on campus should be scrutinized by parents and students. The environment you are paying for is as important as the education you get in classes. Sharing uncomfortable information like this is one reason why I read this forum. So, thank you.

That said, part of sending your kid off into the real world is letting go the fear of what is out there. As horrible as the behavior of some of members of these fraternities/sororities are, sadly, it’s no worse than what’s out in the real world post-college. It’s a missed opportunity for us as parents collectively to not correct that behavior sooner (before kids are sent off to college and before they enter the real world). I think it’s a missed opportunity when people choose to turn a blind eye to it for the short-sighted reason of protecting the reputation of the greek system or the campus. Karma has a way of self-correcting such attitudes. Perhaps when their child is at the receiving end of such boorish behavior, they will finally stand up to it.

Oh, please. Sorority girls everywhere have long hair. Do you really think Ivy League sororities are filled with cutting edge fashionistas?

yes and that is unfortunate that they have not updated their own website, not a good move in light of things but it’s not because they didn’t want to show African American girls. They are also missing pictures of the last two or three pledge classes of all the new girls. i will find a better site.

We can only know what they choose to show us.

adding: After spending about a week looking at recruitment and pledge videos, in response to a different sorority thread, I am pretty sure internet marketing and advertising is very important to sororities.

I guess I’m going to look for their recruitment videos.

@PragmaticMom Thank you. While I agree with you in most part, I am not sure, or perhaps I wonʻt accept that this is a reflection or parallel to the real world. Not so much this specific event, but say the most recent events with Indiana University, where oral sex in front of a horde of other members and pledges was considered OK? Lest with sway into the hedonistic lane of Caligula, would I accept that as something not-worse than current society.

As I have previously mentioned, I am biased without a doubt. My eldest was filmed taking a shower by members of a frat (without her knowledge and consent), and had the footage released among members. In the ever increasing world of growing up, learning lessons, and making mistakes, I donʻt consider this within the spectrum of “teachable events.” So, I am admittedly not the most objective person on these matters.

I can’t find a recruitment or pledge day video. Am I just a bad googler? It is the first time I’ve googled a particular chapter of a sorority and haven’t found those videos. Of course, my sample still is in the dozens not hundreds, so maybe this isn’t out of the ordinary.

Still, it is interesting to me in light of JHS’s observation.

@momyesmom : That picture is from the sorority’s current website. Maybe it’s a year old, but there isn’t any newer picture showing the whole group. There are lots of pictures, and only one African-American girl – she’s pretty recognizable – in any of them.

I find your rant in #26 a little offensive. To say that race is important here is not to say that everything is, er, black and white. I don’t think there’s some fundamental inconsistency between Lindsay liking her sorority sisters, and they liking her back, and Lindsay feeling that neither she nor her sisters ought to be required to act as directed by a group of dominant fraternities. I am going to hazard a guess, too, that for years there has been one African American finalist in the homecoming queen derby – supported by the African American greek system – but that this year could be the first ever in which there are two.

It’s tough being a token. Lindsay made what was probably a difficult decision for an ambitious, social girl: to turn her back on what would be seen locally as her “natural” home, an African American sorority, and to be the only person quite like herself in a white sorority. Essentially, she voted with her body for social integration. Maybe by running for a campus position, she’s giving other students who would prefer social integration to the prevalent separate-spheres model a chance to express their preference and to have the cumulative power of their position broadcast to the university via the vote totals. Maybe that has even worked; maybe it hasn’t. I don’t know. But she shouldn’t be accused of selling her soul or betraying her sisters to do that, and it’s more than a little sad that her sisters couldn’t give her more support. (Actually, reading between the lines, it looks like a number of her sisters were giving her a lot of support, which is why it was necessary to try to impose some discipline on them.)

This is just absurd. I find it hard to believe that any college students care that much about queens or student government officials to involve threats by a secret organization. Using the term “The Machine” is particularly strange - do these people realize that the Machine refers to incredibly corrupt organizations that ran city governments for decades?

I went to a university where the student body actually elected “Howard the Duck” as Student Council President. That election was in response to too many self-serving politicos running for office just to pad their resumes. The board that ran the university had to hold a special meeting to declare Howard in eligible to hold office because he was not a currently enrolled student.

Or are they are referring to the Pink Floyd song “Welcome to the Machine.” That song may be appropriate in this case.

Yes. It refers to the machine that has run Alabama politics. It extends to this college campus. Of course, there are those who disbelieve in it.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-machine-university-alabama-all-white-secret-society-2013-10

^one of many many many links

In this context, Lindsay’s actions are courageous and admirable. imho.