@HarvestMoon1 First of all, I don’t preach, but rather bring historical facts to a discussion that sometimes has a dearth of facts, among much platitude. Sometimes history has both a sharp and blunt edge that many are not accustomed. But to be clear, among other parties that have said almost said the same thing I have include the following: New York Times, the Presidents office at the University of Alabama and the editorial board at the university.
I’m comfortable in my assertions and have neither the time, nor an inclination for an apology. Best-
I had high hopes for the Yale video but it was so dull I didn’t finish it. Those girls have a lot to learn about marketing their organization.
I agree with post #238 completely.
I do think the people who are ripping the girls in the Alabama sorority to shreds reveal much more about themselves than about the girls in the video; so much projecting going on.
Wow, you must have some spectacular superpowers to be able to know the life goals of each of these young women simply from watching this video. If your son does actually go to medical school, I’m sure he will want his mama’s approval as to which women he associates with ;). Why would you think any of these girls would be interested in him anyway? You sound like you’ll be a very interesting mother-in-law.
I think most of these girls will be quite offended that you think it only took them 1/2 hour to get out of the house. Just blow drying their hair takes more time than that. Not to mention all the time shopping and coordinating their outfits.
As Dolly Parton once said, “it takes a lot of money to look this cheap”. It takes a lot of time to look this “natural”, and it takes a lot of work to look like you are having so much fun.
But hey good for your daughter. Was she in a sorority too? What did she major in?
@boolaHi – I don’t expect anyone to apologize for their point of view - you are entitled to yours. It does escape me though that you fail to recognize that while you advocate for acceptance and inclusiveness of your community, at the very same time you reject, insult and degrade a group of women who dare to conduct themselves in a manner that doesn’t conform to your view of the world. Why are you entitled to engage in the very behavior that you yourself find so offensive?
Head of rush. One double majored in math/econ (works in IB) and another one a Philosophy major (pre-law). They have naturally straight, silky hair, no need to blow dry.
On that note, if someone is ugly doesn’t mean she is smart either.
The video is very good at showing how they want their recruits to look (thin, white) and act (like a Victoria’s Secret model).
I, personally, don’t think it is about objectification. It’s just sending a very strong message that if you don’t fit this very narrow stereotype, don’t bother applying. Many of them may be very, very smart. But if you don’t have the looks, our sorority is not for you.
I said I agree with Hunt, that their conduct was vapid. One definition of vapid is tedious. I often find shopping with my wife to be tedious, but that does not degrade her. I think there is more than enough commentary coming from some fairly mainstream sources which find the conduct, specifically in the video, to be questionable.
My more pointed commentary was towards the entire lacking of any diversity. This is well proven, and again an issue that was so prominent, that the President of the university felt so compelled that he offered specific instruction on the very issue.
The NYT didn’t post an opinion. It reported the story that said, basically, the sorority took down the video after the Al.com story. The University said that it expects the student groups to select carefully in this digital age, whatever that means. I think the university was very unfair in picking on one house while saying nothing about the similar videos of the others.
boolahi, how can they show what they don’t have? It is a fact that most of the sororities at Alabama posting videos are white. Most of the sororities NOT posting videos are white. How are they ever going to change if they don’t get new members?
Obviously, many many students (2264, to be exact) like the sororities at Alabama so joined. Only ~140 joined Alpha Phi, so the others picked a different house, maybe because of the video but I really doubt it. Because of the uproar, all social media from the house has been taken down so we won’t know if any of those 214 minority pledges picked Alpha Phi.
So I thought I’d report back with my D’s reaction after letting it sit for a day. Yesterday her initial reaction to the video was that maybe Alabama was not a serious enough school for her. Today, she learned that in fact the video was made by her friend’s sorority. And now my daughter is thinking that maybe she would want to rush after all because it looked like fun. So I guess the video worked on the target audience.
It was not an opinion piece, but it was certainly slanted in the direction of a specific vantage. As one of the very few AA posters on this site, I’m taken back at times at either the lack of historical knowledge on such topics and/or the fercocity of people who attempt to rationalize such behavior. The other side of the coin, is that I have received more than a few messages in private, supporting my comments and narratives. The irony is that many of these folks are part of faculty/staff at universities.
What is diversity? Are we talking race or SES diversity? Do most of us want diversity or does it just sound good when we are not included.
I joined few Meetup groups a while back. There are Meetup groups for people who are interested in banking, Big Data, natural walk, wine, singles in their 20/30/40/50, wealthy new New Yorkers, Expats, Australians, ballroom dancers…Those groups are looking for people with a particular interest, they are not looking for diversity. http://new-york-city.■■■■■■■■■■/cities/us/ny/new_york/
One meetup is “The New York - Fashion Charity Events.” It has a blond woman on the cover, guess what kind of people they attract and want.
“Gay Asian Pacific Islander Men of New York” - can we get more specific than that?
If Alpha Phi of AL wants pretty blonds and you don’t fit their profile then find another club or sorority that wants brown, curly hair. You can’t blame them for false advertisement.
Good for you, oldfort, for supporting your daughters. My daughter can be out the door in 2 minutes (with wet hair and no makeup) if it’s important! She’s not fat and has hair to her waist that is never, ever, blown dry. She’s an engineer. There are several pictures of her in a bikini, on the beach, on her house’s webpage.
The president of her sorority was also the president of the mechanical engineering fraternity, works with the women’s jet car team, and is going to grad school at Columbia on a full scholarship this year. Tall, blonde, friendly, could have starred in the Alabama video (although she is a little tall) and everyone would be calling her a Barbie. Not vapid, not stupid.
@BoolaHI But my question was not about another poster or other mainstream sources. I asked you why you advocate for acceptance of your community but then cannot seem to accept other communities or lifestyles that deviate from what you deem acceptable or desirable… Put aside the diversity issue for a moment as my real issue is with comments like the following:
That’s just from the first half of the thread. And as I said you are certainly entitled to your opinions, but you have to admit that for a person advocating acceptance and inclusiveness you are quite judgmental yourself. Based on the above quotes you seem to reject a whole host of “types” of people.
@HarvestMoon1, I haven’t seen any fraternity recruiting videos, but I am fully willing to believe that some of them are as vapid as this one.
So what?
My feeling is really that the girls did a slick marketing job.
ETA: It is of course silly to assume that all of those girls are unacademic. But it is a question of how THEY chose to present themselves. A great contrast to the MIT sorority web page showing sisters doing a huge variety of things, including being in the military!
Frankly, you have taken many of those out of context as I was quoting someone else or another publication, but sure why not, I’m judgemental and you’re correct and all knowing. Maybe you should ask what is it to be looking into the window of society and not only being not invited, but overtly prevented from participating. But, please go ahead and enlighten me on how thankful I should be to be sitting in the corner without providing a commentary that is sorely lacking in most of these more substantive conversations.
Am I militant, probably, as the needle goes closer to that adjective than passive…and do I reject entire sets of people? I’m not sure reject is the term I would use as much as I don’t have time or patience for many things. But, that is true of many people, I just voiced it…
The “so what” is that the media is jumping all over this video when in fact it is quite tame compared to some of the frat recruiting vids. Why are people focusing on this one particular sorority video?
Because that’s the topic of discussion, and it was topical enough that the NYT, Huffingonpost and others, felt it had enough validity as a contemporary subject that they all ran articles on the subject.