<p>Being half hispanic coming from two different cultures, what would my chances be to get a bid from a White House? Considering the fact that I have a high degree of credentials & come from a good social economic background as well as a good social background. </p>
<p>You should post in the Alabama section. However, I personally know Hispanic kids who have pledged at Bama.</p>
<p><a href=“University of Alabama - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-alabama/</a></p>
<p>Unfortunately, at Bama, high grades and high socioeconomic standing means nothing. Don’t waste your time trying to rush at a white sorority or fraternity. I’m going to say what a lot Bama lovers are afraid to admit. They are racist. The alum do not want non white students in the Panhellenic sororities and fraternities. They have even threatened to cut off funding in one house if they admitted a minority. If you are going to rush, don’t try to rush at a white sorority or fraternity. There is a lot of segregation on campus and there is most definitely segregation in Greek Life.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats I’m curious as to how you became an expert on Greek life at Alabama because you are incorrect on several points. I am no Alabama-lover by any measure, but as an SEC alum with 4 years in a GLO, I do know how things worked there in the past as well as recently.</p>
<p>OP, it simply isn’t true that high grades and high socioeconomic standing mean nothing. You don’t mention if you are male/female, instate or out of state, but I do know that freshman girls get cut from sorority rush all the time because their high school gpa simply isn’t high enough. Rush at Alabama is extremely competitive and while students with lower gpa’s can be admitted to the school, girls whose gpas are subpar are routinely cut early because the chapters there have too many high-achieving pnms to risk a bid on someone who may bring the house average down.</p>
<p>Also, girls whose families don’t have Greek affiliations (or whose Greek affiliations are from other parts of the US) often fail to do well because they underestimate how important it is to secure recommendations for every single chapter well in advance of the beginning of rush. It’s a lot of work to prepare for a successful rush at many southern universities and as I’ve said before, Alabama is the Harvard of Greek life. There were several news stories last year concerning alumni interfering with several chapters who wanted to pledge URM students. The national organizations quickly stepped in to correct the racism being imposed by a few evil sorority alumni and the young women who had the courage to publicly stand up to these nasty old biddies deserve congratulations. As a result, Alabama’s Greek life is probably less racist than most, simply because it was exposed and corrected by the students who are active now. If you want to participate in rush there you need to educate yourself; I’d suggest a website called greekchat dot com (NOT greekrank). Good luck.</p>
<p>Reply #2 probably refers to the scandal described at <a href=“The Final Barrier: 50 years later, segregation still exists - The Crimson White”>http://cw.ua.edu/article/2013/09/the-final-barrier-50-years-later-segregation-still-exists</a> .</p>
<p>Some reforms have been forced on the chapters by the school and some of the sorority national organizations. This year’s sorority pledge class totaled 2,054. Of these 190 were non-white (9.3%), including 21 who were black (1.0%), according to <a href=“http://uanews.ua.edu/2014/08/ua-in-the-news-aug-16-18-2014/”>http://uanews.ua.edu/2014/08/ua-in-the-news-aug-16-18-2014/</a></p>
<p>According to <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg06_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=469”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg06_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=469</a> , Alabama’s domestic undergraduates are about 18.3% non-white, including 12.1% black.</p>
<p>Like I said OP, the Bama lovers will try to act as if UA isn’t racist or segregated when it really is. The Greek Life is probably the most segregated in the country. You will probably experience it more as a Hispanic student as well because of how insanely small the Hispanic population is at UA.</p>
<p>I would hesitate to say that their Greek life system is probably now “less racist than most.” It’s only been one rush since the problems have been brought to light, and history has shown us that it takes more than recognizing a problem and taking steps to mitigate it to erase racism. If the racism is endemic in the system then it’ll probably take some time to get rid of it totally. (Also, let’s not say that it was a “few evil sorority women,” either. It was a systemic problem, because in Alabama’s 114-year NPC history, only one identifiably black woman had ever been offered a bid.)</p>
<p>But neither will I say that they are the most racist/most segregated. They were just the ones who happened to get caught and get in the national news. If you look at the NPC sorority system at most SEC schools, they are pretty white! Part of that might be racism; I think most of it is just that’s who knows about rush and is interested enough to go. I went to 98% black high school and none of the girls who wanted to join sororities were interested in NPC sororities. And of all the girls I know from my high school, not a single one joined an NPC sorority - by choice. (My college, an HBCU, didn’t have any NPC sororities. I wish they did, because I wanted to join one but the NPHC rush process is too intense for me lol.)</p>
<p>But, having followed the story over the summer, the systemic problem DOES seem to lie primarily with sorority alumni of Alabama - who were following the “old ways.” The actual collegians seem to want to change, and felt that the discrimination was wrong, and several sorority collegians from the UA chapters spoke up. A lot of them said that they had no idea it was going on until they really thought about it.</p>
<p>This year, UA held its largest sorority rush in history, and offered bids to 21 black women. This is a huge increase over, well, 0 in the years between 2000 and 2013. However, this was out of over 2,200 young women who went through rush. I have no idea how many of them were black - young black women may shy away from historically white sororities for a variety of reasons, especially since the influence of NPHC sororities (historically black ones) is pretty strong in the South, from where most UA students come. The truth of the matter is, though, that the majority of girls who try to pledge at UA actually do end up joining a house. Like I said, over 2,200 girls rushed this year, and 2,054 actually joined a house. That’s over 93% of the girls who rushed.</p>
<p>What are your personal chances? We have no idea. Could you be cut because you are Hispanic? Possibly. There’s really no way to know in advance. All other things being equal, chances are actually pretty good that you’ll get into at least one house given that the overwhelming majority of girls at UA (and most SEC schools, really) do join a house. People say it’s very competitive, and it is. But it’s competitive to get into specific houses. I’ve talked to people who work in/with Panhellenic at a couple of competitive SEC schools, and they say that generally girls who keep an open mind and go back to all or most of the houses that invite them (and who aren’t, you know, victims of racism) usually get a bid.</p>
<p>Juillet, why don’t you list the percentage of African Americans in Greek chapters at certain non-Southern schools? Do you really think that UCLA for example, has Greek chapters bursting with African Americans? The truth is that Blacks and Whites interact more on a daily basis in the South, than any other region, excepting perhaps NYC and a few other northern cities. For some reason, people have no problem collectivizing the entire South as racist. How you describe Southerners would not be allowed if it was directed toward any other group. </p>
<p>I think there is a lot of anti Southern bigotry. As an Alabamian who spent nine years in LA, trust me, I experienced it. People said nasty things to may face about my home, as if they knew what it was like. Meanwhile, I rarely saw Whites in LA hanging with Blacks. </p>
<p>AnnieBeats, or whoever you are, you need to stop with the anti Southern bigotry. </p>
<p>I have been to several frat parties and I saw several non whites people.</p>
<p>@AnnieBeats I dont’ know why you are here to annoy us but as a non-white, I have to say University of Alabama’s racism is just same as other schools…I saw/encountered no racists in school, and I enjoyed being there.(can’t wait til January!)</p>
<p>@Atlanta68 Stop with your bigotry. I went to school in Tennessee and married a southern man. I am not anti southern. If I was, I would be talking about southern schools in general. And I’m not. The racism at Alabama is undeniable and unavoidable as well. If people in Alabama and people at UA don’t like that quality attached to them, they should make more strides to educate their students about racism instead of having a few groups on campus push acceptance.</p>
<p>Can you even blame me for how I feel? I mean, gosh. Alabama doesn’t have the best track record! Even in recent years, the tension is still there. If you have concerns about not being accepted into a NPC, the state of Alabama as a whole is the last place you should be considering. Sorry, not sorry. It’s the truth.</p>
<p>Just wondering, AnnieBeats: when was the last time you were on the UA campus?</p>
<p>Sorry to inform you, AnnieBeats, but UW Madison’s greek life racism is easily as bad if not worse than that at U Alabama. Alabama is working on changing things. Give them a chance. Maybe they can be an example to other schools like UW Madison in the Midwest and other parts of the country.</p>
<p>The sororities at Florida State University and the University of Florida are not bursting at the seams with African Americans. This issue is not specific to UA. However, I think that UA’s history when it comes to race makes it a whipping post for all of the universities that are just plain wrong in allowing sororities and fraternities to conduct themselves in such a manner. For the record, I’m not a fan of historically Black Greek life. Many claim that they are so open to accepting those of all races. They may talk the talk but that is just about it. They are just as guilty.</p>
<p>@InvolvedmomFL Well, what are your options when no one else will accept you?</p>
<p>@natkingcole45 Thankfully, I can say that I have never been to UA. But I know several recent graduates and their sentiment was the same. Also, you can do some simple research and even read from the Alabama student paper.</p>
<p>several/36000 is a really small fraction of the whole student body.</p>
<p>I’m not meaning that UA is a haven of diversity, devoid of any racial inequality, but show me a US university that fits that. Being a student here, I also know several recent graduates, all of whom seemed to have very positive experiences - of both white and minority backgrounds.
To the OP, I don’t think you’ll have any problem.</p>
<p>I am amused at the uninformed opinion based on hearsay from a poster who has “thankfully . . . never been to UA.” I must admit it is refreshing to see a poster whose statements honestly offer such an easy basis for completely discounting her opinion. Thankfully, I have been to UA. Last night my daughter emailed me pictures with her new sorority “little sis” – a woman who is a member of an ethnic minority group. My daughter was thrilled that she had gotten her first choice among the women she had listed as potential little sisters and that her new little sis had put her first as well so that they ended up matched. Incoming freshman considering recruitment – you can listen to the voice of those who have never been to UA (and who somehow think Tennessee is a heck of a lot better) or you can listen to the voice of those who have actual experience with the school. </p>
<p>AnnieBigot, I mean AnnieBeats, change it to anti Alabama bigotry. You can justify it all you want, but you are stereotyping an entire state, and what you say about Alabamians would be considered bigotry by any fair minded person if you said it about any other group of people. Get real. </p>
<p>I’ve never been to Tennessee but have heard they do not have teeth and intermarry.<br>
SMH!!! </p>
<p>Seriously, if it is all 100% hearsay, that is not even worth commenting on. If you have firsthand experience, then please share. I would never, never go onto a board for a school I have never even visited and try to comment about the life of students there in any group. </p>
<p>So, @anniebeats you speak against those racist white sororities, but claim that the racist black sororities are ok? They will accept you- but to hell with anyone else? I haven’t seen too many AKA girls wearing their pink and green as a white girl. Nor have I seen white Delta girls wearing their red…But wait…it’s ok for historically black sororities to stay historically black? I don’t think so…rejection is rejection… </p>