<p>I was actually really happy and a bit shocked about their stance on this or really that they took a stance at all.</p>
<p>How integrated are the Panhellenic chapters at other Southern schools? Would Mississippi’s or Georgia’s composite photos look like Alabama’s?</p>
<p>Hey, I’m not the one who said people got jobs or internships because of their memberships–that was brought up here. I’m just going by what you guys say.</p>
<p>Siliconvalleymom - there are still a lot of black students who are primarily interested in joining the historically black houses and sharing that common ground, which I totally understand, and aren’t interested in the Panhel sororities. I think the difference here is that I can at least say my house acted in good faith - as girls went through, we got to know them, and decided if we liked them or not, and their race or ethnic background simply wasn’t on the table for discussion. The thing that’s clear here is that in Bama, many collegians acted in the same good faith and the alums didn’t.</p>
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The Bama folks have thrown this out as a challenge a couple times … so I’ve actually checked a few out. Overall, it’s pretty bad … almost all the sorority group shots are in the high 90 percent white … this is pretty much true everywhere I looked … the best cases are about 5% AA. I looked at Georgia and Tennessee and they have a few AA in the mix … however Bama does stand out, from the dozen or so schools I looked at, with no AA members (and a history of no AA members)</p>
<p>The big picture … it looks virtually all schools could do with a review of their goals for Greek life on campus and modifying their processes if Greek life demographics looking like the schools demographics is a preference.</p>
<p>PS - looking at Bid Day pictures was pretty slow (sorting through to find group shots) and tough because of picture resolution issues … looking at Youtube videos of Bid Days worked better. (While Greek life is not my cup of tea the videos are interesting … folks are excited and having fun!)</p>
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<p>I don’t necessarily think that Greek life demographics <em>have</em> to look like the school’s demographics. I think, however, that people going through the system should be given a fair shake – and obviously some alum breaking down someone’s neck to “keep out the blacks” doesn’t enable that.</p>
<p>^ agreed … not necessarily equal outcomes … but equal opportunities.</p>
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<p>Agree, not only is it important that minorities are given the same fair chance as whites, one really needs to take a look at the Divine 9.</p>
<p>This historically black fraternities have a history and tradition that is as rich, vibrant and strong as NPC sororities. I’d even argue that NPHC fraternities are stronger than NPC groups in retention and life long membership.</p>
<p>Just as Suzy lilly white gets pressure from her grandma, aunts and momma to be a XYZ like them, AA face the same pressure from those family members to join their respective NPHC orgs.</p>
<p>As long as girls are given a fair chance there is no systematic problem. If this is occurring and still only 1% of new members are minorities that’s not a problem, it’s just the fact that minorities might be less interested in joining an NPC sorority.</p>
<p>What should be striven for is a balance similar to that of HBCU and formerly white only universities. </p>
<p><em>For those not familiar with the Divine 9/NPHC</em></p>
<p>[National</a> Pan-Hellenic Council - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pan-Hellenic_Council]National”>National Pan-Hellenic Council - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>[NPHC</a> Inc.| Home Page](<a href=“http://www.nphchq.org/home.htm]NPHC”>http://www.nphchq.org/home.htm)</p>
<p>The “Machine”? Really??!!</p>
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<p><a href=“Secret Society Dips Toe in City Politics, Prompting Lawsuit - The New York Times”>Secret Society Dips Toe in City Politics, Prompting Lawsuit - The New York Times;
<p>Garland, what about the machine? I’m not sure what to infer from your post?</p>
<p>That is an actual entity that exists at UA and does the things discussed in the article.</p>
<p>The whole thing is just backwards. And they wonder why the rest of the country doesn’t take them seriously.</p>
<p>Re UGA</p>
<p>[First</a> person: An African-American in UGA ‘white’ sorority | Momania: A Blog for Busy Moms](<a href=“http://blogs.ajc.com/momania/2013/09/13/first-person-an-african-american-in-uga-white-sorority/?cxntfid=blogs_momania]First”>http://blogs.ajc.com/momania/2013/09/13/first-person-an-african-american-in-uga-white-sorority/?cxntfid=blogs_momania)</p>
<p>I know multiple sororities at UGA had at least a little diversity in their pledge classes.</p>
<p>I was the poster who brought up sorority ties that assist in the job hunt.</p>
<p>From the NYT article:</p>
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<p>Since 2003!!! So this is about ALL the Alabama sororities, not just one.</p>
<p>^^^I thought that was fairly obvious just from reading the article linked in the original post. More than one sorority was mentioned, and it definitely alluded to it being a systemic situation.</p>
<p>Exactly! It is so shocking on so many levels. It is about every. single. house. </p>
<p>Let that sink in for a minute. </p>
<p>Stunning</p>
<p>I do feel bad for the current girls. Young people are so much more accepting these days of all kinds of people compared to back when I was growing up. I really believe they are much more likely to accept women of all kinds of persuasions, not even limited to race, when making friends, and it’s just amazing that middle aged women are inflicting their own biases on a new generation who doesn’t hold the same values. That these women have any say in the membership selection was news to me. I know that in many houses, alums are told to butt out and they are NOT allowed to have any vote or knowledge whatsoever of membership selection process. I naively thought that the only influence alums tried to exert was related to getting their own daughters in.</p>
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<p>And which includes a staff member of Provost, the University’s chief academic officer. How that sorority alum continues on the Provost’s staff is also “stunning.”</p>
<p>Is it not ironic that the whole Sorority integration scandal takes place during the 50th anniversary year of integration at University of Alabama? [Through</a> the Doors: Courage. Change. Progress. - Home](<a href=“http://www.throughthedoors.ua.edu/]Through”>http://www.throughthedoors.ua.edu/)</p>
<p>It appears that a statement was made by the two African American women attempting to gain entrance into the UA all white sorority chapters.</p>