<p>It is also the 50th anniversary TODAY of the bombing of the Birmingham church that killed four young girls. Initially, the murderers got away with it, but those who had not died were later-many years later-charged and convicted. </p>
<p>My daughter goes to an SEC school and is in one of the the “top tier” sororities (whatever that means). I have probably previously identified her school and her sorority in previous posts so I thought it would be best to make this post under a new user name.</p>
<p>She told me last night that the school panhellenic council has given all sorority members strict instructions to not speak to the press and to refer any media questions to panhellenic.</p>
<p>Her sorority does not have any minority members. She did say that there is a transfer minority that they have to vote in before she becomes a formal member of their chapter. The member girls do plan on defying the alumni and plan to vote this girl in.</p>
<p>DD and her friends are disgusted by the alums - their frantic texts and phone calls during recruitment and their presence on bid day. Unfortunately, unless a family member is one of the behind the scenes manipulators girls really have no idea what goes on until they are a member.</p>
<p>I’m curious what would happen if your daughter, or another member, defied the gag order. Would they be kicked out?</p>
<p>That seems like one way, at least in this case, that Greek organizations are different from other affiliations. </p>
<p>And thank you for posting this; it must be difficult for your D. I imagine she’s rethinking her membership as it seems they are being treated very cavalierly by the organization.</p>
<p>garland - there really are two worlds colliding. In these systems, the alumnae really appear to have some real “power” over collegians’ discussions. In systems like mine, the alumnae really don’t. We show up to pour the punch, hang the coats, advise on legal / financial matters that the collegians might not have experience with (such as dealing with the university on house management matters), and then we get out of the way and let the collegians pick their own friends, because it would be kind of abnormal for us to try to pick their friends for them when, you know, we’re in our forties and don’t live in a sorority house any more.</p>
<p>A suggestion to the national organizations … investigate the level of integration (racial, religious, financial) at the two types of rush processes across all your chapters … and if one is slower to get with the times than squash that method (and I think we could guess which process is likelier to be behind the times).</p>
<p>I really feel for the current students caught in this … they are in a real tough spot if they want things to change unless some elders somewhere come on board to help push things forward.</p>
<p>Frankly, I don’t feel terribly sorry for the white students stuck in this situation, because the answer, to me, seems like a no brainer. We’re not talking about sacrificing your life or your livelihood, we’re talking about risking membership in a social club. When you are prohibited by higher ups in your organization from admitting a black member, an act that you find unconscionable, that’s the moment to defy them and say d*mn the consequences, including being expelled from said social club. And if the rest of your group isn’t willing to do that, you quit.</p>
<p>Girls don’t join a sorority and go to the first meeting and hear a pronouncement that membership is controlled by racist alums.</p>
<p>Unless the girls are connected to the manipulators, they won’t find out what actually goes on until they are on the other side of rush the following year. During the year after they pledge they make strong connections with their sorority sisters, move into the sorority house and pay thousands of dollars in room, board and other fees. Only then are they are privy to the machinations of racist alums.</p>
<p>If a girl quits at that point she loses friends, a good deal of money and her housing.</p>
<p>NO, they did what they could during rush and were overruled by alumni. They then went to the media to expose this situation. They didn’t just accept it and keep quiet. They did the right thing.</p>
<p>No, they’ve gone to the media. It’s often small steps which lead to great change. A girl standing up to an alum and getting kicked out or who quits will be able to feel good about her personal values, but she changes nothing. I think what’s happened here is going to lead to change. I don’t expect to see the sororities’ membership ranks reflect the racial percentages of UA next year, but I’m thinking a barrier may well have been broken down. And that’s a very good thing.</p>
<p>They’re shocked, shocked that an organization that has been lily white for generations is lily white? And if they’ve made friends in the sorority, why don’t they all quit? How many young women are in sororities at UA, and how many of them have even been willing to complain with their names attached? Where is the press release signed by every single member of every single soroirity, saying they are deeply ashamed of the racist practices of their sororities and want to make it right right now, and they offer the bids that were unfairly denied right now? Unsourced talk is cheap.</p>
<p>YK, at the risk of stirring up a hornet’s nest, there is a difference between a house that <em>tends to attract</em> girls of XYZ background, and a house that <em>explicitly denies</em> girls of XYZ background. For example, in the system I’m familiar with, some houses are “more Jewish” than others. Well, a lot of suburban girls from Long Island tend to like other suburban girls from Long Island and want to be friends with them, kwim? And there’s nothing wrong with that in and of itself – it would have been the same thing if they’d all met in the dorms. There’s a certain amount of like attracts like. The problem is if the suburban girls from Long Island decided <em>upfront</em> they weren’t going to give the rural girl from Iowa a chance based on the fact that she was from rural Iowa. It’s not a problem if these houses happen to be mostly white because the black girls prefer to go to their own houses. It’s a problem if they happen to be white because they don’t give black girls a fair shake.</p>
<p>No, they didn’t. They went to the media to try to expose it. That is a good thing for which they should be commended. For all you know, the same thing went on in the other houses (including my house’s own chapter) but no one from those chapters has said boo.</p>
<p>When it comes to race, it would be nice if “everyone” would stand up and do the right thing, effecting IMMEDIATE change and complete relief. However, history has shown us that it never happens like that. It’s always done in baby steps.</p>
<p>If you want to criticize the girls who stay and work for change, you better be only involved in perfect situations yourself. You’d better stop donating to your colleges and denouncing your degrees since they are all imperfect. You’d better take a look at the racial make up of your state legislatures and the US governing bodies. </p>
<p>Perhaps you should leave the US. </p>
<p>Honestly, these girls want change. They are doing something. You want to help them? Support them.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t presume to know what the right thing to do is as I’m not directly involved, but it certainly seems reasonable for girls to renounce their membership in an organization that practices institutional racism. I guess they need to follow their conscience.</p>
<p>I personally wouldn’t want my kids to participate.</p>
<p>I don’t think this has anything to do with perfection as all human institutions are imperfect.</p>
<p>We want kids to walk away from their friends?</p>
<p>I think the pressure needs to be put on the peers of the alums who are the problem. The administration and the national Greeks groups need to act. This is who has the power to effect change quickly.</p>
<p>I wasn’t in a sorority and was a perfectly happy camper in spite of it. But I don’t believe that the above puts anyone on a higher moral ground than working to change it and in fact, CHANGING it.</p>