Story on sorority situation at UA on NPR

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
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<p>There was a summary story of the situation on All Things Considered, the NPR evening news program. It included a comment from the U.S. Attorney with jurisdiction and from the African American alumnus who was student body president several years ago.</p>

<p>I will post a link when it’s available.</p>

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<p>[Univ</a>. Of Alabama Sororities Accept A Few Students Of Color : NPR](<a href=“http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=226205806]Univ”>Univ. Of Alabama Sororities Accept A Few Students Of Color : NPR)</p>

<p>Audio available at 7 p.m. Eastern time.</p>

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<p>Emphasis on “few” I am sure. I don’t wish to stir up a hornet’s nest again, but I dare say that most Greek chapters around the nation accept only a “few” students of color. The way the NPR segment is titled makes it sound like UA sororities are grudgingly accepting a few students of color. Even though it is obvious that there was racism among alumni advisers, I still maintain that the percentage of AA’s in traditionally Greek chapters will probably stay low for the foreseeable future for two main reasons. First, there are very strong traditionally AA Greek chapters at UA. Second, the Greek system does not come cheap, and there are far fewer upper income AA’s than there are upper income Whites. I just hope that people keep these two facts in mind as they monitor progress at UA.</p>

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<p>This is another reason I wouldn’t want my daughter to attend a university with a major Greek presence, especially one that rushes during first semester. I think that a major benefit of attending a residential college or university is to be in contact with a variety of students–not just racially varied but also socially varied, coming from different income backgrounds.</p>

<p>Of course many students move away from university housing after freshman year, but at least they have the opportunity to learn about a wider range of people than they grew up with if they stay in the dorms for one year.</p>

<p>If many or most of the wealthier students leave for sorority houses during first semester, it is a poorer experience for all, in my very humble opinion.</p>

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<p>All students at BAMA must live in dorms freshman year.</p>

<p>Some sorority girls may live in their “house” for one year, but these houses do not accommodate all the members at all.</p>

<p>The vast majority if BAMA students live in apartments off campus after freshman year.</p>

<p>Sororities require their members to be active in at least two organizations OTHER than the sorority.</p>

<p>There is plenty of opportunity to interact and befriend a wide variety of students…</p>

<p>Not to mention that most students go to class…and meet other kids that way. ;-)</p>

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<p>Atlanta68, it’s NPR and Alabama. I had low expectations.</p>

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<p>^^^. +1. ^^^</p>

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<p>OldMom…, the great majority of students at UA are NOT in Greek chapters, I repeat, the great majority of students at UA are NOT in Greek chapters. Does that change things for you? Can you think of any sororities at schools up north that accept more than a “few” AAs?</p>

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<p>Did you even listen to the story?</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t say the great majority of students aren’t in sororities, what with the number of members at 30 percent. And I wonder what the male-female breakdown is. For sure, the Greek membership skews toward the wealthier students, which makes me uncomfortable, especially since the university is subsidizing their houses and apparently giving them some power over social activities.</p>

<p>Whatever, my daughter is not interested in joining a sorority and I am happy about that.</p>

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<p>About 28,000 undergrads: 54% female, 46% male. So, about 15,000 female undergrads, 10,100+ of whom are non-Greek, on a campus with more than 250 student organizations to choose from. Sounds like a hefty majority with plenty of non-Greek opportunities to me. </p>

<p>Source: [University</a> of Alabama | Best College | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-alabama-1051]University”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-alabama-1051)</p>

<p>Something tells me these women are not spending their free time fretting about the impact of the largely irrelevant student government on their lives, or feeling bereft of social opportunity as a result of not attending Greek functions.</p>

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<p>My question wasn’t the gender breakdown of the university, but the gender breakdown of students in sororities and fraternities. It may not be the same for both genders. And we’ve heard little about the fraternity side.</p>

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<p>For those who are interested: <a href=“Fraternity and Sorority Life”>http://greekaffairs.ua.edu/documents/Spring2013GradeReport.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This shows grades for all the sororities and fraternities, including the NPHC (traditionally black) groups. On the right side are the population figures.
Out of 26,453 undergraduates (spring 2013), 7,189 were Greek of some stripe (trad. black, trad. white, Latino, Christian, multi-cultural, service).</p>

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<p>Southlander, what was your point in introducing GPA into this discussion and what conclusions do you draw from the GPA data?</p>

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<p>Never mind the GPAs, I found the chart useful to see the numbers by gender of Greek membership.</p>

<p>Can someone translate some abbreviations, of the groups of organizations:
UGC? IFC? GAMC?</p>

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<p>The fact that UA greek is all-white is about as shocking as gambling going on at Rick’s.</p>

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<p>I think my daughter would totally agree with what Malani said.</p>

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<p>Here’s a snippet from the NPR piece:</p>

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<p>And here’s the full transcript:</p>

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<p>GolfFather, which majority-white universities do you consider to have exemplary racial integration in their Greek systems? Please provide a link to the data. </p>

<p>Thank you.</p>

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<p>“HUGHEY: Until equal resources are afforded to all of the Greek organizations on campus in terms of housing, in terms of advisers, in terms of the culture of the university, and in recruiting students and in retaining students and so forth, anything less to me is window dressing and is homage to political correctness, and trying to make this issue go out of the media cycle.” </p>

<p>Well, I disagree with the first demand. Is he saying that UA must make sure that the traditionally AA houses have houses comparable to the traditionally White ones? That is absurd. Following Hughey’s logic, UA must make sure that the dorms for non-Greek students are comparable to the Greek mansions sprouting up all over campus. Is Hughey suggesting that a class based system is ok, as long as it isn’t racist? I don’t even think he is addressing the issue of racism as much as he is addressing the issue of poorer material resources among AA Greek chapters. Though some of these new Greek mansions are quite lovely, I remain ambivalent about UA providing low interest loans to any Greek chapter that is by definition exclusionary.</p>