Because even in what is arguably the most Greek college in America, there are thousands of kids, the majority, who do not participate and thus participation is not essential. Is Greek life popular there? Of course. But those who do not go Greek are a bigger and thriving population too.
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What kind of college did you attend? I am asking genuinely because I am surprised you can’t appreciate how a group can be a minority yet still control the social environment on campus.
I attended a nerdy, medium-sized (about 6,000 undergrads in those days) college that was probably about 20% Greek.
Nearly every social activity, large campus event, intramural sport, college tradition, etc., was dominated by the Greek system, particularly fraternities because at that time the school was disproportionately male.
Even though the majority of students were not Greek, it was by far the single largest organized group on campus. Anything that had groups participate or compete — philanthropic events, intramurals, homecoming-like activities, etc. — always had Greek life at the core. There were also very few parties beyond fraternities because of housing rules/restrictions. Fraternities had enough money and power to risk the liabilities but individuals didn’t.
There were other groups and organizations, for sure, and options for involvement outside of Greek life, but fraternities absolutely set the tone and controlled the social life on campus. It didn’t matter that they weren’t the majority. The non-Greek majority wasn’t a cohesive group. The fraternities/sororities were the most powerful, vocal, and organized minority group.
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I am not extrapolating this experience directly to Alabama. I can’t say for sure it’s the case there, but continuing to say it can’t be the case merely because Greeks aren’t the majority is naive.
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My school didn’t have greek life. While I understand teens may allow a socially powerful group to have disproportionate influence, one can indeed opt-out of that value set. Not everyone in high school aspires to be homecoming queen. Plan your own party that night.
One does not have to cede control to those with other values-my guess is that certain subgroups on the Alabama campus ignore the greek scene entirely. Might be those bound by other ties-religion, ethnicity, maybe by major or economic status. There are thousands. Surely there must be some alternative activities.
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Indeed there are - just like any other large Greek school.
My son did ecoCAR and sailing club, for example.
Those who are concerned about Greek life’s control on campus can just avoid applying to colleges like Alabama (or colleges in the SEC). There are still thousands of other colleges out there, many of which have Greek life that is not so “in your face”. I don’t see the need to leave the country to escape Greek life.
Both my kids attended colleges with Greek life but hardly anyone on their campuses wore Greek letters, Greek houses were spread out and there was no “Greek Row” per se. Younger daughter’s college owns the Greek housing so there are very subtle markings on the houses that you barely notice. If you didn’t know someone was in Greek life, you wouldn’t know.
Neither of my girls joined because they were insecure (actually if your kid is very insecure, I wouldn’t recommend going through the process at all until they work through that issue). They are intelligent, strong women as are the friends that they have made in Greek life. They’ve graduated and gone on to become corporate vice presidents, doctors, educators, lawyers and investment bankers. The Alabama experience is at the extreme end of the scale - and the girls that the director found to highlight were a small sample size of the overall group of girls who rush (honestly, these girls needed therapy way more than they needed to rush, which I feel the director should have pivoted toward, rather than her own issues with insecurities).
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I attended UT Austin and I don’t agree. Huge Greek scene and it didn’t affect me at all. The majority of the girls in my private dorm were in sororities. I had a great social life. I found Greek life and activities amusing. Otherwise, I didn’t think about it.
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So I’d like to learn more about this “Machine” thing… is it true that it’s very powerful? If true, how in the world is this not exposed?? Sounds honestly so over dramatic
I actually really liked the one girl in the documentary who said “the culture here is F%%^^ weird” . She seemed the most down to earth
Again, I still think there was way more to be said. What they should have done is focused on girls who dropped or alumni. Do you really think those ZTA girls are gonna spill the juicy stuff? They looked scared.
My graduated Alabama girl was not part of a sorority she was an athlete. Her “group” had their own social events. However, she did go to a few frat parties… was not her seen. She was also part of the engineering group; and they had their own get togethers. In her opinion the Bama campus is not a them (non-greek) vs Greek. Most kids interact with a lot of different groups on campus with Greek being one option.
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I think it is naive to think that political organization/control/or whatever is unique to Alabama. The USA has politicians from every state, social background, ethnicity, college experience etc. Surely, there are other campuses in the US that are training grounds for politics. 
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I watched the trailer and the things that stuck out to me were the desegregation not until 2013 (what?!) and the young woman who said she was joining a sorority to find out who she was (by joining a group where you all wear the same clothes, have the same hairstyle, etc?)
The trailer then goes deeper into some personal info on a few of the women and I wonder (hope?) that we are going to learn that Bama Rush is more than meets the stereotypical eye.
(The last thing I need in this world is seeing people get rewarded (with fame and $) for bad behavior 
)
Ok, so D20 and I watched this last night. We were very confused and disappointed. The show had no depth, no smoking guns, no anything really. The whole thing fell flat for us. I felt bad for a couple of the girls; it seemed like the director took advantage of their emotional state. They really needed therapy; they had anxiety, EDs, depression, etc. The director inserted herself into the story so much that it came across as an attempt to call out girls she equated to the ones who bullied her as a kid; it left her looking bizarrely attention seeking.
The whole glimpse into “girl world” was a bit cringy for DD and I, but we’re more geeky, artsy, quirky types. No hate to the girls at all, just very foreign to us.
Overall it felt like a documentary done for a class project, but they procrastinated, tried to gather “evidence” the night before editing, realized they didn’t have everything they needed and quickly changed direction.
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I agree that the filmmaker exploited vulnerable girls for her own purposes. She should have been introspective enough to realize it.
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I posted a Wikipedia link to it above. Like you, I was surprised, but it apparently it was/is very real.
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I wonder how much of the girls’ desperate attempts at belonging reflected diminshed ties of family, community, church, these days. Social media certainly exacerbated their insecurity.
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I have the opposite opinion. Many of the girls in my sorority were shy or insecure and I think they blossomed in the sorority. Many were in engineering at a time few women were in engineering, and they learned to be leaders and stand up for themselves professionally. My daughter, 40 years later, had the same experience in engineering and having to become more assertive while in college.
My friend had a very shy and insecure daughter. My friend was killed just weeks before our daughters started college together and my D invited the friend’s daughter to go through rush. They ended up in the same house and you really can’t imagine two more different girls. My girl, who is very outgoing and has a million friends in 5 minutes, was okay in the sorority but really didn’t get that involved. For her, it was a few friends and a convenient place to live. The other girl moved into the house immediately (didn’t like her ‘freshman interest group’ (LLC) and wanted out of that dorm situation), became an officer, was really into it all. It gave her a place to be at home and really helped her find herself in college. Her mother had assured me she wasn’t interested in rush at all and would never join because she was shy, wasn’t a joiner, wasn’t into hair, makeup, clothing (although was really cute and dressed nicely), ad just wasn’t a girly girl.
There are all kinds of houses for all kinds of girls. Even at Alabama. (they were not at Alabama and the greek scene was much smaller at their school).
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There was a piece on 60 Minutes a few years ago about the Greek life at Ole Miss. A black woman had joined a NPC sorority and not one of the Divine Nine because she was really interested in student government and knew traditional greek life was the way to break in.
She seemed very happy with her decision.
The “machine” is essentially super efficient and well organized bloc voting - like a powerful trade union in a big city. It is quite remarkable that these 18-21 yos can coordinate and dominate the political power on campus. The rest of the votes usually get diluted but the Machine bloc vote gets their candidates through.
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The student newspaper article in 2013:
https://thecrimsonwhite.com/16498/news/the-final-barrier-50-years-later-segregation-still-exists/
Forum thread from 2013 on the matter:
And not much has happened on this front in the past decade. Given that less than 1% (56/7481 in 2022) of sorority members in the previously segregated sororities are African Americans, “desegregation” may be a bit of a stretch.
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