The words "I think" are repeated way too much in that article for it to be a credible piece of journalism. This is very unfortunate for the girl involved and Bama Gamma Phi's. This story should never have made it past the CW editor.

Adriene, I have to disagree with you. While Wisconsin definitely does have segration issues (like the rest of the nation) it is nowhere near as Alabama. I've visited family in Alabama and Georgia and the things I hear and see down there shock me. I grew up in a very snotty suburb of Milwaukee and race was never ever an issue out there - there weren't very many minorities, but that was largely because they couldn't afford to live there - houses that go for 90K in Milwaukee go for 500K in my town. Any minorities that did move to town were welcomed and embraced. Now I live and attend college in a shadier area of Milwaukee with a bunch of rich Chicago kids, and race still isn't an issue like I've observed it being down south.

Actually, this really doesn't disagree w/ my point.

I didn't say there weren't differences. I just said that some areas **hide** their racial issues better than others. eg, Wisconsin does a better job of hiding it than Alabama does.

Like I said, it's going to end up an "agree to disagree" thing. I know what I saw up there, as did Mr. A.

No arguments with the first part of the post -- I'll agree that Madison has its fair share of racial issues. Segregation in terms of neighborhoods is quite prevalent with the Allied Drive section as the "ghetto." (Edited to add: there are other pockets of minorities here and there -- after all, I went to a school that was only 60% white, and Allied Drive wasn't in our district! -- and certainly quite a few that live in the primarily white neighborhoods, but Allied Drive is the most well-known spot, because of its "ghetto" reputation. Neighborhoods are generally quite segregated, though.) Segregation in terms of other things is less prevalent however -- you regularly see minority professionals, most schools are well-integrated with minimal racial conflicts. The UW has racial issues of its own (VERY segregated due to things that are too long to be discussed here, but have part of their roots in the UW's affirmative action policies). The segregation here is more due to economic factors than social ones.

But nothing that would even come close to being on this scale. They're not comparable. Our Greek system became de-segregated almost 40 years ago, and although the NPC/IFC system is still primarily white, minority members are welcome in every group (even sought after). The university does have an interesting situation when it comes to race, which does carry over partly into the Greek system (although I think the Greek system is actually more integrated than the rest of the student body), but I can say without a doubt that you would never, ever witness the kind of open hostility displayed here.

I think you will find that that same situation is true for most of the schools outside of the South (and, I'm sure, many in it). Bama-type situations seem to be relatively rare, thankfully.

I think I just misread you then. I do think that a) we hide it better and b) we realize some things are still very very wrong. When I was down south I was honestly surprised at how bad it still was, but that's my bleeding heart coming out.

And I see in the editorials, "Miss Thang" got called out! :eek:

http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v.../3f726c6721547

I wonder what Nichols' motives were behind writing this piece...

She just wanted to start controversy. The CW is a notoriously anti-greek newspaper. What a hack.

Is our good friend Ms. Nichols in a sorority?

I'm not so sure it was appropriate to pos about the girl's financial difficulties....

I think that they were trying to say that she left for rather banal reasons ($$) rather than a Big Moral Statement.

I agree...I don't think that people in the north "hide it better" There are african american members of some of the sororities at my school and it is totally a non-issue. I cannot believe that this is such a big issue at that school, so for a person from the south to say that racism isnt any more prevalent in the south than the north is just joking themselves. I am just glad i am from a place where people are accepted for who they are!!!

This thread looks like *almost* like a rehashing of the Civil War and the sixties. We'd all like to think that we all lived in a perfect little world wherever we live. Unfortunately, this is not true. I wish it was, but how to obtain the perfect world would be argued and rehashed over and over again. That's good because that's the beauty of America. We have the right to argue about issues. But, to tell you the truth, much of the Southern states have moved on from their racial divides. I am not denying there have not been times when racial issues haven't come up, but they come up everywhere around the United States. It's nationwide, not just a regional atrocity.

I live in South Carolina and went to a high school that had 1200 students where maybe 2 or 3 students were hispanic and approximately 30 black students. The rest of the students were white. I lived in a community which the houses were fairly expensive (i.e. minimum $100,000 houses). Even the older houses were considered top dog houses because of how well the owners kept them up. Most people drove around in brand new cars whether they were a Chevrolet, Ford, Mercedes, or BMW, etc.

When I went to college, my first experiences were, yes, a culture shock with so many people from different races, etc. I truly believe, correct me if I am wrong, a lot of college freshmen that are fresh out of high school and haven't lived a very extensive life are, indeed, in culture shock. There are some older adults who've experienced culture shock in recent years.

Keep up the arguments! Remember this is our American right!
;)

I agree... even if the writer of that particular comment was trying to make a point that she didn't leave for a "Big Moral Statement" she could have said something like 'she left for reasons other than alleged recruitment proceedures" or something!

I'm not sure it was appropriate for a former member to make up lies about my sorority.