Yes, they have.

This is exactly the same point I made in another thread. The numbers will absolutely go up as people realize that can have a positive experience in the NPC. It’s simple causation. And despite that, there are still growing amounts of diverse populations that want to find their home. I’ve seen schools with super diverse biddays.

In my previous posts, I never picked on southern schools specifically. Alabama is obvious because it was well documented and clearly systematic. There are plenty of situations and incidents at schools all over the country (including my alma mater in the Midwest) that have and would deter diverse young people from finding a home in the NPC.

• The “Blackest Chi O Award” given to an active during a ceremony, because she dated a Black student. There were no Black members in the chapter and barely any in the NPC at the time. (At my alma mater)

• “There will never be a ‘blank’ in SAE.” As young men and sorority women sat and laughed on the bus.

• Catching multiple actives across the country in Blackface on Snapchat in the past couple of years.

• Costume parties where the theme is mocking racial/ethnic groups and their cultures.

• The frat guy that sat in front of his house with some actives on Halloween asking Black students (including me and my friends) if we had Ebola. The girls just sat there and looked at us. What if I was a PNM or an active in another chapter?

These experiences (some personal) were very real and hurtful. It’s deeper than simply saying, “WOC don’t want to join,” or “Black girls would rather be in the NPHC.” I’ve said this multiple times, we are not a monolith. There are plenty of women who want the Panhellenic experience and that is something that the NPHC will not offer them. Just like the first Soror that contacted me on social media after I was initiated is White. She chose Delta, because that was the sorority experience she wanted.

There’s thousands of things that the NPC does yearly that are positive and exemplary. There are chapters full of women who would never purposely harm or offend anyone and that’s great if that’s people’s personal experiences. But the discrimination is real and it exists, rather it’s Alabama in the past decade or a micro aggression from a specific chapter member that will hurt a WOC active. The trash stuff is not every chapter, not every school and it’s not every girl. But...one girl or chapter can bring awful attention to an organization. There’s nothing wrong with admitting that in some ways, things can be improved!

I agree that no one is perfect. I just wish that when people post the “I see you. I hear you,” posts that they actually mean it and are really listening to us. There’s been plenty of statements I’ve made in here that appear to go ignored. Some of the Women of Color from the University of Georgia NPC made a video talking about their experiences. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CDC0BEz...d=dbi1pc8c217x

ASA is officially on the Legacy Death Boat!!

https://www.alphasigmaalpha.org/news...y-on-legacies/

I get it, I really do. But it's also hurtful for NPC women to constantly hear, "You aren't doing enough. You're racists. Bama pulled some racist stunt, so all Southern schools are like that." and so on and so on. It is NOT true. Who likes being the butt of generalization?

And we do all have different goals. As I mentioned, I have had little luck interesting the black high school seniors I know well in the NPC because they see these powerful black women (a lot are educators) in our community and that's what they strive to be. I teach in a nearby town and have had the same experience there. Obviously, this is not the norm in some areas.

I'll be talking to this year's crop of seniors but this is the truth--many women and I have knocked ourselves out trying to diversify our groups by doing that and contacting sororities about women who might not be on their radar. But when we see all these posts all over the Net about what failures the NPC groups have been at diversity and what racists we probably all are--this is painful, and I know sorority alums who have given up on helping at all.

This is why we all should be working on a unified message and efforts. We can't have only a handful of people striving for positive change and expect something to come out of it.

We've all dealt with the stereotypes, the chants of "End Greek life!", the assumption that we're no longer relevant in today's world, the accusations that all fraternity men are drunks who assault women and all sorority women are stuck up bitches living on their parents' dime.

But to argue that we can't somehow, collectively. do better is what bothers me most. To think that every fraternity and sorority chapter across the country is striving for diversity is simply not accurate, and we all know it.

By the time you join an NPHC group, you’ve spent at the very least moths and more often YEARS focused on that group alone. Obviously you’re going to be more loyal to it as a national entity.

But as far as “lifetime commitment”? If you’re only counting national involvement, maybe my chapter of initiation isn’t doing that hot. But if you’re talking about lifetime friendships, we’ve hit the ball out of the park.

Any thoughts about the "Abolish Greek Life" movement? There is an eye opening article about it in the NY Times. Also, racism in Greek life has been discussed on other sites. (NOT GR, that I know of) One young woman (of color) spoke of her experience in a UGA sorority, on Good Morning America. That was a great video.

I think that the lifelong friendships and sisterhood are absolutely invaluable and if that’s one thing you take from joining, there’s nothing wrong with that. That being said...

...our commitment isn’t as much about loyalty. We have members who are inactive after graduation or even after initiation in an alumnae chapter, that could be considered loyal. Those of us who truly believe in our lifetime commitment’s understand that there is work to be done. There are people that need to be registered to vote, there is social action initiatives that need support and there is community service that needs to be done. Our undergraduate chapters and graduate chapters have the same missions and still have the same type of activities, even from a social standpoint, which makes it a bit easier to transition.

This is a HUGE thing to consider. Many NPC alumnae go from a jam packed calendar where every day had something sorority related (not to mention living with your sisters) to a monthly meeting, if that. This isn’t everyone’s experience but it varies to such a degree that trying to give women a clear and consistent picture of alumnae involvement is impossible.

Youth rebels because it must. I see young people quitting their greek orgs and then raising a stink to get attention for themselves, instead of working with their fellow brothers and sisters to improve the situations they perceive as "wrong" and "hurtful".

Be that friend upon whom your brother and sister greeks can rely. Live your rituals. Help your fellow greeks grow through mutual education and actions.

All people can learn, and their teachers don't need to quit on them to make their points.

Well said, Cheerio!

Yes. I have no patience for attention hoes.

I'm sad to see that some are not using this opportunity to bring about change in their groups but are simply abandoning their groups.:(




An opinion piece from a gay Alpha Tau Omega member at Duke University who shares his experience in being welcomed and accepted by his fraternity brothers but not by the gay community at the university.


https://www.dukechronicle.com/articl...greek-life-ato

Many of those bailing are doing so because the leaders of their orgs are either not listening or not letting the collegiates know they are being heard. Why pay thousands of dollars to be ignored or silenced?

Bottom line is my sister pledged and then dropped in ‘83 because she saw racism, my university had 1 black IFC member at that time, and when one of my chapter sisters dated his roommate (also black) it was a scandal. It’s almost FORTY YEARS later and we’re still having this conversation. That right there says things haven’t progressed as they should have.

SCANDAL?! We had plenty of women in my NPC chapter date black men. That's ridiculous that it would be scandalous TODAY!

I'm sorry that was your sister's experience during her college years, but I can attest that 40 years ago that wasn't the situation at my SoCal university. Yes the majority of the members were white however there were African American, Hispanic, Asian and biracial members in our NPC sororities and IFC fraternities. So interracial dating was not unheard of then.

Interracial dating is no longer scandalous, I meant we’re still having the inclusion issues/conversations 40 yrs later.
Gotta love Texas-

Interracial dating is no longer scandalous, I meant we’re still having the inclusion issues/conversations 40 yrs later.

And people are still fighting wars somewhere in the world because humans can and do fail even after thousands of years of destruction.

If todays college students haven't been taught 'inclusion' before their introduction to campus, there are opportunities for them to learn both in college and beyond about the subject. Whether said students eventually choose to follow an inclusive path is entirely up to them, because the USA has no Indoctrination Camps to make being an Inclusive Person mandatory.

Yikes.

I've massively pulled back from my alum involvement when concerns have fallen on deaf ears, have gone unanswered, or have been looked down upon. My friendships remain, but there's only so much I can do as an individual alum, or with small groups of likeminded alums.
For my entire undergrad career, we were one of two NPC chapters on campus who had any nonwhite members. This was in the 2000's...so not like it was that long ago. I'm with you - progress has been slow, and that can be frustrating to so many, especially those who don't want to be complicit.

Ruuuuuuush, exciting and new....come aboard, we've been expecting youuuuuu...

Pi Phi changed course...in August 2020 they said they would leave legacy policies up to the chapters to decide how they wanted to proceed with legacies. Now they have switch-changed and decided that not only are they getting rid of any legacy policy and/or chapter notification of a legacy...they're also eliminating the use of any RIF/Rec/Letter of support to any chapter.

https://www.pibetaphi.org/recruitmen...Ldb1&_zl=le7O7

Looks like they haven't voted on it yet but it will results in a biiig money loss.

Here's where i see it hurting chapters. Several of us have worked hard to get fantastic rural girls noticed at big schools with competitive rushes. If this passes, chapters won't be accepting letters of recommendation, which were getting these girls noticed. Now, the girls who are most likely to get in will be the girls they knew ahead of time. As always.

Couldn't agree more. Strong recruiting chapters know people, and will ONLY pull from those cities where their people are from. Before they would take a look at the girls from smaller towns that have recs. How will those girls get noticed in these huge chapters?

Weaker recruiting chapters won't have a compass of sorts (RIF/Rec/Letter of Support) to even know who to look out for. I think those chapters will be the ones hurt most by this, which is a shame.

If I understood it correctly, the legacy policy will change now without the need for vote at convention. It's the RIF/Alumnae support stuff that has to go before a vote?

Not sure. The grand statement "chapters will not accept letters or recs anymore" will bite their butts harder than the legacy policy will, because if chapters want to keep inviting certain legacies back, they will. The statement loftily says that chapters may do that, lol, like they weren't going to.

These recs did not keep unknown girls out, rather they got them in by making them known. Do you know how hard it is to get a girl noticed in UGa recruitment? I've had all these fabulous rural students who had everything going for them--except nobody knew them. Kiss of death in Athens.

By refusing to take recs, Pi Phi, and other groups, also seem to be urging chapters to pledge women nobody knows. That's a great way to pledge someone who'll be the one to make your chapter go viral because she makes a drunk or naked or racist video. If people didn't want recommendations, they wouldn't use Consumer Reports or other ratings on various sites.

So a PNM is cute and has a 4.0? Let's pledge her, without any knowledge of her character! Let's turn down letters that tell about what she's like! Let's go into this blind and shoot ourselves in the foot!

All of this! What about the girl that every adult knows cheated on her SATs but that's not exactly something that shows up on the Panhellenic form? Or is cute and smart but a total jackhole to people she thinks are beneath her?

Sometimes these are the exact people that recommendation letters serve to benefit though so I’m not sure that’s a strong enough argument for me to want to defend them.

LOL - Fair enough, but I do think there are esoteric reasons for a recommendation (or non-recommendation).

By esoteric, you mean something in the Ritual of a particular GLO?

My exact thoughts.

AND this is on top of the almost instant Initiation.

If they really, truly want to do away with recs but know the women they extend bids to, one solution would be Spring Recruitment with several pre-Recruitment gatherings in the first semester. But, Lolol, right?

No, more like things that aren't on the resume/panhellenic form (which will only include stats/numbers) that will be the only information a Pi Phi chapter would be allowed to review if they're not allowed any sort of outside input. Things like "she's a drunk", "I watched her help a homeless man cross the street without anyone knowing she was doing it", "She backed into a parked car and and drove away without leaving a note". Character traits that can't be seen in an application that's full of grade stats and activities.

You know that most chapters are going to take to their phones to learn inside stuff about the PNMs, so that's another reason that banning recs is useless. True example: a woman from another sorority called me and said that "Annie Smith", a PNM, had made it to the third parties of my sorority and she thought I'd like to know that Annie had a big photo of herself on social media peeing on the main street of our town on New Years Eve. I checked and astonishingly, it was still there. I called the chapter's recruitment chair and told her to check it out and let the chapter vote. The girl was gone from our parties after that and didn't even make it a semester at the college. We could have had this real gem and all the problems that went with her in our new member class...because there had been no rec, negative or positive.

Someone from my sorority tried to feed me a story that they were getting rid of recs to even the playing field. Are you kidding? A) This will cause chapters to be even more insistent about only pledging girls that someone knows, and B) Big chapters don't have enough time to find out great things about an unknown girl--how many PNMs does Bama have every year? Nor do they have time to find out if a girl is a chapter-destroying drama queen or someone who will break every rule of the chapter within 2 weeks.

I could go on for hours about how this will negatively affect sororities and PNMs.

What if they opened up the recommendation process to non-members. Like, if a woman doesn't know anyone who is greek or has no family members who are, they could have their High School teachers/pastor/Principal/whomever write the rec for them. If the objective is to even the playing field for women who aren't already plugged into the system, this would seem to address that and still allow the chapter to learn something about the PNMs. Or even if say she only knows someone in XYZ sorority, let that recommendation be accepted by everyone.

A problem there might be that non-members can write a positive rec about a terrible girl (maybe due to pressure from a relative or neighbor?) with no problems to them if the girl pledges and wrecks the chapter.

We still got positive recs for terrible women from members. The person writing the rec only knew what the woman presented, and didn't know that underneath she was a verbally abusive, manipulative narcissist. Or didn't know that the woman did a pretty good job of hiding her cocaine habit...until she didn't. Or that another was dealing ecstasy under the table. On the surface, especially to alums, these women would look great...but not once you dug deeper. Some of them we may not have offered bids to without the positive recs, but all of them became standards nightmares.

Recommendation letters are a sticky thing, with no right answer, and not universally helpful (or unhelpful - I no rec'd my brother's cheating, controlling ex with zero regrets over it - and then she ended up expelled from the university in her 2nd semester)

Exactly. It could go either way. Because many of these women are getting recs to simply check a checkbox. We actually encourage it, telling them to tap into their local panhellenic group or to ask anyone and everyone they've ever known in their entire lives if they are a sorority member or know a sorority member who can get them a rec. So perhaps they got their seventh grade English teacher who's an ABC to write them a rec, but hey, that PNM has changed quite a bit since seventh grade. And when considering some young women aim to have two recs to every sorority at schools with 15+ chapters, it stands to reason that some of those are of the "I got my friend's stepsister's aunt to write this" variety.

Oh, I realize that. Where they're valuable is if we're trying to find out about unknown girls, like those from small schools, or if we're trying to find out about girls who would rip up a chapter.

I was asked to write several recs who needed them at the last minute for an SEC school. National would send me their contact into since I was the President of our local AC. I met each of the women at a Starbucks and talked to them, asked questions based of their rsume. When I wrote the final copy of the rec, I made sure that the chapter knew that I was basing my remarks on a 10 minute conversation and would not guarantee the veracity of what they had to say. One girl joined a chapter that was not from my sorority and the others never let me know where or if they ended up somewhere. Recs are useless in my opinion when they are written by some random someone who has no real information on the PNM.

DaffyKD