Look at the demographics of your organization and the demographics of the communities that you most often service. If there aren't any patterns there then your group is in the minority.

:confused:

Not to mention the spelling and grammatical errors, you (once again) display an inability to follow what you read.

I'm having a positive discussion here. I was letting YOU know that (if you can follow the logic which, after reading this post, you can not) your train of thought wasn't far off base in terms of where I'm trying to go with this.

I realize the topic has changed a bit. "Minority IFC members" shouldn't hesitate to answer the original question, though. :p

Just because most Alpha Gam sisters are white doesn't make it "ethnic" or "cultural". THis is probably a guess, but there are more non-white women in NPCs, percentage-wise, than there are white women in NPHCs.

Why not? @ the first paragraph.

It's an accurate guess but it doesn't really mean anything. You have to look at proportion and not percentage. There are more non-NPHC organizations than NPHC organizations @ the second paragraph.


In either case, how is your second paragraph a significant observation when we're STILL talking about overall demographics of the membership and communities serviced?

;)

Alpha Gam and other NPCs in no way emphasize "white culture", whatever that means.

Of course there are more non-NPHCs than NPCs. That's why I emphasized PERCENTAGES. A non-Asian woman is not likely to rush an Asian interest sorority, while an Asian woman might very well go NPC, even if there are Asian interest groups on her campus.

I understand where DSTChaos is coming from, but I also understand where everyone else is coming from.

Everyone comes from a certain culture, no matter what "color" you are. So to say that (lets use the example) Tri-Delta is not a "cultural organization" is neither true nor false.

Everyone here is using the term "cultural organization" loosely. Most people here are in agreement that what they mean by "cultural organization" is that it is a club where people of a certain race... a certain "culture" come together to celebrate that culture.

Tri Delta COULD be construed as a "cultural organization" just for the fact that "white" people are not excluded from having a culture. Just for the simple fact that EVERYONE has a culture, when you get a group of people together, their group becomes a sort of "cultural organization." The word doesn't necessarily have to correlate with a philanthropy or an organization that is predominantly a certain race (i.e hispanic, african american, etc).

Umm...so yeah. Hopefully I made some sense without being too redundant.

An example of what I was getting at through my question is this:

I was in CVS pharmacy the other day and I was looking for hair products. I looked up at the aisle signs and the listing was "Ethnic" for the black hair care products. That sparked my curiosity. Why was the aisle titled Ethnic for that? Also, this doesnt square too well with the dictionary or text book definitions that Rudey posted.

"Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.
Being a member of a particular ethnic group, especially belonging to a national group by heritage or culture but residing outside its national boundaries: ethnic Hungarians living in northern Serbia.
Of, relating to, or distinctive of members of such a group: ethnic restaurants; ethnic art.
Relating to a people not Christian or Jewish; heathen. "

I mean, based on this definition, shouldn't the white hair care products have been titled ethnic too?

In addition, note the part that says "Being a member of a particular ethnic group, especially belonging to a national group by heritage or culture but residing outside its national boundaries". So, are they saying that somehow black women live outside the national boundaries of America? :confused: If so, than that says a lot.

I have an inkling of an answer, but I would really like to see other ideas and viewpoints on this to get a better feel for other perspectives and explanations.

The same thing happened in the grocery store, by the way. In Chicago one of the predominant food stores is called Dominick's In Dominicks, an aisle is called "ethnic foods" and in the aisle are basically just Mexican food. Now, I can sort of see this according to the definition that Rudey posted since Mexicans are "foreign" or of a group of people not native to America, but I still don't understand why there only being Mexican food in that aisle constituted the assignment of such a broad and segregative (not sure if that is a word) term like "ethnic".

I'm wondering if this is just "PC-ness" gone too far. I've never seen grocery store ailses say "ethnic" foods here. They're usually more specific.

"Ethnic" has become a buzzword, a watered-down euphemism, if you will. Much like the word "urban" in radiospeak...

Only by Americans. Canadians have never asked, mostly because many Canadians don't know much about the NPHC or other greek councils.

I have.

"Ethnic foods" and "ethnic haircare."

So, this fact alone trumps what other people have to say about this issue. :cool:

The only difference between what I'm saying and what others are saying is "implicit" versus "explicit."

Perhaps your area isn't very diverse? In Toronto, you'll most likely find products like soy sauce in the Asian foods ailse. Of course, if you REALLY want to get a good selection, you go to a supermarket that specializes in Asian foods. There are a few that are actually just as big as a mainstream store and just as clean.

First paragraph: Of course, they don't. They just "do whatever sororities do," whatever that means. ;) This supports my point perfectly.

Second paragraph: When comparing groups that vary so much in size, you can't emphasize PERCENTAGES without emphasizing PROPORTIONS. A percentage can seem extremely high or extremely low when the total size is not taken into account. If you want to discuss probability (which is what you are doing now) then that is fine. Does this higher probability significantly change the proportion of Asian women such that these are no longer predominently white GLOs?