This horse is dead. Let it rest in peace.

Organizations exist to fill a void that the founders felt was significant. If you don't agree or don't understand, don't become a member.

Thanks precious! *hugs*

Paleeze, What does Multi mean to you?

More than one type of individual! That means all colors of people who are Hes or Shes on that type of Organization.

Oh, that might mean Hes to Hes and Shes to Shes.

If it dont fit for you, then, dont try to do it! Da Ha!:rolleyes:

Sounds like a Movie, "Dumb and Dumber".

diane8284, I think you are a little confused about the subject. We aren't talking about cultural based organizations. We are talking about multicultural organizations. An Asian American interest sorority (to me) is not a multicultural based organization. Multicultural organizations such as Zeta Sigma Chi, Theta Nu Xi or Delta Xi Phi aren't and to my knowledge ever based on ONE cultural. It seems like you have an issue with Asian American sororities not multicultural sororities....

you are right, i am confused because at my college, the dominating multicultural organizations are asian-american interest, hispanic interest, or african interest. its no wonder i have never realized there are those that actually mean multicultural.

the ones you mention do not exist here so i was confused. however, my issue isnt with asian-american, i am just sharing what i know based upon my school and wanted to understand further.

i apologize if people find what i have said offensive. i only meant to share my experiences in hopes to give another side to this discussion thread. it seems everyone here just talks about the founders, but now we havejust headed into 2005, and all i asked was about purpose of them currently and what they do. and i just wanted to share what i have observed as well as experiences my friends have had in them. perhaps what i have said is offensive, and if it is, please no i do not intend to offend anyone.

Re: Why do multicultural GLOs/organizations exist?
 

First, let me preface this with words from Preciousjeni in 2004:


That said....

Weekend before last, I was invited to be a guest speaker for the National Multicultural Greek Council's Spring Conference, themed "Namaste." Because I know you're dying to see pictures of me in all my Lazarus-signing hotness, here is the link: http://www.nationalmgc.org/

I just wanted to say that it was very clear that one of the issues facing Multicultural Fraternities and Sororities is how they tell their story. They have reached an age of their existence where they are now "fighting" (too strong a word) to market themselves as multicultural by design. It's such a small statement, but on many of their respective campuses, both traditional and culturally-based organizations are re-branding themselves as multicultural in an effort to stay relavent.

It was a very interesting discussion at the NMGC conference....I had never really felt this was an issue, but I suppose it really is.... I mean, you have an entire council of GLOs whose very purpose was to BE multicultural by design, in both membership and programming, but then competing organizations market themselves as multicultural. By happenstance, usually.

The question was even posed to me why some NPHC organizations do that. Me, personally, I have never seen an NPHC organization rebrand themselves as multicultural. HOWEVER, I have seen diverse chapters that tend to stay diverse over the years.

I guess I am saying that I was very happy to be invited to speak to the NMGC, but more importantly to listen to the issues that face multicultural fraternities and sororities.

I was sad not to see any Theta Nu Xis there though. :(

I guess I should add that under much discussion was the definition of "multicultural."

People tend to use the term multicultural to lump all culturally-founded GLOs into one category. I know at L.O.C.K.'s school, for example, the Multicultural Greek Council included all orgs that were culturally based, and would theoretically also include orgs that were multicultural by design.

It's weird....a local MGC would include all orgs for people of color, but wouldn't include an NPC which happened to be diverse.

(Local MGCs are not chapters of the NMGC, by the way)

I had to begin to rethink the subtle differences between multicultural and diverse.....and I hesitated to even bring up cultural pluralism.

Anyway, it was great, great discussion.

Re: Re: Why do multicultural GLOs/organizations exist?
 

I personally considered going as a non-conference attendee, but unfortunately I was not able to make it. But in general, and I'm sure you already know this, TNX is not a member organization of NMGC.

Re: Re: Why do multicultural GLOs/organizations exist?
 

A good topic, I would have loved to listen to that discussion!

Thanks for the comments, Rashid. Is the phrase "multicultural by design" of your own formulation or was it put forth at the conference? That is a wonderfully descriptive phrase that distinguishes the issue.

I would have enjoyed that discussion as well! :) Is there any more you can tell us about what was said? You've mentioned that there was a discussion but you left us hanging on the specifics.

(By the way, you were looking fly as usual!)

Thank you! :D

To be honest, I am not sure where "multicultural by design" came from. I feel like I probably was repeating that phrase over and over in my mind, but I didn't want to dominate the discussion.

Let me think.....I know the primary focus of the first "public" session was what the NMGC can do for its members. There was some clarification on the differences between a governing body and an advisory body. (They are advisory.)

How to deal with orgs that market themselves as multicultural, but are not so by design. (I don't remember the resoultion.)

Ummmm....okay, so I really don't remember everything cuz I went to go find a kinkos for part of the discussion. :)

There were a good mix of both fraternities and sororities and there was a lot of idea sharing for programming.

if I remember correctly aren't there two organizations that both claim to be the umbrellas for multicultural Greek Letter organizations?

http://www.nationalmgc.org/
http://www.nationalagc.r8.org/

So are we talking about multicultural as a whole (takes people from all backgrounds) or by system (a black fraternity, an asian, etc.) I think they serve a purpose, but not for everybody. Our fraternity is all white, so i'm not sure where that fits into a multicultural greek system. Guess we'll be the "white" fraternity.

"Multicultural by design" I think means specifically a Multicultural fraternity or sorority. Not latina, asian, black, etc.

shinerbock, read Senusret's posts above. He mentions that this specific issue was addressed at the NMGC conference. RIF, my dear.

very few
 

very few "minorities" were in college in the 50s. We had four
Hawaiians (sent by their teacher, an alum) and the Sig Eps had
a really popular mexican (second generation). Many of us had a
foreign student or two, not considered as a racist move, and it
was surprising to find a mexican or person of color to graduate
at all. It had nothing to do with prejudicial. Sometimes we were
so patronizing it was embarrassing.
Even today the minority GLOs are small but they have fewer to
pick from...
Aside from the east coast and west coast, minorities still have a
tough go to mainstream.

Re: very few
 

For some reason, this post doesn't make sense to me. Maybe because of the thread that it is in...:confused:

I still don't think people "get" what multicultural organizations are about...

I'm usually confused by his posts... It reminds me of Finding Nemo when Squirt (baby turtle) is giving Dory and Marlin advice.

" It's like he's trying to speak to me, I know it."

Good discussion...

I know a lot of Black, Latino/a, and Asian Greeks are marketing themselves as Multicultural these days in the fact that usually you see a statement along the lines of "we are historically serving the X community, but we are NOT X exclusive".

However, it is clear that most have a high percentage of one race/ethnicity. My fraternity is like 95% Asian I think (I counted, I'm a nerd. :D ).

In any case, we're obviously not Asian exclusive (I'm like the waspiest kid you'll meet :p )

However, I think Multicultural Greeks (not BGLO, LGLO, AGLO) are in a difficult situation. We're such a segregated society, that it's hard to find people like this. I commend the orgs that are about Multiculturalism though for their work.



And to diane128634 that was posting earlier about Asian Greeks:

You make a lot of excellent points. It's a constant battle that is being fought. I think you have viable concerns and points, and I'd love to help with your frustrations. Feel free to PM me.

Thanks
Nate

Multicultural sororities are completely shallow. They look at the color of their skin, not the content of their character (hmm... someone once said that...who was it again?), they exist on the sole fact that someone out there wants to be sisters with white people, or mexicans, or blacks. Black people love us! There are fraternities and sororities that accept all races. Ours specifically would not, but there are at least two on our campus who would. Multicultural sororities exist solely to say "hey look how liberal i am, i can hang out with black people and not care!"

While this post is not worth replying to, I don't want you to lead people astray who might not understand the value of these organizations. So, I'll say, it's not simply a race thing.

There must be a place for people to be openly accepted as people and not simply tolerated, as a function of the organization. I'm not saying that some chapters of some non-MCGLOs don't do this, but at this time in history, Greek life is not an altogether pleasant environment for homosexuals, practicing pagans (e.g. wiccans, neo-druids, etc.), obese individuals, etc...essentially all those who are in some way marginalized beyond the traditional categories of marginalization. While such generous acceptance is not the core purpose of MCGLOs, it is indicative of the ethos of these organizations.

Furthermore, multiculturalism is not the promotion of a melting pot. It is not a safe place where people can come to lose their identities to the American ideal (i.e. denying oneself in submission to the majority). Rather, it is a place rife with turmoil, even on the inside, as individuals subject themselves to situations that threaten to force them out of their comfort zones. We meet people and circumstances we wouldn't have dreamed about on our own. That's a tough place to be! No one honestly enjoys being uncomfortable, but members of MCGLOs live such a life daily. Those members who do not shut down from the overstimulation become more seasoned and wise individuals who gain a greater ability to remain calm and objective in even the most difficult of circumstances.

For you, and others like you, to reduce this experience to a mere popularity game or whatever it is you have in your mind is to minimize the personal sacrifice inherent in joining an MCGLO.

I also agree his post isn't worth replying to, however, I have a question. Since you believe only the top fraternities and sororities do not except non-whites, why can't "others" have an organization to join? In case you didn't know, there are some people in this world that are mixed (black and white, white and asian, asian and black, etc.) A lot of people who are mixed choose to join a multicultural fraternity/sorority because they don't want to "choose." It's just not a group composed of radical liberals. I actually know of a few conservative Republicans that are in multicultural organizations....

But I do think that it is great that you have been able to use the internet to finally be able to voice your opinions of "others" in this country. It's has to be quite difficult to not be able to do it in your regular life. I wish others were as honest as you.

I think it is also important to recognized that "multicultural" does not mean only "muti racial". There are many people who look a like, speak the same language, and come from a completely different culture. That, my friends, is worth exploring, and getting to know better.

I for one, am just happy to see women working together, whether they are a Tau Delta, an AKA, an APhiO a Theta Nu Xi or whatever other org you can think of. If these orgs are where women feel at home, supported, and grounded, then by all means, grow, prosper, God's speed! TD isn't for every woman, AKA isn't for every woman, APhiO isn't for every woman/man and Theta Nu Xi isn't for every woman...but they ARE for some. And that's important. Let those who feel the pull of sisterhood THRIVE in it.

Edit to fix a stupid statement.

*BUMP*

We've gotten some new MCGLO posters that I'd like to hear from. :)

Jeni uses abbreviations I don't understand, so sorry if I've missed something. What I don't comprehend is the need for multi cultural groups. For example, one of the primary reasons I like greek life, is that it allows like minded people from similar backgrounds to join together both socially and in other endeavors. I don't wanna sound like a jerk here, but often people join fraternities to avoid the melting pot of society. The world is multicultural, why do you need a GLO acting as a microcosm?

Hey shinerbock, do you happen to have the full results of the survey you took to come to this conclusion?

Yes. I polled 2 people, one being me, and the other being my friend. The results are as follows...

Did you join a fraternity in part to escape the "diversity" and urban social culture of society?

Yes 2 (100%)

No 0 (0%)

LOL! :)

But there are different types of "like-minded" people. Two people from completely different cultures can still think alike, just as two people from the same culture can be miles apart.

The world is multicultural in that it is inhabited by lots of different different people of all sorts of ethnicities. However, there still exists a sort of segregation. There are still many neighborhoods that are predominantly one race or one ethnicity. The schools in these neighborhoods are also going to be predominantly one race or ethnicity. Even in a school that has a good mix of different ethnicities, cliques tend to form along racial divides.

You stated one of your reasons for going Greek was to join like-minded people both socially and in other endeavors. Well I'm sure the same could be said for the ethnic sororities and fraternities as well as the multicultural sororities and fraternities. They may have a different mindset than you, but it doesn't mean that there's no commonality between these organizations and the NPC/NIC orgs, and it certainly doesn't mean that they're less than NPC/NIC orgs in any way. They are real Greeks, they have just as much right/reason/justification for exisiting, and they provide a lot of the same things the older, "more traditional" NPC/NIC orgs provide (strong sisterhood/brotherhood, networking, social events, leadership skills, support in times of need, fun/memorable college experience, giving back to the community, etc.) And with multicultural fraternities and sororities, the members may come from different backgrounds but they are still coming together as like-minded people for the unified purpose of promoting multiculturalism. And multiculturalism isn't about a melting pot. It's not about us all blending together until we're all the same uniform beige-y, tannish color. It's about becoming more worldly by educating yourself about other cultures and educating others about your own culture...and realizing that there is a huge wide world out there beyond your own little corner of the world.

While I'm not really disagreeing with you,but in my experience multi cultural glos tend to take anybody. I just don't really understand the point of a private organization if there are very low requirements for membership, but that is just me.

On a side note, I really get annoyed when people act like segregating yourself is such a small minded thing to do. Simply because I hang out with people like me doesn't make me "uncultured." Most of the members of my all white fraternity are very well traveled, schooled and cultured. We simply have found things we like, and prefer it that way. Lack of diversity doesn't always mean a lack of culture.

While I may not agree with you I have to give you credit for being true to your opinion!

By "tend to take anybody" do you mean that you've observed that MCGLOs have no standards or that they don't take cultural/ethnic background into account? I will only speak for Theta Nu Xi, but our screening process is stringent. However, we do not take cultural/ethnic background into account. This is why we have a high number of women in influential arenas like law and politics. We have lawyers, doctors, CEOs, etc. in a high concentration for such a young organization, if I do say so myself. Theta Nu Xi accepts leaders and scholars. It's quality not quantity for us.

Regarding culture vs. cultures, I believe you're talking about two different things. I grew up in Atlanta but what I consider to be my family name (not my current last name) and my family home ties me to the Old South. The family is quite established and operates in that "culture" (although I have all but shed that image). Culture, in that sense, and what I think you're talking about is more akin to "high class" than anything. Cultures (as in multicultural) is about a conglomeration of varying international group identities. We have thousands of distinct cultures within the U.S. that cross ethnic boundaries.

What I meant by taking anybody is that the multi cultural orgs I've seen often tend to value the "multi cultural" aspect than anything else, and thus just take anyone who wants to be a member.

Regarding the cultural issue, I'm not quite sure I follow. What I meant is that people like myself, who were in all white fraternities, who prefer upper class neighborhoods with fewer minorities, are often considered to be hiding from the world, or "uncultured." What people fail to see is that many, if not most of us, are better educated and traveled than the large majority of people. We're not hiding in our own corner of the world, or unaware of the big world out there. We've seen it, and we also have found a part we prefer.

Basicaly, let us placve it where it really belongs.

Multi Culture, Latin, or Asian started their groups for the same reason all of Our Organizations did, for ideal and commaradrerie of like people. Or people that one feels comforitable with.

Now then the question comes up, whose fault is this?:(

Guess that should about answer that question.

The problem most people have is that they see you saying things like neighborhoods with a low number of minorities in them... and see that as racist. I get the impression you like nice, expensive, high class neighborhoods. That quality has nothing to do with the race of the people living there. Yes, there are probably fewer well off black people in the south, or at least your part of it, but you have to understand that I live in a nice neighborhood, right by a park, where no one is rich but no one is poor and we're probably 50% white and 50% not.

Do you see why from MY perspective race/culture has little to do with quality?

But these same kids who live in predominantly white, upper class neighbourhoods may have attended boarding schools where they met, roomed and hung out with students from all over the world. In any case upper class neighbourhoods in some parts of the continent are actually quite diverse. I'd say that if upper class people were hiding at all, they're hiding from lower income people more than they are from minorities. It's just that in some areas, upper income families tend to be white.

Well I'll be blunt. I'm not a racist, but I am prejudiced. I prefer not to be around low class things. My statement about preferring low minorities was probably not the best portrayal of how I feel, but it is true. For example, if I lived in a neighborhood with a lot of minorities, but who were well off, well educated, Christian, and classy, then I'd be fine with that. Unfortunately, that is rare. For example, I live in the wealthiest county in GA, and word eventually got out. Some wealthy minorities started moving in, and then the not so wealthy ones followed. Since then, we've dropped from one of the top 10 wealthiest counties in the country to around 15, home prices have dropped, and crime has shot up. Now I'm sure some will say "well that has nothing to do with minorities," and while that is a nice PC thing to say, it is also untrue. Minorities attract more minorities, and while I have nothing against the members of the upper class, large minority populations often breed conditions I would not wish to live in.

I see. I haven't personally observed this phenomenon.

I think my question was regarding your definition of uncultured. I believe I understand. If "uncultured" is a nice way of saying "discriminatory," I understand what you're saying. To that I would say people are comfortable where they are comfortable. The basic reasons you gravitate toward upper class neighborhoods and a white fraternity are probably the same basic reasons that I gravitate toward orgs like Theta Nu Xi. To each his own. My problem comes when you don't acknowledge the value of my organization to me when I acknowledge the value of yours to you. Of course, there may be other negative issues under the surface that caused you to make the choice you made. I can honestly say that the reason I didn't seriously pursue a Panhell org was because of the high number of white women. But that doesn't devalue my organization or my commitment to it. I'm continually growing. Even as I've come to terms with my personal issues, I still haven't had any desire to renounce my membership and pursue a Panhel org.

I won't deny this, but I will ask what you are doing with this privilege to affect change for the better? I do believe this is everyone's responsibility, especially in the U.S. where we have so much. I by no means have a socialist/communist bent, but I am compassionate. You shouldn't be made to help, but if you don't, I'd like to know why.

Ok. Again, I don't think the issue is that people consider you ignorant, but that they consider that you do know but are still discriminatory/elite. And again I'll say, to each his own. I don't think it's appropriate for anyone to question your reason for joining your org. You are where you are in your life and, regardless of the way others may feel about that, you are where you're supposed to be. The rest of us can go jump in a lake. But, I have to say again, your attitude toward organizations not like your own is certainly the catalyst for the negative attitudes of others who are not in similar organizations. I would also say to you that you don't have all the answers and you have not finished growing, no matter how old you are. Your opinions could change with new experiences. Don't get wedged into one way of thinking. That would not only be a pity but it would also be a disservice to your future self! There are things you can't understand (and may never understand). If you realize this and are willing to step into the shoes of people unlike yourself, you'll go a long way in understanding why people might have a negative perception of you.