More minorities join Alabama sororities
 

After the huge news reports from three weeks ago, this is now barely of note. As it should be.;)
A progress report from the university's president: http://vimeo.com/76730402

One of the best pieces on the whole deal. I love the "present rejects the past" phrase. The author is, I believe, the immediate past editor of the Crimson White, the UA student newspaper.
http://nation.time.com/2013/09/20/un...es-sororities/

I hope this isn't just an attempt at a quick and easy fix.

The real test will be if they STAY members.

This is the foundation...we won't know the results for a few years. But at least something is happening...

Is this their "foundation", though? If so, that is problematic.

Perhaps a REAL foundation was established which made this next step possible. If a REAL foundation was established, that is wonderful and that campus needs to know about that foundation so people know this isn't "add a nonwhite person and shut up about it."

I'd say it's a start. Although I tend to be a pessimist about some issues, I'll say they are at least trying to do something, instead of calling this an isolated issue and moving on as they have in the past. That's why I think time will tell...

This may be a start but it hopefully isn't the foundation.

Oh...you're misunderstanding me. I'm just saying it something...a start. I just didn't use the correct word. Made sense to me in my head lol

What, in your opinion, would a "REAL foundation" be?

Exactly. Wake me when they've graduated from college.

I believe someone said the new Theta is a senior, so I'm guessing she'll make it to graduation. As for the underclassmen, who knows.

Won't be all that long because one is a Senior.

Article from yesterday:

http://blog.al.com/tuscaloosa/2013/1...residen_3.html

This was discussed in that other thread.

33girl and Munchkin03 are talking about people STAYING members because a foundation has to begin before adding nonwhite members.

It will be interesting to see if they stay in the area and join alumnae associations.

Yes, yes it will, because these ladies certainly didn't pick none of those colored girls ;) Not that the majority of the alumnae are that backward, but there will undoubtedly be some or this problem would never have existed in the first place.

LOL!

I would find it amazing if practically any NPC alumna joined an association. Or frankly, an NPHC young lady transferring to a graduate/alumnae chapter.

Well the reality is the vast majority of NPC women never join an alumnae group, regardless of race, so whether members of color would join based on sense of welcome or community ties or whatever (or not) would be even harder to gauge.

Me too! Antecdotally, I get the feeling that Black NPC alumnae stay involved for longer as alumnae (on average) than their white counterparts. Maybe because there are so few and they/we stand out? Maybe I'm making that up?

Again--let me know how these women fare in a few years and I can tell you if this integration was a success.

On a similar issue, did ADPi select any women of color for the colony at Ole Miss? I tried to snoop but the group was so big that the faces were indistinguishable. It seems like a colony is a good time to break some of those historical trends.

Looks like they did.
instagram pic from their meeting
http://instagram.com/p/feFFbbkKA6/#

LOL. Please someone create that Oprah image.

Yeah this is just...interesting. Pardon some of us for not drinking the Kumbaya kool-aid. But we could probably tell from the end of that other thread that this quick response would be attempted.

There were no historical trends to be broken at Ole Miss. Some of the sororities have already had black members at Ole Miss for many years. Yes, some are still segregated, but not all groups.

I'm also not drinking the Kool-Aid. I can't jump up and down and think that this is wonderful and refreshing. This just seems too.. convenient? I'm not even sure that's the word I'm looking for, but it just feels like, "Hey, look at us.. we gave a bid to a black girl!" or, "If we take a black girl, no one will think that we're racist." It was too.. staged.. set up. Let's face it: a situation was specifically created to bid minorities.

I mean, people are actually counting how many minorities were given bids. Pictures of the ADPi colony are being tracked down to see if there are any darker faces in the crowd.

I'm not as interested in whether or not minority NPC members are involved after college as much as I am curious to see if this trend continues in formal recruitment, and if chapters continue to fairly look at ALL potential members, regardless of their race.

*Falls out* :p

All I picture is a bunch of girls screaming/clapping/cheering and running to hug the nearest Black girl...

The word you are looking for is "tokenism."

Yep.

The closest Oprah image.

http://ts2.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.46810...7&rs=1&pid=1.7

They're even wearing white! How perfect for new member ceremonies that require white dresses!

I'm interested to see how many non-white girls go through next year and how many of THOSE girls get bids without a giant national spotlight shining on Alabama recruitment.

Agreed- that picture is perfect.

I would bet dollars to donuts the national spotlight will be on Bama's recruitment next year.

And you would win!

http://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...19121472_n.jpg

Of that I could see, I counted 4 ladies of color.

I'm interested to see how many APHs try to make connections with minority women and get them to the info sessions for high schoolers, help them find recs, and encourage them to rush.

We've already been doing that.
Yes, in Alabama.

When organizations (in general) have an abundance of members (not every member but a substantial amount) who believe "we don't seeee raaaaace" and "weeeeee are colorblind unlike those other GLOs..." it makes me wonder....

Why have you supposedly been recruiting racial and ethnic minorities?

Why do (some of) you care about that?

Well, I'm not in the South, but I want good women to go through recruitment, and if we limit ourselves to white women, we are going to miss out on a ton of good members.

I definitely don't see this as a Southern thing. :)

Pardon me if I am way off the mark here but if more organizations are making the conscious effort to recruit nonwhites, isn't it a good idea for them to tell their members to quit the "we don't see race" routine (that is a big turnoff to some nonwhites as well as some whites)? I know GLOs technically can't control how members feel and what members say but it does help when members are formally told that intentional efforts to recruit nonwhites means that the members (at large) do see race, ethnicity, and culture and there's nothing wrong with that when both intent and outcome are positive.

I think that members are trying to say what DBB just said but don't have the age/experience/verbal faculty to say it.

Re the ADPi picture, I was too freaked out by those screaming hot pink skinnies to bother looking at what race anyone was. :p

What members?

The "I don't see race" thing might even be more northern. But that's the sort of thing that you can tell an 18 year old girl is not cool to say, explain WHY it makes her sound like a doofus, and she will, after a few minutes of embarrassment, get the message and watch what she says in the future. The problem is there is no good way to talk about it without sounding either racist or superior.

That may be why this forum is a good place to hash it all out. We can say something, make a mistake, get corrected, and learn something from the process. All with a certain amount of anonymity.

I still contend that the land between segregation and diversity is tokenism, and there's not much you can do about that if you want to get from A to B. These college girls can be really proud of themselves for pledging a black girl, but if things go well, the result will be that some of these girls will end up with an actual friend who is black. And that's a good thing. She might have been pledged because of her race, but presuming she doesn't have horns, they may actually get to like her over time as a person, not a fill in the blank person. But that doesn't happen over night, and we have to give these girls a bit of a break as they transition into new territory. And if the worst thing that happens is some girls say some less than graceful statements in an attempt to sound worldly, then we should call that a win.

Maybe we all need to take the Implicit Association Test (IAT).....