Phi Mu Ending the Use Of Hand Signs
 

No more "throwing what you know" by Phi Mu. They have determined that using hand signs is cultural appropriation. I am sure the rest of the NPC will follow along shortly.

Phi Mu Ends Use of Hand Signs

Thank God.

I realize that some NPC groups do have hand signs that go back to their early years, but most don’t, and seeing this always made me cringe before “cultural appropriation” was even a phrase. It’s a bunch of white girls looking ridiculous.

It's definitely cultural appropriation...but....

Did they even ask us (NPHC) what we even think about it?

Because, 1) Most of us don't care about handsigns. We care when you start performing in step shows, and 2) Not every NPHC handsign is official, either.

I think sororities are hoping these small acts will pacify enough people that the big changes won't have to happen. I think sororities are terrified of the big changes, because that will have to be in the realm of recruitment and membership.

Yes.

If I can be honest, I’m not sure how many NPHC members even know the NPC is throwing signs in the first place. My NPHC friends that don’t work in higher education don’t know much about the IFC/NPC to begin with, let alone the culture, so I don’t know what this changes.

When I was an undergrad, the NPC members weren’t throwing signs at my school and neither were my friends from other schools. When I started working in higher ed, that’s when I saw it more frequently. While I found it random, I didn’t really care. Just don’t throw my sign or do my call, strolls or steps and I’m good. :)

Word. I really only learned of this through GreekChat.

Our hand sign is a crescent. I like that. Probably even more common than the "hand sign" crescent is the whole body, both arms crescent.

Some members throw a Gamma sign, and that has been deemed unacceptable. Despite many reminders of this policy, you'll still see some bid day pics with members throwing that Gamma sign...and so the reminder will be made again. I just saw a reminder in last week's collegiate newsletter. It feels like an uphill battle to get members to comply where that sign has become the "thing." If this becomes a widespread edict, this will likely take a while to eradicate and it may be a case of closing the barn door after the horse got out.

ADPi start "throwing diamonds" in the 70s, and I'm not really sure that the whole gang culture was very big then. As it's a very simple sign, I don't mind it (I've thrown one with a Santa Claus!), but some really do look a little odd.

What does gang culture have to do with it?

Performative BS

In the parlance of "appropriation of culture".

APhi’s Ivy Leaf, DG’s salute, GPhiB Crescent, and PiPhi’s wings are 4 that aren’t the same. I hope they stay.

Some of them (like the quatrefoil) are ridiculous, as most girls can’t do them! And soooo many look alike.

The questions is whether the adoption of handsigns and step shows etc on the part of the Professional Fraternities at HBCUs (Alpha Phi Omega, Gamma Sigma Sigma, Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma) falls into the same category. It is adaptation of the the NPHC concepts, but almost entirely by other African Americans.

(This can be dated to the late 1940s or early 1950s)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Alpha Phi stole their hand sign from AKA. So, there's that.

That’s my question. The appropriation discussion is about the NPHC, so I’m not sure what gangs has to do with it.

Ahhhhh...I forgot about the Alpha Phi Ivy. That is often a topic of conversation. Every year it’s “discovered” by someone and then bidday pictures make the rounds on the social media pages, because of the similarity to AKA. Zeta Phi Beta and Phi Beta Sigma also throw wings as well, but for Doves. However, I can’t say I’ve seen any comments about Pi Phi.

Where does it all stop? When does it all stop? Who's to say that the first NPC/IFC chapters to do hand signs, did not do it out of admiration of the NPHC hand signs? Might Alpha Phi, which was founded before AKA decide that AKA can no longer use ivy? Could Sigma Kappa, which was founded before Zeta Phi Beta and Phi Beta Sigma, demand that the these two organizations cease and desist using the dove? After the persistence and camaraderie displayed by Greek organizations to keep our organizations single-sex and stopping discrimination against Greek members (Harvard) are we just going to cannibalize ourselves
?

As to step shows, I think it was Sen who once explained the significance of stepping to the NPHC. Has this been explained on all campuses that have NPC and IFC chapters? I would hope that if all were educated, NPC and IFC would refrain from stepping or hosting step show competitions. But I think the path is education, not decimation.

Why isn't a resistance to cultural apporpriation just plain intrinsic?

I love watching haka. I do not do haka simply because it reminds me of stepping.

I love watching dabke. I do not do dabke simply because it reminds me of strolling.

*We* are not cannibalizing ourselves. NPHC organizations are not on the menu.
NPHC members have been educating people on GC for twenty years. At some point you need to take the education back to your own organizations.

Phi Mu is doing what they feel is correct. It's bizarre that such a course correction is the hill some of you are choosing to die on.

My intern many years ago was an Auburn Phi Mu. We discussed Greek life openly and honestly. She said her chapter would never admit a black girl (not that there were that many rushing). I asked why. She said because she knew they'd be miserable. In her mind, the "liberal" wing of the house was saving the black girls from the racist wing of the house. In fact, she was just as complicit because the outcome was the same. I think she knows that now, in her maturity and wisdom which comes with age.

In the decade or so since this moment, maybe things got better on that campus and in that house. As white people awaken to the many, many facets of racism that they've been complicit in, they're taking a lot of microsteps that, to some, seem like over-correction. In reality, it's just the conversations you all should have been listening to years ago.

There is such a thing as retrospective justice, when a group of people realize that a wrong which has occured is so egregious that it impacts a society itself. There will be many small corrections leading up to major policy changes. You grab the low-hanging fruit and then you keep climbing.

The part in bold is so spot on!! And I think people need to have a bit more awareness that even with good intention, you still very well maybe contributing to the problem.

And I agree with you as well, sometimes small increments of change can ultimately result in a larger impact.

Several black women have pledged NPCs at Auburn since that time but it seems that most prefer NPHCs. The same goes at Arkansas; I'm told that only 2.5% of the undergrad population is black women and that most of those prefer to pledge the NPHCs.

It's very frustrating to be totally open to pledging women of color (and even being pressured to do so by outside sources) when there really aren't that many who are interested, due to their family preferences.

I think those of us who post on GC are vastly different in knowledge than those who don’t. I barely knew anything about the NPC while I was in college. I had classes with individual girls and they were nice, but I knew nothing about recruitment, events, philanthropies or even that there were alumnae chapters until I logged in here. With that benefit of knowledge, I see things differently because I am informed.

The general population of membership in all the councils are not having these conversations and still do not know much about each other. With the lack of interaction and communication, something can go from being a coincidence or an honest mistake, to being perceived as appropriation or disrespect. A person that knows nothing about the NPC, has never seen nor interacted with an Alpha Phi is going to perceive the sign to be something that was stolen, because they see AKA’s of all ages throw the sign regularly.

The NPHC organizations have been around for 114 years and we have plenty of “firsts.” The justification that anyone could decide what we do based on them being founded first is a bit troubling. Especially not from organizations who don’t have any type of official relationship with ours.

It should not be frustrating at all, it should be the goal. It shouldn’t make a difference if it’s 1,500 Black girls that sign up for recruitment or 25. The goal should be to make those 25 feel comfortable, supported and allow them the same positive experience as any other young lady in the NPC. The statistics aren’t relevant. It’s about making the NPC a safe place for any qualified young woman who actually want to be there.

Most of the 2.5% won’t be joining ANY sorority for a million different reasons. Even if they they wanted to, we will never know, so let’s focus on the many young ladies who DO.

I get that and have been working towards that goal for years, as 5 of my daughters are not white (3 did pledge NPCs). The thing is, outside sources (mostly) are haranguing the NPCs to pledge many more black girls, almost suggesting that we should have quotas. If they aren't gonna rush NPC, no one can force them to.

Try to imagine if some outside source felt that your chapter should pledge 25% white girls and you were making an honest effort to do so. (Yes, I doubt that could happen but let's say that it could.) You were getting little response and yet people were on your case, blaming you. This is what's happening to some NPCs and it's not right.

A lot of it comes from outside sources not understanding how rush works for NPC or NPHC and thinking that they both do it in the same way when in reality they’re poles apart. It’s not like everyone is filling out the same job application.

...and they can keep haranguing. I tend to not worry about people that are not informed about what we are doing. We get plenty of comments about why we don’t “recruit” non-Black people or even let them in our organizations, when we don’t “recruit” Black people either and our numbers of non-Black initiates has grown. The peanut gallery doesn’t make me lose sleep at night. We control what we can control. The more “diverse” young ladies that are seen having positive experiences in the NPC, the more will feel emboldened and safe to participate.

Getting back to the hand-signs topic. I think all of this shows how much we really don’t know about each other. I wonder if our leadership ever even talks to each other.

Some NPHC organizations are also members of the NIC, but my impression is that that group is more about the business end of fraternities than it is about the cultural aspects.

Total transparency here- from the first time I saw NPC groups "throwing hand signs", I thought they'd gotten it from gang culture. I didn't know NPHC groups had hand signs until I joined Greekchat but, working in adolescent mental health, had a lot of experience with gangs and gang signs. All the high schools had to ban wearing colors and throwing signs so my frame of reference was gang signs and that was back in the early 90s. I really thought that's where the sororities got it from.

I agree there is much we don't know about each other. When I was in leadership, I often said we had much to learn about NPHC because you convey the concept of lifelong membership that we simply cannot get. The number of women who stay active in NPC orgs after graduation is abysmal. We could learn a lot from you on that topic for sure.

Frankly this is NOT any hill on which I'm going to die. Never liked any hand signs, but do love the DG anchor. That is adorable. Yes I am a DG fan and love all things anchor-related. I am a kite flyer who cherishes my anchor mates.

While I'm ranting, I particularly dislike the two Theta hand signs that our HQ "banned" or "strongly discouraged" (if memory serves and I am disinclined to search for the supporting documents at the present time because it's 111,000,000 degrees outside with no relief in sight for another month or two). You know which ones if you've been around more than a little while. Don't make me 'splain it to you guys.

Thank you, PersistentDST and Sen, for your well-reasoned points.

And you know I will always anchor your kite!

Tri Delta has had their hand sign since I pledged in the late 80s. I sure hope they don’t have to give theirs up.

They were using it in the early seventies! I remember them leaning out the windows during rush--3 girls would lean out of each window and make the delta sign.

I think the rise of social media has made them more widespread (or, it could just be that now we all see them in posts). I think our hand crescent looks like C is for cookie if reversed in a photo!

My sister is correct. Gamma Phi Beta will not accept photos for publication on social media or in The Crescent magazine if they include "non-approved" hand signs. In fact, IHQ says that any hand sign pics found will be requested to be taken down. I will add this, though, our "crescent hand" and "crescent arm" signs are considered to have specific meaning related to our sorority values and that's all I'm going to say about that.

I was headed to Florida with friends when I saw a car with an ADPi bumper sticker on it. I told the driver to pull up alongside the car, and at about 80 mph, did my half of the diamond to the car full of ADPi sisters. Both cars were full of diamonds, laughing and horn blowing - it was a GREAT moment!

I hope nobody is so offended that our women stick their finger on the forehead like a unicorn horn. Is it silly lookin? Yep! Offensive? I don't think so.

I haven't logged into GC in ages...and I see Karens saying that the usage of hand signs among fraternities and sororities, reminds them of gang culture. LOL

Good to see GC hasn't changed much ;)

Ain't a thing changed but the population density lol

DITY?

Alpha Xi's is so simple, just Xi with the pointer fingers crossed and the pinky for I. It's cute. I like it. I don't want to get rid of it.

There are non-secret sorority hand signs which can be performed both alone OR with one other person. I suppose the significance/meaning of a shared hand sign at any particular campus/chapter may keep them unofficially in use longer than an NPC HQ may prefer.