White men in NPHC
 

In the fall I will be a sophmore at a large HBCU. I am interested in joing a Fraternity. I would like any advice or tips on joing. I do not know exactly how to approach it. How large of a hurdle if any will my ethnic backround be.

What does your screen name mean?

Anyway, get good grades, KEEP good grades, do your research, attend events, and get to know the members. Read Black Greek 101, African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision, and The Divine Nine. Familiarize yourself with the website of the org you're interested in. Know the rules and don't break them.

This is the advice I give to any aspirant. Race doesn't matter to me.

Good luck!

Depends on how big of an issue you make it. You do your research, get your act together, be serious about it. Don't go around "I'm white, I'm white, help me, what do I do?" Nobody's going to cut you any slack for being white. Some people will be fine with you, some people are never going to like you - it's like this with people all the time over all kinds of things, whether it's race or something else, so go ahead and get over that now. This is NOT an endeavor for the overly sensitive.

Also, I second everything Senusret said :)

Good luck!

Maybe he raises Blue Merle Collies.

LOL, I'm just being silly.

I was thinking perhaps he fancied himself as this guy:

http://www.hotflick.net/flicks/2003_...anshaw_002.jpg



But I guess I'm just being silly with that too... ;)

Great advice, DSTRen and Senruset.

My advice:

Don't have a chip on your shoulder.

Don't assume people owe you lighter treatment or can't/won't ask you questions regarding your membership and so forth. I see this a lot with nonblack members. They're either so paranoid that they're way too humble and are pushed around. Or they are arrogant, especially when folks have made them feel like the "Great nonblack Hype" and applauded them for stuff that's not really special. Then they start to feel like we owe THEM something and shouldn't ask anything of them when they're out and about (i.e. "where'd you cross?" can become a battle).

Did you get a scholarship to the school or have a lot of friends there or something? I'm just always interested in what leads white folks to black schools.

Minority scholarships, tuition differences, the curriculum, the campus, the students, is it fun, is it educational, where it's located.....

ya know...the same stuff that draws nonwhites to PWIs. ;)

I know your question wasn't directed at me, but...

Howard University was on my list of prospective graduate schools. At one point, I wanted to move to the Washington DC area and was evaluating schools in DC that offered my program of interest.

I ultimately didn't apply (to Howard or any other DC area school), because my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer...I decided to stay close to home. However, I would have readily attended Howard - if I had been admitted, of course, and if it seemed like the best fit out of the schools in the area that would have offered me admission.

I didn't even really think too much about the fact that it was a historically black college - I was evaluating it based on its location, the fact that it offered the right program, and that I felt like I could get a good education there. Actually, the historically black aspect of it didn't cross my mind at all, until other people pointed it out to me.

I think at a lot of black colleges, the grad schools are often more mixed than the undergraduate population. I know a lot of people that applied to HBCU's as fallbacks for law school. From the sound of it, some of those grad programs are fairly evenly split along racial lines.

Its less mysterious when its based on locale or other connections. I just am interested in white folks from like California who up and decide to go to Howard. Of course, I'm also interested in people from like NY who end up at NM State without a scholarship or other connections. People just sometimes seem random with their college selections.

Sometimes that's the point - if you really didn't enjoy high school or your hometown and 80% of the populace goes to a certain school, you may want to get as far away from that as possible.

DSTCHAOS, DSTRen and Senruset all gave you great advice.

Just as a side note, I just returned from my regional conference and I learned that the photographer is a Phi Beta Sigma. He is caucasian. His photos were great!

i mean, i try not to be though

:(

You're hardly arrogant. ;)

Well, if you're from SoCal and you go to NYU or UF or LSU, thats not that confusing. But if you're from Orange Co. and you go to Georgia Southern or Oswego St., its a little weird.

That's the case for 99% of the HBCUs that have graduate programs. But the mixture doesn't come from whites as much as from "Asian" groups.

LOL, that's not what my co workers say

:(

You're talking about work.

I'm talking about your NPHC interactions.

Run along, attention whore. ;)

i'm trying to make it about me

:rockon:

:party:

My brother is at GA Southern, which is definitely not a bad school, but also not most well-known in the state, and whenever he mentions out-of-state friends, I do wonder about that. But I guess if I wanted go out of state and couldn't get in to the top schools, why not? Sometimes you just want to leave. (Although, honestly, I think I'd go to somewhere with a beach or some sort of attractions, not Statesboro ... ;) )

Yeah, I think it probably boils down to them visiting and just feeling that it is the right place, but it makes one wonder.

We have several members in or around the grad chapter who are not African-American. I think the best thing would be to keep an open-mind about the culture and doing new things.

Try not to act like you don't belong. I was at a step show a few months back and saw a caucasian soror who got out there and did her thing, so I guess it really depends on the individual and how comfortable they are with the situation.

I really agree with that. At HU, I can remember three very well-known and popular nonblack male students ... one asian, two white. I'm pretty sure most everyone liked them because they were a) comfortable around black people and b) comfortable in their own skin (i.e. not acting stereotypically "black").

There is a FIJI down here from New York. I have no idea how he found his way down here. I think he just wanted to go to Texas. Great guy though. Would never know he was from New York.

Every NPHC organization has caucasian members. I think I know the frat you are talking about. He shot our pictures when our boule was in Cali in 2002. He is a good photographer.

I always refer to Zeta Phi Beta as the "chocolate zeta" and Zeta Tau Alpha at the "vanilla zeta". I wonder what you call a white ZPhiB. A white chocolate zeta?

Thank You for making this point!

It has to be up to The Individual where He or She feels comfortable.

I do not see the big difference of Black going to White or White going with Black as some people seem to want to make it!
:(

If, there is a switching over from Color, then let them do it!:mad:

It is non of anyones business here is it?:rolleyes:

You need to be washed in the blood of the lamb. :)

I applied to colleges as far away as my parents would let me go. I've attended PWI's all my life and I knew there was nothing I wanted more than to go to an HBCU. I want unfamiliar settings as far as away I can get. For me, college will not only be about academic education, but learning to stand on my own (with the exception of finances) and proving to others that I can as well.

*Sorry I completly hijacked!*

there's this asian AKA up in indianapolis, i think.


if i wasn't bethrothed to chaos.....i'd drink her bathwater.

:o

rotfl!!!!!

i've met frat that are Asian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Caribbean Indian, White, whatever...they went with the org that they felt they best identified with, and it just so happened to be...PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY, INCORPORATED!!! and i've also met tha same for ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY, INCORPORATED!!! but yeah, do you're research, and decide which org you best fit...not based on stereotype, but on principles and the activities they are doin on campus and in the community. also get to know they brothers in the chapter of the org on your campus, if you dont already know them.

Or at least is makes you wonder what the connection to the college was. I too think it's interesting when people go to colleges where they will be an extreme racial or ethnic minority (Cool interesting, not freak show interesting). With PWIs (which I'm guessing is Predominantly White Institution, right?), sometimes you might imagine that people go because it's the big state school or it's public and cheap. Often when you talk about HBCs, the tradition that attracts someone has got to be different than that, since often they are smaller, private, and maybe not so cheap, and especially for undergraduate school, I am curious about the particular elements that drew someone in.

have you considered multicultural organizations? i know that at my school, which is mixed, i was interested in joining a sorority, but i'm not "white" enough for mainstream, "black" enough for divine nine, or "latina" enough for a latin org. then i found Lambda Psi Delta Sorority Incorporated, which is multicultural, and haven't looked back! it's been great and i would highly reccomend checking out what your campus has to offer. or even do your research and found a chapter if there aren't any. that's what we're doing!

Just join an organization that you are interested in WORKING YOUR ASS OFF in. You'll be fine.

YES.

When I was in HS all I wanted to do was get as far away as possible and out from under my parents wings (I'm an only child). I considered Catholic U in DC even but decided I'd had enough of Catholic schools. I ended up in St Louis.

What equates to "white, black, and latino enough?" Just curious.

i, of course, meant this personally, not generally. but what i was referring to, especially on my campus, is the seperation that occurs. in order to feel comfortable in a white sorority here i have to be comfortable going to "old south" confederate balls, or having sisters who are openly racist. the divine nine sororities here are so used to being treated with prejudice that unless i was a "home girl" with no white roots whatsoever i'm looked at as just another white girl trying to be black. which is not the case. as far as latina sororities, there aren't any here, so i base this only on what i've heard and read, but i'm not interested in learning to speak spanish or trying to pretend their values are similar to mine, because they aren't. i find i'm most comfortable representing a sorority that openly embraces its sorors' cultural differences.

I applied for a scholarship but have not found out if I have recieved it yet. The school is closer to my work than any other college that offers Engineering. The town has more to offer than other cities within a couple of hours. My sick mother is also close by. The school has a lot of programs and new facilities with a good boom going on right now. I firugred what the heck go for it. The fact I am white and it is a HBCU doesnt bother me. I am just interested on how to join a NPHC frat. I appreciate all the info offered. I have already read The Divine Nine. I will read the other books cited earlier. Race doesnt bother me. I was just curious on how common non African American people join the NPHC. Now that I have recieved all the input I will put it to work and do my best. I hope to offer all I have to the one I choose. I believe as long as I put my best foot forward and be myself I will be fine. Thanks Again!!!

I love it when they say thank you at the end. :)