Probably the most racist thing I've ever seen in an official fraternity publication..
 

Note, written in an early 1920s Catalog of the Fraternity.

At the time in 1866 when we were organizing, in the
academic sphere, for the defense of Southern culture,
another organization, the Ku Klux Klan, was forming,*
in the political and economic spheres, to overthrow the
carpet-bag governments that were bankrupting the
Southern states. The Klan soon achieved its object,
which was just, patriotic and limited, and disbanded in
1869. Its mission was ended. Not so ours. Ours is a
subtler task. The maintenance of the spirit of Southern
youth on a high plane of principle and conduct is a per-
petual interest and duty.

Alpha Tao Omega?

Right Triad, but wrong Fraternity. Kappa Alpha Order.

My next two guesses were the other groups from that triad.

My hunch was KA, given that they were founded in December 1865. As recently as the 1980's, the chapter at my campus was still holding an annual Nathan Bedford Forrest Day, to celebrate the Confederate General. In addition to being a hero of KA, Forrest was also a well-known proponent and member of the KKK. And their annual spring formal was called "Old South" -- some of the brothers actually dressed up in Confederate uniforms and encouraged their dates to dress in frilly hoop skirts a la Scarlett O'Hara.

KA at Washington and Lee was still hosting Old South, with the attire exactly as described, when my daughter was an active there. She graduated in 2016. Their national headquarters is located right behind sorority row on campus, so I can't imagine there wasn't full awareness of the event. I've seen at least one formal picture of the members and dates, so attired.

I just Googled Kappa Alpha Old South and found a 2015 national directive memo banning Old South themed events...along with a lot of event pics that pop up and related news stories.


The Executive Council and adopted the following regulations during their meeting held on November 12 2015 in San Francisco, California. Pursuant to Kappa Alpha Laws Article 5, Section 121, these changes shall take effect January 18, 2016.

R16-113, OLD SOUTH, CHAPTER CANNONS, CONFEDERATE UNIFORMS, AND PARADES
(b) Old South. Chapters shall not sponsor functions with the name Old South or functions with any similar name. All functions and activities must be conducted with restraint and dignity and without trappings and symbols that might be misinterpreted and objectionable to the general public. All functions and activities shall be conducted in accordance with the regulations and policies of the institution where each chapter is located. Adopted November 4, 1984 and amended November 14, 2015 (to take effect on January 18, 2016).

I'm sure with certain chapters, these issues are so pervasive and the revenue HQ receives by way of fees and dues is enough to make them look the other way.

Oddly enough, While ATO would have been a guess for me, I don't think of Sigma Nu in the same way. Not sure why the difference in current views (at least mine) on Sigma Nu.

LOL

That's expected.

For me, the most racist thing was photos of Brothers in blackface in the Torch & Trefoil, the Alpha Phi Omega national magazine.

Don't ask me the date, I can't remember, but I saw it with my own eyes.

Since we voted to accept minorities back in 1969, a lot of our chapters have become pretty diverse. Our Dartmouth chapter actually left Sigma Nu entirely until we integrated. There was a pretty legendary fight over integration at our 1969 Grand Chapter. Future Senator Trent Lott led the fight against integration and was successful the first time it was proposed.

Sometimes I think the question is not "Whose Dartmouth chapter left over integration", but "Whose Dartmouth chapter *didn't* leave over integration".

For my fraternity, we had a chapter at an HBCU in 1947 and are trying to figure when our first African-American member (and yes that predates the term African American)

Sigma Nu expanded beyond the Deep South in a big way. Our Law still requires the big policy items to be somewhat democratic and still allows for our undergrad members some self-determination. It turns out that just around '69, we had expanded so far out of the Deep South that the non-racists slightly outnumbered the racists. I'm not sure that's a great thing to say, and I'll bet many of those racist members would disagree with my characterization, but they were what they were.

When your founding members either fought with or sided with the Confederacy, you've got some foundational issues. I'm satisfied with how far we've come.

Update from GenerallyGreek, who is well familiar with the Lexington Triad (except for ATO, who was booted a long time ago, for some reason that has given way to such a variety of urban legends that no one remembers what really happened). She said "Old South" featured horse-drawn carriages, which picked up all of the costumed brothers and dates, very publicly and ostentatiously, in the quad in the center of campus, right in front of the Colonnade and president's house. FTW, Kevin.

Everyone who didn't go thought the whole thing was ridiculous.

Meanwhile, Sigma Nu was the epitome of the model, diversified chapter, and you know your HQ is also located in town.

I met and hung out with a bunch of guys from the W&L chapter back in '01 when we had our College of Chapters there. We stayed in the dorms. I remember the President of your school at the time was a Sigma Nu alumnus. While he deigned to address us, he came off as fairly anti-Greek.

Was it in the archives, or was it something that happened after you joined?