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Originally Posted by starang21
haysus christo, after 20 plus pages have we come to a consensus?
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there will never be a consensus because some people will never understand why people chose to do something different instead of joining their organization or an organization similar to it.
it never ceases to amaze me how many other african americans feel the need to quiz me about my decision to join a multicultural sorority instead of an NPHC organization. it's not that i don't respect those organizations - because i do - but i didn't see where i fit into them, plain and simple. nothing is wrong with that, and i'm sure those sororities are like mine in the fact that they don't want someone trying to be a member because they "think they should." i'm sorry but the NPC organizations on my campus never appealed to me, the three main reasons being the fact that non-freshman interest were not given the same fair shake (i never wanted to join an organization my freshman year, i wanted to look around at all of the groups my freshman year so i could choose the one that was doing something i wanted to be a part of) and for the fact that they came across as party groups much more than any of the cultural based groups on my campus.
either way, the fact is that multicultural groups exist because the NPC, IFC, and NPHC didn't have something we wanted - mainly the fact that we wanted to use our organization to promote cultural awareness and to work inside the community to increase understanding and education of multiple cultures. those are not things that the average group in NPC, IFC, and NPHC do, period. not to say that some of those chapters aren't diverse or have programming occasionally, but they are the exception at this point, not the norm.
as far as being accepted as a minority in an NPC organization, i wasn't worried about that at michigan, there were quite a few minorities that were members of various organizations. my bigger problem were the news articles and information i researched (and found on greek chat) about some of the southern chapters that still have never knowingly accepted a minority. i could NOT be a part of an organization that has that type of history period. i udnerstand that historically white is not something that some people of NPC like to hear and that people definately don't want to hear it called a white sorority, but the fact is that until the ENTIRE organization presents an open and diverse front, people will continue to see them as white organizations. personally, i've seen both and know that yes, you are as diverse as some multicultural sorority chapters at some northern schools, but i also have southern roots and have seen that end of it too. i think as long as those regional differences exist, people will never see NPC organizations as openly multicultural.