[Firehouse]

Time Magazine makes an issue of the struggle within Sigma Nu over the so-called "white clause". We all went thorugh it in the 1960s, and it was a highly volatile issue.
In the 1960's all the national fraternities integrated, but the thing we can all point to with pride is that no one made us do it. There was pressure from administrations, sure, but there were no lawsuits, and there was no way anyone could force fraternities to integrate. Greeks had been specifically exempted from the Higher Education Act of 1965.
The reason fraternities began pledging men who were not white is that they were smart enough not to cut themselves out of a great market. They realized that if they wanted to be a good fraternity, they needed to rush the best men on campus. If you had a chance to pledge a young Michael Jordan, or Tiger Woods or Colin Powell, wouldn't you do it? The smart fraternities realized to their credit that they should seek out the best guys. Period. We should take great pride in the fact that we came to that conclusion because we recognized that character is colorless, and no one made us do it.