[msn4med1975]

Originally posted by AXiD670
I never knew the BGLOs' primary purpose was service until I came to this board. At my alma mater, we had 3 or 4 chapters of BGLOs (2 fraternities definitely, and 1 sorority definitely, and I think we had another sorority, only because I would see 3 or 4 cars w/ the license plates on them, but that doesn't necessarily mean they had an active chapter there.), but the only time we saw them was when they were putting on a step show, when they were fundraising, or when they walked around campus in their jackets. None of them were "integrated" (I don't think anyways), but there was one "white girl" who joined the sorority....and everyone knew she had crossed because she was black and blue for almost two weeks afterward.

I think the reason (at least on my campus) the BGLOs weren't integrated was because: 1-nobody really knew what they were all about, other than being "the black fraternity" or "the black sorority". This is only due to them not being very visible (well, the one fraternity that hosted the annual step show was visible), or no one knowing what they were all about. The aforementioned sorority would always co-sponsor the blood drive w/ my sorority each year, but it was more of a way for them to put their name on it - none of their sisters were ever there. 2-obviously the recruitment styles are different. If a "white girl" wants to join a sorority on that campus, she knows, through advertising, that there are x amount of NPC sororities and when recruitment is. She may not be observant enough to know that there even is a BGLO on the campus, and if she is, she doesn't know how to join, because they don't hold open recruitment, and if they do, it's not advertised. If she doesn't have a class w/ any of the members, she doesn't know any of them to ask about it. She may not even see any members walking around campus...and if she does and tries to approach them to ask about joining, the attitude is "Oh she's just trying to get to know me so she can become an ABC." Yes, that's true, because there's no other way! 3-as I mentioned earlier, the BGLOs on our campus were known for their hazing. I'm not saying this happens everywhere, but that's how they were seen on my campus. Why would you want to join a GLO that you know is going to haze you, when you can join another GLO that you know won't?

In contrast, at the local university, there are 3 NPCs, 3 IFCs, and then one BGLO fraternity and one BGLO sorority. I believe both the BGLOs are well-involved and very visible on campus, and the NPC sororities and IFC fraternities do events w/ both groups. However, I do not know if they are integrated (I am not involved w/ the campus enough to know). Also, I don't know how they advertise recruitment, what kind of service events they do, etc.

Anyways, the point of this post was just to give my observations of my experience at my undergraduate school. I'm not accusing any GLO of anything wrong. I'm also not saying it's wrong to have a different recruitment style, but I do think that may contribute to why BGLOs aren't as integrated (if they really aren't. Perhaps they are...?). Maybe BGLO sororities are members of Panhellenic on some campuses and do participate in formal recruitment....although I don't know enough about them to know if this is against their national rules or anything. I echo what most other people have said that you should join the GLO, whether it's an NPC, IFC, BGLO or MCGLO that you feel is the best fit for YOU, not your roommate or your mother or your father or someone you'll meet in the future, but for you.

We do not participate in formal recruitment cause it doesn't line up with our membership selection process. Not to undermine your experience but you can't base intergration of the groups at large on two campuses with limited representation of NPHC groups. I understand your post but in general, while I have been at PWIs the White community at large tended to ignore the NPHC groups unless there was a party, stepshow or coming out show. So it's hard to miss the fact that one of the fraternities sleeps out on the campus overnight to raise money for charity, or that the NPHC is having a voter registration drive during one of their weeks because it's not something that interests most of the campus for whatever reason. Each chapter will be different but a lot of the service undergrads around here do isn't open to the public to assist so it's not advertised. Fundraisers are because they draw in money to continue the chapter programming.