At my undergrad, there were only 2 NPHC orgs and a slew of IFC and NPC orgs.
There were always HUGE racial undertones and overtones at my school. I admit that a lot was based on misunderstandings and inappropriate comments (not racial slurs) on everyone's part. But, much of it greeted us when we came to the campus. Some people were called the "n" word as soon as they stepped on campus and that's just ONE example. It was a tough road but my friends and I (especially my chapter but also my friends of all races) were very active in fighting for the rights of multicultural students. The multicultural students who are there NOW (since I graduated in '99) are very complacent and WEAK.
I remember freshman orientation '95 where we were told "we have 7 wonderful sororities...and two historically Black ones." The proper phrasing is "we have 9 wonderful sororities, of which two are historically Black."
My chapter was tiny and the other sororities had a minimum of 40 members. We were criticized for not participating in events or having a representative at meetings at times. DUH...if we only have 4 people on the campus, we won't have the flexibility in our schedules and the ability to pick and choose members to do certain things, as an organization with 50 people has.
They wanted us to do things that were against OUR organization's protocol, as well. We enjoyed having a degree of separation but we DID want to participate in what we could, which wasn't much AT ALL.
My chapter got along with quite a few of the IFC and NPC organizations. We learned a lot from certain people and grew in our tolerance of difference and acknowledging our MANY similarities.
But, there remained people on the campus who would ridicule our traditions and do our unofficial sorority call and the unofficial calls of other NPHC organizations.
