Hello fellow GCers.
After reading the thread regarding "The Machine" at the University of Alabama, I was reminded of a letter I read last year.
As a university administrator by profession, I am a member of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). In NASPA, I belong to three sub-areas called "knowledge communities": international education, new professionals and fraternity/sorority affairs.
Some time around fall 2002 I came across a letter from the University of Alabama Faculty Senate which was forwarded to the members of the fraternity/sorority affairs knowledge community. Unfortunately, I do not know when the letter was authored. However, this is not that important. What's important is that, in this letter, they seek the help of university administrators such as myself to affect change in certain greek life practices. The practices they are referring to point largely to NPC organizations for women.
I wanted to post this here because I thought it might make interesting reading. If there are any of you who think that the university doesn't care about the current situation, this letter proves otherwise. However, I am not convinced that changing these practices will help at a campus like U. of A. - I think they have bigger issues to deal with. I mean, abolishing references won't make a big difference if few minorities go through recuitment to start with. At any rate, you may read for yourself.
Thanks!
I have posted the text of the letter below.
.....Kelly
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Letter from the University of Alabama Faculty Senate to the Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Knowledge Community:
Dear Members of the NASPA Knowledge Community for Greek Life:
Our University has been working diligently to assist students in efforts to desegregate our Greek system and to overcome dated stereotypes that often unfairly stigmatize Southern campuses. While desegregation efforts have born some fruit and demonstrate much promise, they have not yet brought a level of integration that would allow us to claim that we have truly inclusive Greek organizations. We further recognize that our integration efforts will always have limited results without the support of national organization such as the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA). Since NASPA’s Knowledge Community for Greek Life is most familiar with the policies and practices of fraternity and sorority membership recruitment, we are writing to request your help.
We are especially concerned over two common selection practices:
1. requiring reference letters in order to receive an invitation to join a greek organization and
2. giving selection preference to legacies.
Because African Americans have been historically excluded from white sororities and fraternities in the South, the probability that an African American rushee is a legacy is miniscule and the network of former African-American greeks from which to request letters of recommendations is almost nonexistent. Moreover, because segregation in the Greek system often mirrors broader societal segregation, qualified African American rushees are often not exposed to white greek alumni who could write them letters of recommendation. Thus, a rather inbred system seems to self-perpetuate.
Interestingly, personnel research demonstrates that recommendations and references are two of the poorest predictors of future performance. Added to the fact that requiring references and giving legacies preference impede the diversification of Greek organizations, we would greatly appreciate efforts of the Knowledge Community for Greek Life to:
* persuade national greek offices to deemphasize or terminate reference requirements
* inform chapter membership chairs that references should be used for introduction purposes only and not to exclude prospective members without references
* encourage national offices to critically examine the impact of giving legacies preference and to adopt appropriate modifications to this practice so that worthy minorities are not denied admission to sororities or fraternities
* work with national greek offices and host institutions in making diversity a genuine priority
* assist in educating alumni in the need for new strategies to attract diverse students.
In preparing students for work environments and societal structures that are increasingly multiracial, multicultural, and international, we feel that membership in diverse organizations in their college experience is essential. We also feel that integrating our Greek system will help minority students realize the equality, dignity, and free choice called for in the moral frameworks shaping our country, states, and university. However, we do not believe that we can achieve a diversity that transcends tokenism and persists over time without your assistance. Through addressing problems with Greek reference systems and systems of legacy preference, we feel that you can play a critical role in helping us write a new chapter in the racial history of our Greek system and university.
Thank you for your attention to these concerns.
Sincerely,
J. Norman Baldwin, Ph.D.
President, Faculty Senate
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