Auburn, et al. closings

[Erik P Conard]

As a former educator with a PhD and forty years of fraternity experience, I do take umbrage with the gutless administrators who do not punish the (mostly black) fraternities who parade their pledges around in the open (most do not have houses)
wearing dog collars, hob-nailed boots, branded and doing stupid antics for all to see. And the bleeding hearts, mostly of
the psychology and social science departments, say nary a thing, and hating the so-called white fraternities, are eager to throw us off the campus. These fluid-like minority clubs have no houses, do not belong to IFC, account to no one, and they go
on their merry way. It is not PC to say this, but it is really talking out of both sides of the mouth and it is an insult to the many black and other minority members in NIC fraternities. I have watched, with growing resentment, the drifiting away of these fraternities--black, latino, asian, etc. as I thought we'd leveled the
playing field...now we are growing apart! There are a goodly
number of, say, blacks--in the chapters today and they have ever
been welcome in Beta, Teke, DU, AKL, others...since day one!
While we have yet to install a urinal in the Kappa Kappa Gamma house, that is another issue...by the way...you oughta
see a composite of the houses who've gone co-ed...you talk about fruitcakes and nerds...that tells it all!
Anyway, SHAME! Many of us worked hard in the '50s to expunge
the white christian male clauses. Did we toil in vain? I hope not. As a field rep for TKE 'way back then, I took great pride in not having to ask a kid during rush if he was Jewish or of a not
acceptable (to some) lot...if we liked him, we bid him...simple.
And we continue to let the gutless wonders, mostly anti-greek,
invervene, deny our rights and punish us....We have ourselves to blame in most cases. We simply implode. Does your chapter have an active advisor? Does he go to the parties? Does he attend meetings? If not, you are a loose cannon, and
get ready to move as you chapter will NOT survive. Get smart, work together, hug your felow Greeks, black and white. We all
aspire to greater things, don't we? An old TKE alum from Denver, Erik P Conard, Emporia '60

[SoTrue1920]

Speaking of fruits and nuts....

The actions you describe are NOT sanctioned by the governing bodies of any NPHC organizations. The actions you describe rarely if ever take place on college campuses today - if they DO take place, they're part of 'probate' shows, displays of organizational pride that take place AFTER a person has become a fully initiated member of an NPHC fraternity or sorority. Did you know that in no way, shape, or form are we required to be branded? Did you know that for a lot of us who are NPHC members, we express an extreme distaste over the practice?

If you're the "educator" you claim to be.. how can you not know this? How can you not know that such displays ARE NOT SANCTIONED? How can you not know that some NPHC organizations HAVE been removed from campuses because "lines", are discouraged? If you're really an educator, how can you not know the origins of 'step shows' and how we trace our history of that display back to West and South African 'boot dancing'?

Most importantly, how can you not see that mimicing the lynching of an African American person while dressed as a member of the KKK is a FAR more serious offense than marching 'in line' or dressing alike?

I think I have my answer.

[Erik P Conard]

I must have not made myself clear.
I do not support or sanction any such asinine acts as were
perpetrated by the chapters at Auburn or Miss. I wanted to
say that if a chapter had an active advisor, such things would
not occur as the type of person who'd act that way does not
belong in any of our groups.
And, I did not mean to imply that the the minority groups HQs or
organizations condoned any such behavior I portrayed.
BUT I do regret the pulling away of these groups to form their
own as counter-productive. This would never be permitted were
the NIC groups trying to separate themselves from the others.
I find that hypocrital, no matter how defensive you may be.
No, I obviously did not make myself clear. We should all work
together. We have enough critics as it is without fighting from
within.

[Tom Earp]

While I am not a member of an NHPC Greek Organization, I can only speak from what I have read in the print media, have seen in the visual media, and from talking with Friends of NHPC groups, I have heard some very disturbing statements.


While I am not from the same Fraternity as Erik Conard, when I was at PSU Kansas there were 2 NHPC Fraternitys and I called the memers I new Friends! Each one had a strong chapter there.

We as NIC and NPC members do not know what goes on in your Organizations, I do not know what goes on in any NIC/NPC organization as that is each and everyones business!

It only comes to light when something bad happens that it comes out and sheds a very bad light on any Organization that has Greek Names!

If you get off of your Poney, you will see that know matter what, whether it be any of the Organizations, look at the Greeks who do the most in todays world!



If some of the NEW FIRE BRANDS saw what really went on in some parts of the country, you would get your head out of the sand! I went through this crp in 1960 when there was only "1" Darker skined person in the whole school and he was in MY ROOM ALOT along with My Other Friends! Did you ever stop to think that maybe you alone cause some of your own problems?

Not everyone is your stereotype!

I speak Interfraternally Yours

[bigBERG]

"BUT I do regret the pulling away of these groups to form their
own as counter-productive. This would never be permitted were
the NIC groups trying to separate themselves from the others.
I find that hypocrital, no matter how defensive you may be.
No, I obviously did not make myself clear. "

I still need some clarification...

[mdstudent]

I am not a member of a BGLO, but let me say I was absolutely disgusted by the total disrespect and ignorance this so called educator has shown. First of all, like some have stated before, those "antics" you speak of are not sanctioned by the governing bodies of the divine 9. Second, to call the divine "fluid-like minority clubs" has to be one of the most outrageous things I have ever heard. Are you familiar with the history of any of the organizations, their founders, or the prominent people who have been members. W.E.B. DuBois, Dr. Martin Luther King, A. Philip Randolph, Rev. Jessie Jackson, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Maya Angelou, Zora Neil Hurston, Toni Morrison, and even Elanor Roosevelt were/are all members of those "fluid-like minority clubs". You wonder why even though GLO's have accepted minorities for many years, we still drift to organizations which consist of "our own kind", well maybe its because we know that those organizations have always wanted us and were not forced by law to let us in. Some organizations still don't want us. I suggest you go and talk to some of the people in the NPHC or Latino or Asian GLO's and maybe ask them why they aren't in the typical GLO's or why they engage in some of the traditions they do instead of just looking in from the outside and prejudging. Oh, and one more thing, for the record, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity Inc. and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. are all members of the NIC as well as the NPHC. In fact one of the former presidents of the NIC was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi. Research my friend, research.

[dstbrat]

these "fluid-like minority clubs" are incorporated international fraternities and sororities just lie those in nic and npc. if you had taken some time to understand why these groups were founded and what traditions they carry on perhaps you would not be so quick to jump on the injured majority bandwagon. these groups were initially founded on predominately white campuses (cornell, indiana and butler universities) as a support system for the small number of minority students that were enrolled. at that time (1906) black students could attend classes, but , could not utilize on-campus housing or join any extra-curricular activities. so , they did what an other group would do and that is start their own and i am glad of it!
simply because a few chapters open their doors to black, brown, or yellow people does not negate the importance or relevance of nphc organizations. the united states is not a melting pot by any means. what makes you think that an nic or npc group can replace nphc? we are unique and different in some key ways than our counterparts. and would be sorely missed by many if we went away. as a graduate of a large state university i can say without a doubt that active nphc organizations are an important tool to recruit and retain minority students. not everyone is interested in assimilating into the majority culture and for many students membership in nphc helps to retain a portion of our culture rather than be swallowed up by the whole~!

[Tom Earp]

Did anyone stop to think, that may be the main reason there are so many different GLOS and BGLOS as we are not all alike in not only color but in thoughts about who we would like to be with?

If everyone was the same, we would all dress alike, drink and smoke the same and be in the same cooky cut form as everyone else

For right or wrong, we are all Americans of some form or another, but at the same time different! God if everything was the same we would all be boring as hell-oh!

Damn was that a boring speach!

[mccoyred]

This is a JOKE, right?

Originally posted by Erik P Conard
As a former educator with a PhD and forty years of fraternity experience, I do take umbrage with the gutless administrators who do not punish the (mostly black) fraternities who parade their pledges around in the open (most do not have houses)
wearing dog collars, hob-nailed boots, branded and doing stupid antics for all to see. And the bleeding hearts, mostly of
the psychology and social science departments, say nary a thing, and hating the so-called white fraternities, are eager to throw us off the campus. These fluid-like minority clubs have no houses, do not belong to IFC, account to no one, and they go
on their merry way. It is not PC to say this, but it is really talking out of both sides of the mouth and it is an insult to the many black and other minority members in NIC fraternities. I have watched, with growing resentment, the drifiting away of these fraternities--black, latino, asian, etc. as I thought we'd leveled the
playing field...now we are growing apart! There are a goodly
number of, say, blacks--in the chapters today and they have ever
been welcome in Beta, Teke, DU, AKL, others...since day one!
While we have yet to install a urinal in the Kappa Kappa Gamma house, that is another issue...by the way...you oughta
see a composite of the houses who've gone co-ed...you talk about fruitcakes and nerds...that tells it all!
Anyway, SHAME! Many of us worked hard in the '50s to expunge
the white christian male clauses. Did we toil in vain? I hope not. As a field rep for TKE 'way back then, I took great pride in not having to ask a kid during rush if he was Jewish or of a not
acceptable (to some) lot...if we liked him, we bid him...simple.
And we continue to let the gutless wonders, mostly anti-greek,
invervene, deny our rights and punish us....We have ourselves to blame in most cases. We simply implode. Does your chapter have an active advisor? Does he go to the parties? Does he attend meetings? If not, you are a loose cannon, and
get ready to move as you chapter will NOT survive. Get smart, work together, hug your felow Greeks, black and white. We all
aspire to greater things, don't we? An old TKE alum from Denver, Erik P Conard, Emporia '60

[Mr_Meticulous]

Originally posted by Erik P Conard
As a former educator with a PhD and forty years of fraternity experience, I do take umbrage with the gutless administrators who do not punish the (mostly black) fraternities who parade their pledges around in the open (most do not have houses)
wearing dog collars, hob-nailed boots, branded and doing stupid antics for all to see. And the bleeding hearts, mostly of
the psychology and social science departments, say nary a thing, and hating the so-called white fraternities, are eager to throw us off the campus. These fluid-like minority clubs have no houses, do not belong to IFC, account to no one, and they go
on their merry way. It is not PC to say this, but it is really talking out of both sides of the mouth and it is an insult to the many black and other minority members in NIC fraternities. I have watched, with growing resentment, the drifiting away of these fraternities--black, latino, asian, etc. as I thought we'd leveled the
playing field...now we are growing apart! There are a goodly number of, say, blacks--in the chapters today and they have ever
been welcome in Beta, Teke, DU, AKL, others...since day one!

Ummmm, Are you a touch bit angry?

Dr. (?) Conrad,

To be a Ph. D, you sure are confused. You are so confused you almost had me confused. When I first enrolled in college quite a few years ago, one of the first GLOs to greet me was in fact your fraternity and the second group was the ACACIAs. Now I tell you this because I am about to prove a point. I went to a high school that was 98% black and I would have gone to a black college as well, but I was worried about publicity on the football field so I chose to attend a traditionally white institution. When some of my teachers from high school who are BGLO members found out what college I was attending, they made it a point to let their bruhs know that I was going to be on the yard and to look out for me. Now when it came time for recruitment period before I first stepped foot on campus, I received a letter from the TEKEs telling me to come by their house and just visit. This was something I gladly did because I hadn't heard of the organization and I wanted to know what it was about. Regardless, all the NIC groups looked at myself as not being "qualified" enough to pursue membership. I guess we were cool enough to kick it with, but not a suitable person to become a member. Anyway, I'm about to wrap this up because I could speak a month of Sundays on this issue . To make a long story short, we have numerous NPC and NIC organizations at my school and combined they only have two ethnic members. We have not always been welcomed and we are not always welcomed now. I mean just think about it; When have you ever seen a black greek put on "white face" to imitate anything historically significant to whites whether it be good or bad? Many members of the non - ethnic GLOs keep throwing greek unity in our face, but they let their mouths do the work and not their appendages. Quit building up dams and let the waters flow smoothly. That way you can see the good that all GLOs do and that can divert your attention from things that you are not comfortable with and is not part of the mainstream, but may customary or traditional for someone else.

[tkeos443]

Honestly with Greek Unity all organization NIC, NPC, NPHC need to remember that at some universitities greek organizations are in distress and we need to unite and stop some of this bickering now Dr. Conrad is one of my fellow fraternity men and a very knowledgable man. Maybe he is thinking that with unity we can form a better greek society or maybe he has questions but to retort in such a nature questions the maturity of some of the writers. Remember no matter what organizzation you belong to we all are GLO's and need to stay solid together.

Interfraternally Yours,
James Metcalf
Omicron-Sigma Chapter #443
Tau Kappa Epsilon

[PenguinTrax]

Actually, Iota Phi Theta and Kappa Alpha Psi are (also) members of the NIC.