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Black Greek system in jeopardy, author says
2004-02-04
The only institutions more important in black communities than the
church are sororities and fraternities, a scholar who has studied the
black Greek system said Tuesday.
But if the black Greek system doesn't find a way to stamp out
dangerous and occasionally deadly hazing, the 100-year-old system
might not survive another century, said Walter Kimbrough, vice
president for student affairs at Albany State University in Georgia
and author of the book "Black Greek 101: The Culture, Customs and
Challenges of Black Fraternities and Sororities."
Kimbrough flew into Oklahoma for a speech at the Henderson-Tolson
Cultural Center at the University of Oklahoma, which has nine black
sororities and fraternities with 88 total members.
While the white Greek system is plagued by alcohol-related problems,
drinking is not such an issue in the black system, possibly because
black students have less disposable income, Kimbrough said. Physical
hazing is the scourge of the black Greek system, he said.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council, the umbrella organization for
black sororities and fraternities, officially ended pledging in 1990
in an effort to stop hazing. But Kimbrough said the ban only drove
the long-standing practice underground.
His book lists 10 hazing incidents in 2000 and 2001, including one
death. Several victims needed medical attention, surgery or dental
work.
There have been more hazing incidents since then, Kimbrough said,
including the drowning deaths of two California students in 2002,
which led to a $100 million lawsuit against Alpha Kappa Alpha
sorority. That lawsuit has the potential to close the organization,
which was the first black Greek-lettered sorority, founded in 1908 by
16 students at Howard University.
"These are the messages I'm trying to get out to students: 'You could
be responsible for closing an organization that is almost 100 years
old because you want to haze someone," Kimbrough said.
While only about 10 percent of black college students join fraternal
organizations, many more blacks finish college and then join graduate
chapters, which remain active in their communities, Kimbrough said.
The fraternal organizations offer new graduates important social and
professional development opportunities, he said.
"The black church is this mainstay institution in the black
community, and black fraternities and sororities are the same thing,"
Kimbrough said. "Their main focus and purpose is to support the black
community."
Every major religious and civil rights leader, including Jesse
Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall, were members
of black fraternal organizations, he said.
Black fraternal organizations grew up in the 20th century as a way
for college students to connect to their higher education
institutions and to provide them with a support system, Kimbrough
said.
For most of that century, blacks were not admitted to white
sororities and fraternities. While the formerly all-white Greek
organizations now welcome all races and ethnicities, most blacks
still prefer to join the historically black fraternities and
sororities, he said.
"It's an extension of the black family," Kimbrough said. "I really
think that makes it impossible" to merge the two systems.
Black Greek System in Jeopardy
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