Southern Mississippi: Diversity in NPC Sororities

[exlurker]

Several Southern Mississippi chapters of NPC sororities have members who are African-American, of Hispanic origin, or in other ways different from the "traditional" white membership associated with the NPC at many/most schools. Some of their comments, among other things, are in a recent article from school paper's site:

http://www.studentprintz.com/greek-l...857?MMode=true

"The Student Printz
Greek Life is color blind
By Justin Mitchell
Published: Monday, November 28, 2011
Updated: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 01:11"

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by exlurker

"...Greek Life is color blind."

LOLLLLLLL...

Especially since the article begins with the woman being proud to be the first African American sister of that chapter of Pi Beta Phi.

And LOL at a Black member of Zeta Phi Beta being put in a photo that says "...represent the diversity in their respective sororities."

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOLLLLLLL...

Especially since the article begins with the woman being proud to be the first African American sister of that chapter of Pi Beta Phi.

And LOL at a Black member of Zeta Phi Beta being put in a photo that says "...represent the diversity in their respective sororities."

DrPhil, I see your point. Just wanted to note that I did not say "Greek life is color blind" -- that's from the article. Even I am not stupid enough to think or say that.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by exlurker

DrPhil, I see your point. Just wanted to note that I did not say "Greek life is color blind" -- that's from the article. Even I am not stupid enough to think or say that.

I know, hence the quotation marks that I added.

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I know, hence the quotation marks that I added.

Thanks. Oh, speaking of thanks, I hope GCers had happy Thanksgivings.
(Golly, that was a lane swerve.)

[AGDAlum]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

LOLLLLLLL...

Especially since the article begins with the woman being proud to be the first African American sister of that chapter of Pi Beta Phi.

And LOL at a Black member of Zeta Phi Beta being put in a photo that says "...represent the diversity in their respective sororities."

There's an AKA in that same photo.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by AGDAlum

There's an AKA in that same photo.

Who invited an AKA to the party?

An AKA and a Zeta who represent the diversity in their respective organizations. Is that AKA also a Rho Chi? Questions...questions....

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Who invited an AKA to the party?

An AKA and a Zeta who represent the diversity in their respective organizations. Is that AKA also a Rho Chi? Questions...questions....

They really should have included a Delta too, right?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

They really should have included a Delta too, right?

That would be even more unfortunate.

[amIblue?]

This is so wrong of me, but I bet that's every non-white member of the NPC groups there.

ETA: I wish the fact of diversity in NPC groups was not newsworthy.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

This is so wrong of me, but I bet that's every non-white member of the NPC groups there.

That was my first thought when I saw the photo (that includes a member of Zeta Phi Beta).

It reminded me of the Bid Day Pics thread when some NPCers were marveling over the diversity...and there were only 1-3 nonwhite members in the photo. A sprinkle of non-(insert predominant race) is not diversity and that's especially the case if the reaction to the sprinkles is going to be "race doesn't matter...we don't see color."

Originally Posted by exlurker

Thanks.

It's also the title of the article.

[AnchorAlumna]

Other NPC sororities there have had AA members. She's certainly not the first.

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Other NPC sororities there have had AA members. She's certainly not the first.

I think you're missing the point.


Ridiculous article.

[Senusret I]

It's interesting that NPHC girls help with NPC recruitment.

[DubaiSis]

I see it as a start. It kind of reads as a press release from CPC saying, look how inclusive we are! Yeah us! But the fact is it's not that long ago that having any women of any color other than white would be unheard of. My follow up question is, are these women going to be tokens and we can't allow a 2nd black woman to pledge or we'll become the house with all the black girls, or can they move on and pick members based on their other many attributes and leave this one as a footnote? Being big enough to pick "one of them" is easy. Being big enough to not care is something completely different.

I don't know the demographics of Southern Mississippi. How diverse is the student population? I'm guessing the sororities are about 1% non-white (I guessed 130 members, 1 black woman, 1 other woman of color). The student population is probably quite a bit more diverse than that, but you have to start somewhere.

And every time a student article is referenced here it gets crucified (justifiably in my opinion) for horrendous writing. The fact that the writer of this article probably thought the title was awesome (and how cool are we?) to me just cries out for better writing and students who are a smidge more aware of the world around them.