Alabama recruitment fall-out

[KDCat]

KD disbanded the CAB for the Alabama chapter and will have a leadership team from National Kappa Delta on campus during recruitment. The chapter leadership has received additional training for both formal recruitment and COB. They issued a letter re. all of the steps National Kappa Delta has taken after last fall's mess.

http://www.kappadelta.org/default.as...135&naid=17151

[LXA SE285]

Here's the article referenced in the press release:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annasoldner/...tly-segregated

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by LXA SE285

Here's the article referenced in the press release:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annasoldner/...tly-segregated

Thank you for the link! It's going to be a long haul.

[33girl]

What's the point?

KD is pretty much throwing money (that all chapters pay for dues) into the toilet. So they're on campus for rush...let's say 25% of the girls who get bids are black. Are those consultants going to make the sisters ask the black pledges to go to parties with them? Are they going to force the fraternities that drop KD from their mixer schedule to reinstate them? Most importantly, are they going to follow up and make sure those women of color get involved, stay involved, and remain members until graduation? I think we know the answer.

If you find the campus atmosphere repugnant, don't do a lot of bullshit pr moves - pull your chapter.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

What's the point?

KD is pretty much throwing money (that all chapters pay for dues) into the toilet. So they're on campus for rush...let's say 25% of the girls who get bids are black. Are those consultants going to make the sisters ask the black pledges to go to parties with them? Are they going to force the fraternities that drop KD from their mixer schedule to reinstate them? Most importantly, are they going to follow up and make sure those women of color get involved, stay involved, and remain members until graduation? I think we know the answer.

If you find the campus atmosphere repugnant, don't do a lot of bullshit pr moves - pull your chapter.

Well, in at least one chapter (and I don't remember which), collegians went to the press saying that the alumnae had been the problem. If that's really true, that the collegians wanted to pledge black women and the alumnae overrode their wishes, then removing the local alumnae and having the membership selection duties done by HQ representatives seems like a pretty good move.

[33girl]

Removing the advisory board =/= removing alumnae influence. AT ALL.

And as I said - maybe hq can step in and give people bids. They can't make other people treat them as sisters.

Don't get me wrong, I wish it was as easy as doing these things, but it's not.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by 33girl

What's the point?

KD is pretty much throwing money (that all chapters pay for dues) into the toilet. So they're on campus for rush...let's say 25% of the girls who get bids are black. Are those consultants going to make the sisters ask the black pledges to go to parties with them? Are they going to force the fraternities that drop KD from their mixer schedule to reinstate them? Most importantly, are they going to follow up and make sure those women of color get involved, stay involved, and remain members until graduation? I think we know the answer.

If you find the campus atmosphere repugnant, don't do a lot of bullshit pr moves - pull your chapter.

If somebody doesn't challenge the system, the system will never change. Part of our mission is to educate our members. This is part of member education.

I agree with what National KD is doing. They are taking steps to make sure the process is fair. That's the first step to changing the culture in the chapter. I think there are enough good collegians in the Alabama chapter that if an AA woman were to join it would work out.

The answer to is whether National KD going to follow up is "Yes, of course, they are." National KD takes a pretty hands on approach with chapter issues. When they target a chapter for work on something, they pretty much stay with that chapter and that issue on an on-going basis. (Causing some eyerolling -- "Oh, Lord. Is Nationals still bitching about THAT?" "Yes. Yes, they are.") I expect that the University of Alabama is going to hear about this on a regular basis until the issue has improved in the chapter and in the Panhellenic community.

[AOII Angel]

The alternative is to do nothing. That is no alternative. I applaud KD for taking a difficult stand against the alumnae that are likely very powerful and give lots of money. Chapters change by more than 1/4 every single year. This issue can be tackled quicker than you think. If this is what KD wants to invest their money in, it is money well spent.

[DubaiSis]

Alternatively more girls could rush simply for the increased attention. But the chapters will be able to work it out.

I wish KD the best. I'd like to see Alpha Xi Delta join the biggest Greek system in the country, but not until this issue normalizes. And their efforts are part of that!

[SoCalGirl]

I read the buzzfeed article a few days ago. I thought it seemed fair. I felt like it didn't blame the sororities specifically because it acknowledged that they're not in a bubble. Race issues are still alive throughout the school, state, region, etc.

I appreciated that so many of the groups and members followed HQ rules and deferred to HQ PR teams, including those that could come out looking better than worse.

I don't get why people can't believe that sororities don't track race. I've never indicated my race on any form for my sorority. Honestly, if they did, the less diverse chapters probably would have had some heat a long time ago.

Alabama is making progress. Iceberg slow but still.

The chapter members need to be open and there needs to be a pool of PNMs that can help improve the diversity. If formal rush continues to have few to no non-whites and chapters max out quota/total during formal, they'll continue to be white. More chapters need to actively seek out diversity during COB and Panhel needs to actively attract diversity to the formal rush PNM pool.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

The chapter members need to be open and there needs to be a pool of PNMs that can help improve the diversity. If formal rush continues to have few to no non-whites and chapters max out quota/total during formal, they'll continue to be white. More chapters need to actively seek out diversity during COB and Panhel needs to actively attract diversity to the formal rush PNM pool.

Why?

The campus Panhellenic (at any school) should aim to attract intelligent and involved students. If they're white, black, purple, or yellow, it shouldn't matter.

If the problem was getting AA students interested in NPC sororities, then there would be a whole lot of schools splashed on the front page of the newspaper. That's not the issue here. The issue is that there are AA students who are intelligent and involved, and they were turned down simply because of the color of their skin.

This doesn't mean that Panhellenic has to change how they attract people to participate in recruitment; it means they need to not blatantly discriminate against the people who were interested in the first place.

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by SoCalGirl

The chapter members need to be open and there needs to be a pool of PNMs that can help improve the diversity. If formal rush continues to have few to no non-whites and chapters max out quota/total during formal, they'll continue to be white. More chapters need to actively seek out diversity during COB and Panhel needs to actively attract diversity to the formal rush PNM pool.

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Why?

The campus Panhellenic (at any school) should aim to attract intelligent and involved students. If they're white, black, purple, or yellow, it shouldn't matter.

If the problem was getting AA students interested in NPC sororities, then there would be a whole lot of schools splashed on the front page of the newspaper. That's not the issue here. The issue is that there are AA students who are intelligent and involved, and they were turned down simply because of the color of their skin.

This doesn't mean that Panhellenic has to change how they attract people to participate in recruitment; it means they need to not blatantly discriminate against the people who were interested in the first place.

I don't think it's so cut and dry as "attract the best people and don't discriminate against them". If you're committed to building diversity in your organization (company, board, whatever), then you often have to go out of your way to seek out those individuals, because they're not in your traditional pipeline. Even with the women in this pipeline, the system seems to be lacking any kind of critical mass to support and advocate for those women. You also may have to provide some additional support mechanisms for them because your attrition rates are going to be sky-high if they're not as prepared for the culture, environment or other kinds of commitments.

The way I see it, one of the first steps to stop discriminatory practices is to actually be proactive to attract diversity - otherwise you're probably not going to sufficiently turn around a toxic culture. You're probably also not going to understand the diverse needs of your membership, and then you'll be faced with discrimination by apathy.

I've seen these "diversity best practices" at business school with companies going out of their way to attract and retain women to demanding careers. I saw it in Los Angeles when we were looking to fill City board seats and all the obvious candidates were white males - we had to go find candidates in non-traditional places in order to get that diversity of voices.

Seriously - if you're committed to diversity, it's not nearly enough to just open the doors and say "we don't discriminate".

ETA: OK, I think what I'm trying to say is that if you don't go out of your way to make minority PNMs welcome to the process - and that includes support practices like help with letters of recommendation and special workshops - then those minority PNMs will always be marginalized. Many of the best minority candidates won't even consider NPC recruitment, and current sorority women will think the whole thing is just lip-service anyway.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

I don't think it's so cut and dry as "attract the best people and don't discriminate against them". If you're committed to building diversity in your organization (company, board, whatever), then you often have to go out of your way to seek out those individuals, because they're not in your traditional pipeline. Even with the women in this pipeline, the system seems to be lacking any kind of critical mass to support and advocate for those women. You also may have to provide some additional support mechanisms for them because your attrition rates are going to be sky-high if they're not as prepared for the culture, environment or other kinds of commitments.

The way I see it, one of the first steps to stop discriminatory practices is to actually be proactive to attract diversity - otherwise you're probably not going to sufficiently turn around a toxic culture. You're probably also not going to understand the diverse needs of your membership, and then you'll be faced with discrimination by apathy.

I've seen these "diversity best practices" at business school with companies going out of their way to attract and retain women to demanding careers. I saw it in Los Angeles when we were looking to fill City board seats and all the obvious candidates were white males - we had to go find candidates in non-traditional places in order to get that diversity of voices.

Seriously - if you're committed to diversity, it's not nearly enough to just open the doors and say "we don't discriminate".

ETA: OK, I think what I'm trying to say is that if you don't go out of your way to make minority PNMs welcome to the process - and that includes support practices like help with letters of recommendation and special workshops - then those minority PNMs will always be marginalized. Many of the best minority candidates won't even consider NPC recruitment, and current sorority women will think the whole thing is just lip-service anyway.

Yes. All of this.

[33girl]

But all of that also applies to first generation college students and students whose parents are unfamiliar with a super competitive rush like Alabama's. You can't tell me that the black woman whose grandfather was a trustee was clueless regarding recommendations and/or unable to secure them for every group.

[AZTheta]

KDCat, I support Kappa Delta wholeheartedly, as a Panhellenic sister, just as I support ALL GLOs (NPC, NPHC, and so on) who are striving to do the best they can. Before people take the splinter out of KD's eye, they need to take the forest out of their own. And they need to shut the hell up. Either work to solve the problem, or get the eff out of the way.

for the love of Mike, I don't live in that world, and I would no more judge it than I would want you guys to be judging the world I live in. There's rampant racism in Arizona. Actually I think it's well established that Arizona in general is batshit crazy. Please. Don't wind me up any tighter than I already am.

Let me know what I can do for your fine organization, and I'll do it. Your Panhellenic sister, AZTheta.