Lack of Ethnic Diversity in Bama's sororities worry future rushee

[DubaiSis]

When you look at bid day pictures from around the US you can see a lot of diversity. One recent set of bid day pictures showed a black girl in 3 of the 4 chapters (relatively small, so nearly 10% of the pledge classes). If this was something that was really important to a girl of color, I think she might consider a more inclusive university. Now, do you pick where to get your undergraduate degree based on how open the sororities are to diversity? Man, I hope not. But I wonder if it's indicative of the campus culture at large. And then I think it's a valid consideration. This isn't separate but equal - there are a lot of very good schools out there that have 21st century thinking about race.

[Oneperson]

When one of the "big, old" sororities at UA pledges a black woman, then the rest of them will. Nobody wants to be the first. You can point out that a certain sorority did it in 2002, but that was a deal brokered by the Machine.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

When you look at bid day pictures from around the US you can see a lot of diversity. One recent set of bid day pictures showed a black woman in 3 of the 4 chapters (relatively small, so nearly 10% of the pledge classes). If this was something that was really important to a racial and ethnic minority woman, I think she might consider a more inclusive university.

No, one or a couple of sprinkles of nonwhite in a few recruitment photos is not diversity.

It isn't the end of the world that it isn't diversity. Segregation by force and by choice have always existed and will continue to exist. I just really want people to stop pretending that one or a couple of (insert group of people) in a few of the hundreds of chapters is what diversity is.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

No, one or a couple of sprinkles of nonwhite in a few recruitment photos is not diversity.

It isn't the end of the world that it isn't diversity. Segregation by force and by choice have always existed and will continue to exist. I just really want people to stop pretending that one or a couple of (insert group of people) in a few of the hundreds of chapters is what diversity is.

The mindset (I suppose) is that there "should" be none.

So to have just one or two is considered a HUGE LEAP FORWARD by some people.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

No, one or a couple of sprinkles of nonwhite in a few recruitment photos is not diversity.

It isn't the end of the world that it isn't diversity. Segregation by force and by choice have always existed and will continue to exist. I just really want people to stop pretending that one or a couple of (insert group of people) in a few of the hundreds of chapters is what diversity is.

That's why I said "real research," and not just looking at a chapter's website pictures on Bid Day or formals. Photos at Bid Day and Formals are NOT representative of what an NPC chapter is really like because virtually everyone comes out and is super-duper happy.

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Now, do you pick where to get your undergraduate degree based on how open the sororities are to diversity? Man, I hope not. But I wonder if it's indicative of the campus culture at large. And then I think it's a valid consideration. This isn't separate but equal - there are a lot of very good schools out there that have 21st century thinking about race.

Based on my experiences, the *top* schools do have truly integrated Greek systems. Part of it is that those schools are in areas of the country where a mixed Greek system is more tolerated, while another part of it is that schools like that attract people from all over the country and the world.

The diversity in a Greek system can show, to some extent, what a campus's culture is like. I grew up in a conservative small town and I knew I needed a much more progressive culture when I went to college. I didn't even apply to a school that didn't have top-notch academics, so it wasn't as if I was prioritizing student life above academic life. Was there real integration based on class and race and not just do-gooder liberalism? Were students of different sexual orientations accepted and not merely tolerated? If any of those questions, among others, had been "no," I didn't give that school a second chance.