Minority members of IFC and Panhellenic

[Tom Earp]

"Cultural Organizations" that is a amazing phenom isnt it?

Are not All Organizations stemed from "Cultural Organizations", doesnt that Mean that We as a Group get together for a common thought?

I didnt know Color was ever Brought up about the idea?

Okay, not in the current standards as We know them.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally posted by texas*princess
I don't know if this has been answered, but orgs like Sigma Chi and Tri Delta are not considered "cultural organizations" simply b/c they do not have a focus on promoting different or a single culture.

Whether it is implicit or explicit, the argument can be made that they do.

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Whether it is implicit or explicit, the argument can be made that they do.

I have stuff to do and not enough time to wade through 14 pages of posts, but I want to get my two cents in.

Personally I HATE the term cultural organization. While some GLO's do tend to focus on one culture, they all have one thing in common. Well at least the social orgs like NIC, NPC, NPHC and NALFO. The primary purpose of all GLOs is to foster brotherhood and sisterhood between their members. I personally am a Latino and a member of a NIC GLO. Psi Upsilon like almost all NIC fraternities is considered to be for white people. However it does not promote the white culture. Hell my chapter is mostly minorities like myself.

On the same note I hate when people generalize based on stereotypes, which I think is what the OP was talking about. On my campus Psi U in the past has been mostly asian for a good period of time. So I told people I was pledging Psi U and I was told "Wait, isn't that the Asian Fraternity?" NICs have never been about one particular culture , instead just promoting brotherhood between those who joined, regardless of background. It has just happened that most fraternities have been established at predominantly white universities plus the fact that alot of NIC and NPC orgs have a rep for being white only.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

However it does not promote the white culture. Hell my chapter is mostly minorities like myself.

Then your experience will certainly be shaped by the dynamics of your chapter, right?

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

It has just happened that most fraternities have been established at predominantly white universities plus the fact that alot of NIC and NPC orgs have a rep for being white only.

There are very few coincidences in life.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Are not All Organizations stemed from "Cultural Organizations", doesnt that Mean that We as a Group get together for a common thought?

In a sense you are correct. All of us are participants of "Greek culture" and there are variations to this culture based on organization-type and more general demographics.

If you can follow the logic, Tom, the variations (and why some are deemed "cultural" and not others) are what I am getting at.

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by DSTCHAOS
Whether it is implicit or explicit, the argument can be made that they do.

How do you mean? My GLO's philanthropy is diabetes. Diabetes can affect anyone. How is that "cultural"? I don't really see anything "culturally specific" about my GLO, unlike GLOs that were founded for various cultural causes.

[Tom Earp]

Well, You can argue for any side of the coin you want to!

Many times Your points are not well taken as there is no points to be taken.

So speak your peice and let GCers see what You are all about. Sad, too sad to say it leaves a lot to be desired.

Speak Your venom and people will see what you seem to attemt to be.

I and others are not really sure what that is?

Oh, I have My Iron Jockey Shorts on to see the Tripe You will next propose.

What is wrong with being posotive? Not Your Style?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally posted by Taualumna
How do you mean?

Look at the demographics of your organization and the demographics of the communities that you most often service. If there aren't any patterns there then your group is in the minority.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Well, You can argue for any side of the coin you want to!

Many times Your points are not well taken as there is no points to be taken.

So speak your peice and let GCers see what You are all about. Sad, too sad to say it leaves a lot to be desired.

Speak Your venom and people will see what you seem to attemt to be.

I and others are not really sure what that is?

Oh, I have My Iron Jockey Shorts on to see the Tripe You will next propose.

What is wrong with being posotive? Not Your Style?

Not to mention the spelling and grammatical errors, you (once again) display an inability to follow what you read.

I'm having a positive discussion here. I was letting YOU know that (if you can follow the logic which, after reading this post, you can not) your train of thought wasn't far off base in terms of where I'm trying to go with this.

[DSTCHAOS]

I realize the topic has changed a bit. "Minority IFC members" shouldn't hesitate to answer the original question, though.

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by DSTCHAOS
Look at the demographics of your organization and the demographics of the communities that you most often service. If there aren't any patterns there then your group is in the minority.

Just because most Alpha Gam sisters are white doesn't make it "ethnic" or "cultural". THis is probably a guess, but there are more non-white women in NPCs, percentage-wise, than there are white women in NPHCs.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally posted by Taualumna
Just because most Alpha Gam sisters are white doesn't make it "ethnic" or "cultural".

THis is probably a guess, but there are more non-white women in NPCs, percentage-wise, than there are white women in NPHCs.

Why not? @ the first paragraph.

It's an accurate guess but it doesn't really mean anything. You have to look at proportion and not percentage. There are more non-NPHC organizations than NPHC organizations @ the second paragraph.


In either case, how is your second paragraph a significant observation when we're STILL talking about overall demographics of the membership and communities serviced?

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by DSTCHAOS
Why not? @ the first paragraph.

It's an accurate guess but it doesn't really mean anything. You have to look at proportion and not percentage. There are more non-NPHC organizations than NPHC organizations @ the second paragraph.


In either case, how is your second paragraph a significant observation when we're STILL talking about overall demographics of the membership and communities serviced?

Alpha Gam and other NPCs in no way emphasize "white culture", whatever that means.

Of course there are more non-NPHCs than NPCs. That's why I emphasized PERCENTAGES. A non-Asian woman is not likely to rush an Asian interest sorority, while an Asian woman might very well go NPC, even if there are Asian interest groups on her campus.

[epchick]

I understand where DSTChaos is coming from, but I also understand where everyone else is coming from.

Everyone comes from a certain culture, no matter what "color" you are. So to say that (lets use the example) Tri-Delta is not a "cultural organization" is neither true nor false.

Everyone here is using the term "cultural organization" loosely. Most people here are in agreement that what they mean by "cultural organization" is that it is a club where people of a certain race... a certain "culture" come together to celebrate that culture.

Tri Delta COULD be construed as a "cultural organization" just for the fact that "white" people are not excluded from having a culture. Just for the simple fact that EVERYONE has a culture, when you get a group of people together, their group becomes a sort of "cultural organization." The word doesn't necessarily have to correlate with a philanthropy or an organization that is predominantly a certain race (i.e hispanic, african american, etc).

Umm...so yeah. Hopefully I made some sense without being too redundant.

[Phasad1913]

An example of what I was getting at through my question is this:

I was in CVS pharmacy the other day and I was looking for hair products. I looked up at the aisle signs and the listing was "Ethnic" for the black hair care products. That sparked my curiosity. Why was the aisle titled Ethnic for that? Also, this doesnt square too well with the dictionary or text book definitions that Rudey posted.

"Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage.
Being a member of a particular ethnic group, especially belonging to a national group by heritage or culture but residing outside its national boundaries: ethnic Hungarians living in northern Serbia.
Of, relating to, or distinctive of members of such a group: ethnic restaurants; ethnic art.
Relating to a people not Christian or Jewish; heathen. "

I mean, based on this definition, shouldn't the white hair care products have been titled ethnic too?

In addition, note the part that says "Being a member of a particular ethnic group, especially belonging to a national group by heritage or culture but residing outside its national boundaries". So, are they saying that somehow black women live outside the national boundaries of America? If so, than that says a lot.

I have an inkling of an answer, but I would really like to see other ideas and viewpoints on this to get a better feel for other perspectives and explanations.

The same thing happened in the grocery store, by the way. In Chicago one of the predominant food stores is called Dominick's In Dominicks, an aisle is called "ethnic foods" and in the aisle are basically just Mexican food. Now, I can sort of see this according to the definition that Rudey posted since Mexicans are "foreign" or of a group of people not native to America, but I still don't understand why there only being Mexican food in that aisle constituted the assignment of such a broad and segregative (not sure if that is a word) term like "ethnic".