Latinamerican joining Fraternities

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Kevin

And really, there's not anything offensive about him looking for a particular sort of experience. It's not as if some of the same people here expressing outrage express the same outrage at individuals seeking to join cultural or multi-cultural GLOs.

He isn't seeking to join a particular GLO or even a particular council or conference. His imagery is based on American vs. Non-American.

There is a problem with making "American college experience" synonymous with "white college students' experiences" and therefore making "American fraternities and sororities" synonymous with "predominantly white fraternities and sororities/NPC/NIC."

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

He isn't seeking to join a particular GLO or even a particular council or conference. His imagery is based on American vs. Non-American.

There is a problem with making "American college experience" synonymous with "white college students' experiences" and therefore making "American fraternities and sororities" synonymous with "predominantly white fraternities and sororities/NPC/NIC."

NIC =/= whites only anymore. This ain't the 60s, unless, of course, we're talking about Old Row fraternities at Alabama, which we're likely not. I take offense to that.

Reading the OP's post, I cannot imagine he'd be very interested in joining an organization set up to cater to U.S. ethnic minorities.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Kevin

NIC =/= whites only anymore.

It means historically and predominantly white. Don't pretend that segregation has ended in America and the average NIC chapter is not predominantly white or all white.

Originally Posted by Kevin

Reading the OP's post, I cannot imagine he'd be very interested in joining an organization set up to cater to U.S. ethnic minorities.

Correct, he is looking for an organization set up to cater to (your wording, not mine) the U.S. majority which is whites. That's his vision of America and his vision of Greekdom.

Someone tells him about Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity and chapter consisting of Latinos, Asian, African American, and people of European descent; and the OP replies that these people are mainly non-Americans and that's not what he's looking for. I doubt his response would have been that different had he been told "Latin-American," "Asian-American," and "Americans of European descent."

[DrPhil]

As always, I do find humor in BGLOs/LGLOs/AGLOs/MCGLOs being the organizations "set up to cater to U.S. ethnic minorities" and therefore being considered the only organizations "set up to cater to" U.S. racial, ethnic, and cultural identities.

That leaves the rest of the organizations. Who are these organizations set up to cater to? Are people still pretending that the remaining organizations are racially, ethnically, and culturally neutral? They cater to thousands of people who have invisible racial, ethnic, and cultural identities? Defining the organizations that are uncoincidentally predominantly white as mainstream, the majority, and neutral is one reason why BGLOs/LGLOs/AGLOs/MCGLOs were founded in the first place and remain relevant and prevalent in 2011.

[knight_shadow]

I'm still looking for a post expressing "outrage"

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

I'm still looking for a post expressing "outrage"

What's embedded in the perceived "outrage" is that those who are aware of the issue of culturalism are incapable of discussing such matters without becoming "outraged." When in fact, such discussions are so common that responses are not contingent upon any emotional reaction, let alone outrage.

[DTD Alum]

Oh come on, it's pretty obvious what he is asking, he just doesn't understand the PC terms in America. He wants the typical, stereotypical American fraternity experience. Other GLOs do not give that. He just went about saying it the wrong way.

To answer the question, it really depends on individual schools and chapters. I know my fraternity initiated guys from Mexico and Colombia when I attended school there, but that's in Los Angeles which tends to be much more open to other cultures. In a less liberal area of the country it might be more difficult.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

Oh come on, it's pretty obvious what he is asking, he just doesn't understand the PC terms in America. He wants the typical, stereotypical American fraternity experience. Other GLOs do not give that. He just went about saying it the wrong way.

To answer the question, it really depends on individual schools and chapters. I know my fraternity initiated guys from Mexico and Colombia when I attended school there, but that's in Los Angeles which tends to be much more open to other cultures. In a less liberal area of the country it might be more difficult.

So I got an unusual, international college experience? Wow. That Texas university sure fooled me.

As stated earlier, he wants to join a fraternity with white membership (since we're not beating around the bush).

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

So I got an unusual, international college experience? Wow. That Texas university sure fooled me.

As stated earlier, he wants to join a fraternity with white membership (since we're not beating around the bush).

They want to piss on our shoes and tell us it's rain. Talk about bullshitting and trying to be PC.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

Oh come on, it's pretty obvious what he is asking, he just doesn't understand the PC terms in America.

So, now you are reducing our replies to the demand for "PC terms?"

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

He wants the typical, stereotypical American fraternity experience. Other GLOs do not give that.

That depends on what "other GLOs" means.

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

To answer the question, it really depends on individual schools and chapters. I know my fraternity initiated guys from Mexico and Colombia when I attended school there, but that's in Los Angeles which tends to be much more open to other cultures. In a less liberal area of the country it might be more difficult.

Perhaps your chapter would consist of non-Americans as far as the OP is concerned. He may prefer being the token in a chapter. It seems that he wants to be accepted but doesn't want "too many others" accepted as to reduce the American fraternity experience for him. Quite a conundrum.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Perhaps your chapter would consist of non-Americans as far as the OP is concerned. He may prefer being the token in a chapter. It seems that he wants to be accepted but doesn't want "too many others" accepted as to reduce the American fraternity experience for him. Quite a conundrum.

LOL. You know there are blonde haired, blue eyed, lily white people from Latin America and I'm assuming that the OP is one of them.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

LOL. You know there are blonde haired, blue eyed, lily white people from Latin America and I'm assuming that the OP is one of them.

I thought that and didn't want to speculate, but I agree with that possibility. The OP may be part of the white diaspora. When he gets to that all American chapter, his tokenism could therefore be ethnicity, culture, and country of origin. He could eventually assimilate and mesh quite well.

[DTD Alum]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

So, now you are reducing our replies to the demand for "PC terms?"

Perhaps your chapter would consist of non-Americans as far as the OP is concerned. He may prefer being the token in a chapter. It seems that he wants to be accepted but doesn't want "too many others" accepted as to reduce the American fraternity experience for him. Quite a conundrum.

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

So I got an unusual, international college experience? Wow. That Texas university sure fooled me.

As stated earlier, he wants to join a fraternity with white membership (since we're not beating around the bush).

To both posts, I don't think this is remotely what he meant. I think he chose his words poorly, but to me it seems like he is looking for a particular experience, not a particular ethnic group. He wants to join a fraternity that offers the stereotypical American experience: the big parties with elaborate props and bands, the sorority exchanges, living in a house, the intramurals, etc. I think the number of chapters outside the IFC/Panhellenic umbrella groups that can offer this experience are extremely limited (if they even exist), and frankly many schools can't offer this experience even with their IFC/Panhellenic GLOs.

Yes, I understand that due to America's de facto segregation that the majority of the participants in chapters like these are Caucasian, or at least identify with Caucasian cultures more than they do their own. I don't think racial ideals are the driving force behind his desire though, I think that he wants to experience the broadest level of American "culture" (think baseball, Dylan, apple pie, whatever) during his time here. America is a land with a huge diversity in culture, and many of them are extremely marginalized, but I don't think it's inappropriate to want to experience the mainstream culture when studying abroad. And once again, yes I understand that this stereotypical experience is primarily driven by the power majority which is Caucasian, in the same way that the British tea/football/rugby/pub culture reflects the Caucasian population rather than the scores of Indian immigrants. That still doesn't make me think it's inappropriate to purposefully seek out when studying abroad.

[BAE]

Originally Posted by DTD Alum

To both posts, I don't think this is remotely what he meant. I think he chose his words poorly, but to me it seems like he is looking for a particular experience, not a particular ethnic group. He wants to join a fraternity that offers the stereotypical American experience: the big parties with elaborate props and bands, the sorority exchanges, living in a house, the intramurals, etc. I think the number of chapters outside the IFC/Panhellenic umbrella groups that can offer this experience are extremely limited (if they even exist), and frankly many schools can't offer this experience even with their IFC/Panhellenic GLOs.

Yes, thank you. This is exactly what I meant. However now I see that my ideas were filled with misconceptions. And looking back at my posts, they do seem very stupid and ignorant. Specially where I classify african americans (or ethnic minorities in general) as "non american". Please understand that I just had trouble expressing myself. Nonetheless, as your discussion has stated, NPHC organizations as well as other multi cultural organizations will not give me this fraternity experience I'm looking for. It is not to sound racist, or to, as other posters stated, be ashamed of my own heritage. What I want to know (and a few of you have already answered) is if race will be a setback if I want to get a bid from IFC groups

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by BAE

Yes, thank you. This is exactly what I meant. However now I see that my ideas were filled with misconceptions. And looking back at my posts, they do seem very stupid and ignorant. Specially where I classify african americans (or ethnic minorities in general) as "non american". Please understand that I just had trouble expressing myself. Nonetheless, as your discussion has stated, NPHC organizations as well as other multi cultural organizations will not give me this fraternity experience I'm looking for. It is not to sound racist, or to, as other posters stated, be ashamed of my own heritage. What I want to know (and a few of you have already answered) is if race will be a setback if I want to get a bid from IFC groups

In some chapters on some campuses it might be, in others it wouldn't be. That's what we mean when we say we can't necessarily tell you. Pick a school, go through rush and you'll know. And hell, you might even get all the girls because of your accent you never know. Whether you join a fraternity or not you'll be able to learn a lot and have a lot of fun wherever you go.

FWIW I got that you were not necessarily meaning what you said the way it sounded.