IFC Rush, Minorities, and "Southern" Universities

[tld221]

Originally Posted by breathesgelatin

I know you asked about SEC schools. I can't speak to that, but only W&L, which I would characterize as a southern Greek school.

At W&L most of the fraternities accepted minorities and international students, but there was a small minority that did not. Some of that, I think, was on the verge of changing when I graduating.

There were exceptions to this rule, for example a guy I knew who was a Latino, from South America, whose father was an alum and trustee, who received a bid to an extremely elite "southern" fraternity (he ultimately did not wish to join this fraternity and joined another where he felt he fit better). Both of this person's sisters were members of the most elite sorority on campus (the sororities tended to be less concerned with race and such).

I guess the point I am making is that there can always be individual exceptions. But that some groups do discriminate on this basis (pathetic though I think it is).

I would add that in many cases I saw fraternities (and sororities) that were more willing to admit people of a particular "country club" or "elite southern" mentality (or whatever) no matter the race, than to admit individuals who were of the traditional race but who perhaps did not dress/act correctly in their opinion.

Again, this may be completely at variance with SEC schools...

umm, that screams "no, really?" to me. he (and his sisters) has a connection so it makes sense that (maybe!) them receiving bids were more about who they were related to and not so much of "race doesnt mean anything!"

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by tld221

umm, that screams "no, really?" to me. he (and his sisters) has a connection so it makes sense that (maybe!) them receiving bids were more about who they were related to and not so much of "race doesnt mean anything!"

Oh, I wasn't suggesting anything otherwise. Indeed I agree that the only thing influencing these "elite" groups to take minorities was if the prospective members had really influential connections. Race certainly did matter--I was just pointing out that in certain instances other considerations could trump race.

Most of the fraternities at my school did regularly bid minorities (just not the "elite" ones). As did all the sororities...