Theta Nu Xi?

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Kevin, don't you get it? They don't care if it is true or not! It's all about them, you see - and if we, members of the oldest GLOs, think otherwise, we need education.

Your entitlement slip is showing again.

[SWTXBelle]

Ummm . . .that's a fact. It's not my sense of entitlement - my justifiable pride bothering you? Would you be happier if I had written "historically white GLOs"?

I think you have a sense of inferiority which leads to your defensive posture.

And I like how you never answer any points brought up by those you insult.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Ummm . . .that's a fact. It's not my sense of entitlement - my justifiable pride bothering you?

I think you have a sense of inferiority which leads to your defensive posture.

I haven't doubted my superiority to you personally for a second.

[SWTXBelle]

In your dreams, darling boy, in your dreams.

[preciousjeni]

WOW.

[WannaB3]

Okay, in my outsider looking in opinion, I feel that MCGLO is not to imply that other organizations do not 'respect" other cultures or that they only accept one type of culture in their membership. What I think Multicutural GLO are trying to imply is that their organizations do specifically aim to have a membership that is multicultural in nature. Other organizations do not necesarilly make that aim. Even other organizations that are under the Multicultural Greek Council, like Latina and Asian based GLOs claim they are not exclusionary and are open to members who are not Latina or Asian...however, when you look at their recruting efforts, they often times do not go out of their way to promote to people that are not in their cultural demographic.

I have never been aproached by the NPC sororities when they are out during pre-rush or freshman orientation. Why? Because I'm African American you don't think I'd be interested in your sorority? You dont feel like I'd fit in your majority white membership? If you truly feel your org is just as diverse it would be reflected in your membership nationally.

When I look at the Theta Nu Xi website and look at the photos of their sisterhood, I see all different races and hues...and with that I know comes different religions,cultures, etc. So it is apparent that this organization is made up of many cultures. Now I think it should be said that not everyone who joins a sorority wants to be in a multicultural one. Some people may feel isolated from their family or their traditions so they join a culturally based sorority with a majority white, black, latina, asian, whatever, membership so that they can be with those like minds.

Now when I look at the Gamma Phi Beta website, I see mostly...white ladies, a couple asian faces, some Latin, but as a whole I see white ladies. I'm not saying this in a racist way so don't even take it there. I'm just making a point, that on a national level it doesn't seem Gamma Phi Beta is very diverse and definitely not nearly as diverse as Theta Nu Xi.

It's the same if you go to an NPHC national website...you may see some non-African American members, and some NPHC orgs are more diverse than others, but again, that has to with the history and who they appeal/recruit to

beyond all that, I think who is or isn't multicultural is a stupid thing to get so heated. If you didn't feel guilty, you wouldn't speak up.

[SWTXBelle]

As diverse as Theta Nu Xi - no.
Diverse? Yes. Much more so than a few pictures on a website can show. I know of at least one southern campus where we were the first to pledge a black student. Go look at our colony photos here on GC. And here's the deal - we don't have a quota of a certain colour to fill. The attributes we look for do not include race - so if you don't see what you consider to be enough of any particular group you shouldn't assume that the issue is one of race. I'm always reminded of when there was an outcry because there were no black members of NPC sororities at SMU. Then someone pointed out that none had gone through recruitment, which is important if you want to get a bid. The next year 2 went through, and pledged. There are 26 members of the NPC, and all of them have membership criteria which do not include race. While some individuals or chapters may not live up to the inter/national ideal, the overall organizations have made a real effort to be inclusive and respectful of all pnms.

But that is really beside the point.

It has been pointed out that when the issue of multi-culturalism or diversity is mentioned by many, perhaps not all, MCGLOs it is often done so in a way that MANY find to be offensive.

I can't say as to whether or not that is the way it is meant. But I can say that when it is brought up as being perceived as a veiled criticism, the answer seems to be to not address the issue at all, but to instead try and shift focus to critiquing the diversity or multi-culturalism of the GLO of the person who stated they felt it was dismissive of their group. I hardly think checking a few pictures on a website constitute an analysis of the diversity of a group.

So I can't help but think that it is indeed meant to be insulting, and that the reason that issue is not addressed is because the perceptions of other GLOs do not matter to the MCGLO. I'm not alone in this, and I'm just surprised that groups that pride themselves on being inclusive should so callously dismiss an entire group out of hand.

eta - To answer the question of what do I have against groups with a multicultural mission - nothing, as long as they don't insult other groups. And let me also say that I wouldn't expect the MCGLOs to suddenly change everything in how they present their missions - but I have to say that I believe pledging someone just because they are or are not white is never a good thing.

aeta - One reason this frustrates me is because in this day and age ALL greek letter orgs need to be able to work together. Different people have different needs, and if a MCGLO is able to better fulfill those than a NPC or NPHC group, then good. It's not a case of either/or. NPCs, NPHCs, MCGLOs can all fulfill different roles, but we have to be able to respect OUR differences, too.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Ummm . . .that's a fact. It's not my sense of entitlement - my justifiable pride bothering you? Would you be happier if I had written "historically white GLOs"?

I think you have a sense of inferiority which leads to your defensive posture.

And I like how you never answer any points brought up by those you insult.

We agree alot more than you'd like to admit.

Multi-cultural GLO's seem almost high-horsed about their mission for "multiculturalism."

[WannaB3]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

Multi-cultural GLO's seem almost high-horsed about their mission for "multiculturalism."

Whats so high-horsed about being proud of having lots different cultures in your organization? Every sorority has its catfights and inernal strife, so Its actually quite remarkable that anyone can get a group of diverse women to get along and not suffer constant cultural clashing.

I just don't understand what Kevin, SWTXBelle, and you have against GLOs with muticultural missions.

[preciousjeni]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

We agree alot more than you'd like to admit.

Multi-cultural GLO's seem almost high-horsed about their mission for "multiculturalism."

I don't believe you are in any position to call anyone else out for being "high-horsed."

As Senusret (and others) have said, this conversation has played out on other threads. In fact, there's a multi-page thread about this topic that contains many varied opinions. It starts out something like this:

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

We've seen many, many threads that ask this question and have it answered, but I wanted to see a thread that is easily searchable.

Why were multicultural organizations started? What is the purpose of multicultural organizations?

Feel free to offer your comments, positive or negative.

Multicultural GLOs did not start in an environment in which membership, in the current GLOs, was unavailable for "multicultural people." We recognize this. We have a different purpose altogether.

We are not here because we were rejected by our desired organizations, nor are we here to hurt other orgs - and we certainly do not exist because we believe that other organizations are not open to diverse membership!

How audacious it is to me for some to assume that we discourage people from checking out ALL GLOs to find their match, simply because we "think" that other GLOs are discriminatory. As a general rule, this is not the case.

We were started by and for multiculturally-minded people. If you want to join an org that caters to needs of all people and actively works toward equality across the board, you can find that in a multicultural organization.

Other organizations do offer those qualities, but multicultural orgs are set apart in that they exist with the primary function of promoting multiculturalism. In theory, even if a "multicultural" organization were all-white/black/latino/asian/etc. but the members worked toward equality of ALL people, the organization could potentially be considered multicultural.

If, however, the thrusts and foci of that organization were primarily directed at a particular interest, that organization by definition cannot be "multicultural." It can have multicultural membership but it cannot be a "multicultural organization."

To all: I'll be the first to admit that people say foolish things, so I would be careful about categorizing an entire branch of Greek Life on the limited interactions you've had. If that's what we want to turn this into, I'm sure I can find plenty of absurb and offensive remarks made by members of all Greek organizations. Any takers?