African American going through recruitment at Alabama?

[agzg]

Originally Posted by fascination

OP -- I'm not stupid enough to assume any one chapter or house is racist, cause that's not the case. But anyone from the south knows the reputation of schools like 'bama and 'Ole Miss.

agaz -- Furthermore, no one asked about recruitment at Ole Miss.

First off (again), use the quote feature. Because you're fucking up my username.

Second off, the question is about Bama. If you want to defend Ole Miss, fine, but don't pretend it's relevant just because the OP mentioned its reputation offhand. Your comment about assuming all southerners are racist is a form of prejudice is a red herring to distract from the OP's question. She did not ASK about Ole Miss. There was no QUESTION in that statement.

Had you used the QUOTE FEATURE to highlight that part of one of her posts, your statements about how Ole Miss is, like, totally not racist, duh, would have made more sense.

I'll decline to offer advice to the OP because I don't know much about the climate at Bama but hope for the best for her, in whatever she decides to do.

[fascination]

I apologize to agzg for mistyping her user name. Tried, but "Quote" feature doesn't work on this computer.
I wish the OP the best, also. 'Nuff said.

[DubaiSis]

Personally, as a person who reads these threads about the big southern schools with interest, I'd love to see a fully qualified black woman go through rush and let us know how it goes. My instinct is that as long as she kept her options open, she'd find a home. But my opinion is worth exactly zero in this scenario.

I think many Greek systems could use a little diversity, but that has to go both ways. You might have to have a bit thicker skin than comparable girls going through with you. But then if you read through many of these threads you can see a lot of girls, regardless of race, could benefit from a bit thicker skin as they deal with the process and the cuts.

You probably shouldn't let us know what you've decided until after the fact, but if you do go through, I'd sure love to hear all about it. AFTER.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Personally, as a person who reads these threads about the big southern schools with interest, I'd love to see a fully qualified black woman go through rush and let us know how it goes. My instinct is that as long as she kept her options open, she'd find a home. But my opinion is worth exactly zero in this scenario.

The problem is that fully qualified women of all races at all schools do go through and get cut, and we don't know why. It's tricky.

[Senusret I]

Y'ALL DONE MADE ORIGINAL SENUSRET COME BACK! UGGGGHHHHHH

[Oneperson]

Originally Posted by Yoquierotacobel

Hello! I was looking into recruitment at the a university of Alabama and saw a thread about race. I basically got the idea that an African American female going through npc recruitment at Alabama is a terrible idea and is setting herself up for disaster.

Let's go back to the original question.
The answer is: yes. The odds are that you will not receive a bid from an NPC group.
No sorority wants to be the second to pledge an AA. (A sorority pledged an AA in 2002, the year after the Melody Twilley blowup. That was a brokered deal, but it was a first.)
Why?
Because of the alumnae. Because of the way fraternities entwine with sororities and the whole mating thing. Because they're afraid no white woman will pledge the next go-round because of it.
If one of the "circle sororities" or "old row sororities" (UA folks will know what that means) pledge AAs, then everybody will pledge AAs. Might even fight over them. But those select groups will be the LAST to do it.
Should that scare you off? Maybe. But it's important for more and more and more AA women to sign up and go through. Because you can't pledge if you don't try. Because it will remain a problem in hiding if you don't sign up and go through. Because somebody's got to do it.

Flame on, brothers and sisters.

[Yoquierotacobel]

Originally Posted by Oneperson

Let's go back to the original question.
The answer is: yes. The odds are that you will not receive a bid from an NPC group.
No sorority wants to be the second to pledge an AA. (A sorority pledged an AA in 2002, the year after the Melody Twilley blowup. That was a brokered deal, but it was a first.)
Why?
Because of the alumnae. Because of the way fraternities entwine with sororities and the whole mating thing. Because they're afraid no white woman will pledge the next go-round because of it.
If one of the "circle sororities" or "old row sororities" (UA folks will know what that means) pledge AAs, then everybody will pledge AAs. Might even fight over them. But those select groups will be the LAST to do it
Should that scare you off? Maybe. But it's important for more and more and more AA women to sign up and go through. Because you can't pledge if you don't try. Because it will remain a problem in hiding if you don't sign up and go through. Because somebody's got to do it.

Flame on, brothers and sisters.

I'm not aiming at any particular house because I have yet to know who I would fit in with and have a connection with. I know many girls go into Alabama recruitment with a particular house in mind, but I can't make the assumption that I would automatically click with the girls in the Old Row sororities. Even though, I might add, my sister is pressuring me into one of the Old Row sororities because she happens to be an active member of that particular sorority, but I am not bothered by her constant hinting.

I do very much appreciate your input.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Oneperson

But it's important for more and more and more AA women to sign up and go through. Because you can't pledge if you don't try. Because it will remain a problem in hiding if you don't sign up and go through. Because somebody's got to do it.

Yes. Duh. I'm not downplaying the situation or equating being African-American to any of the following, but it's the same at a school where athletes never go Greek...or people in the theater department never do...etc etc etc. It will never happen if you keep listening to the people who say it never happens.

Also take into consideration that I'm sure many African-American women are feeling pressure (from gentle to strong, depending on family and friends' involvement) to join NPHC groups, and they probably know that if they do go through NPC rush, the NPHC group of their choice may look at them differently.

[DubaiSis]

It sounds to me like you know what you're up against and will be as prepared as you can be to go through formal rush. Although OnePerson MAY be correct, this opinion might be outdated and overblown. Not to use President Obama as an example for all that is right with the world, but through the entire first election people said "but those southerners won't actually vote for him when they're alone in the booth." And clearly a lot of them did. And not just black southerners.

I do agree that if a chapter were going to take their chances on you, it would be one of the higher prestige chapters. The one or two who struggle for quota every year probably can't take the risk of becoming that house with the black girl.

I will be interested to learn how your rec writers handle your situation. Good luck!'

And just as an aside, have you thought about attending a school that would be more open to accepting women of color into all the social circles? I'm guessing that if it's this hard for a black girl to get into an NPC sorority she'd have trouble getting accepted into other groups as well. If you're not going to have as complete a college experience as you could somewhere else, maybe your dollars could be better spent elsewhere. I know it's about the education first, but there are a lot of good schools out there that you wouldn't have to worry about this.

[Yoquierotacobel]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

It sounds to me like you know what you're up against and will be as prepared as you can be to go through formal rush. Although OnePerson MAY be correct, this opinion might be outdated and overblown. Not to use President Obama as an example for all that is right with the world, but through the entire first election people said "but those southerners won't actually vote for him when they're alone in the booth." And clearly a lot of them did. And not just black southerners.

I do agree that if a chapter were going to take their chances on you, it would be one of the higher prestige chapters. The one or two who struggle for quota every year probably can't take the risk of becoming that house with the black girl.

I will be interested to learn how your rec writers handle your situation. Good luck!'

And just as an aside, have you thought about attending a school that would be more open to accepting women of color into all the social circles? I'm guessing that if it's this hard for a black girl to get into an NPC sorority she'd have trouble getting accepted into other groups as well. If you're not going to have as complete a college experience as you could somewhere else, maybe your dollars could be better spent elsewhere. I know it's about the education first, but there are a lot of good schools out there that you wouldn't have to worry about this.

Hello!
I have applied to Alabama(received acceptance), TCU(early action, received acceptance), SMU(regular application date, no letter yet), U of A(received acceptance). I am not 100% familiar with the reputation of these schools. I know they are very competitive, but both in my personal life and online, has race been somewhat of an issue/non-issue at 'bama and 'Ole Miss.

I thought about OSU but I'm not fond of the location.

I did go snooping through the photos on the sorority websites at SMU & U of A, just to get an idea of how diverse they are or whatever. I also did so for Alabama(which is why I'm asking for input) but haven't bothered for TCU. I chose to apply to these schools specifically for my intended major, but aside from academics I do want to be well rounded.*

After going through their individual websites, I REALLY want to be in a sorority, so I'm not sure if I should allow the possibility of not being in a sorority affect my decision for which school I attend.

[AZTheta]

^^^ OP: is U of A ARIZONA?

Oh - probably not, sigh. Whenever I see U of A, I immediately think of Arizona. Someone can correct me on this: I usually see 'Bama and Auburn written, not abbreviations like "UofA" for those schools. On GC I also learned that it's UT, not UTA or UT Austin. Let's see - what else? Oh yes! "Ole Miss" and THE Ohio State University (I still don't quite understand the latter).

Speaking of Auburn, how are the trees doing?

Anyway, at Arizona we don't have any "old row" or "circle"; and we have 11 (soon to be 12 as Alpha Chi Omega is returning in 2013) fine chapters. You can probably connect the rest of the dots.

There is another school 100 miles up the road, with a devil mascot, and they have sororities as well. They have much better shopping than we do in Tucson. But it's PHOENIX, blechh. Not much good to say about that, although I do have some GC friends up there, so it's not entirely hopeless.

[Oneperson]

Originally Posted by Yoquierotacobel

I'm not aiming at any particular house because I have yet to know who I would fit in with and have a connection with. I know many girls go into Alabama recruitment with a particular house in mind...my sister is pressuring me into one of the Old Row sororities because she happens to be an active member of that particular sorority...

So YOU, OP, are not African American? I'm sorry, I had the impression that you were because of what you were asking. I apologize.
I am amused by you "not aiming at a particular house." PNMs have the mistaken assumption that they're going to "go for" a particular house/sorority. In formal recruitment, PNMs have less control than they think. But you could be one of those rare PNMs that everyone wants.

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Although OnePerson MAY be correct, this opinion might be outdated and overblown.

I assure you my opinion and info are current as of the 2011 formal recruitment.

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

I do agree that if a chapter were going to take their chances on you, it would be one of the higher prestige chapters. The one or two who struggle for quota every year probably can't take the risk of becoming that house with the black girl.

It would have to be for the reason you mentioned in the second sentence. But it will probably be an icy day in hell for the top groups will do it. In my crystal ball, it will be one of the smaller groups that does it...like last time. Then another one, but not 10 or 15 years later, a lot quicker. Then another one. Eventually the "old row" sororities will join...after some of the top fraternities begin admitting AAs.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Titchou

As my father said to me many times, I only know what you say, not what you mean to say.

Exactly. So while you may not have meant to be rude and judgmental, all we have to go by is what you said, which came across that way.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Exactly. So while you may not have meant to be rude and judgmental, all we have to go by is what you said, which came across that way.

And I meant to be judgmental - we all are here. Being truthful by calling attention to what she said is not being rude - unless, of course, what she said was rude to begin with.

And BTW everyone, she said her sister is a member of one of the groups at Alabama BUT AT ANOTHER SCHOOL.

Thank you.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Titchou

First of all, I was not judgmental and rude.

Originally Posted by Titchou

And I meant to be judgmental

Good grief. Pick one -- judgmental or not -- and stick with it.

-- we all are here. Being truthful by calling attention to what she said is not being rude - unless, of course, what she said was rude to begin with.

There's a difference between being truthful by calling attention to what someone says and making assumptions based on what they didn't say or a few things like "wanna" -- assumptions that the OP has since said are wrong.