Alabama recruitment fall-out

[DubaiSis]

It wouldn't look good for KD to seem defensive or too hotsy totsy to take it. I would say at least part of their purpose in all of this is to spark debate. Debate in America also means an abundance of lunacy and simple mean-ness. I'm sure their HQ put on their collective big girl pants in advance to withstand this.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

It wouldn't look good for KD to seem defensive or too hotsy totsy to take it. I would say at least part of their purpose in all of this is to spark debate. Debate in America also means an abundance of lunacy and simple mean-ness. I'm sure their HQ put on their collective big girl pants in advance to withstand this.

My big girl pants are green and white. I'm extremely proud of the way National KD is taking this on.

KD has some really good professional leadership to take on this issue. Betty Mulkey is both our National Vice President of Kappa Delta and Director of Student Engagement at Northern Kentucky University. She is awesome - smart, sweet, funny, practical and tough. She is exactly the right leader in the right place for this issue. We are so lucky to have her.

I don't know if the purpose is to spark debate. I don't think that National KD cares if it causes debate, though. They know what they see as the right thing to do is and they're going to do it. If that causes debate, so be it.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by KDCat

My big girl pants are green and white. I'm extremely proud of the way National KD is taking this on.

KD has some really good professional leadership to take on this issue. Betty Mulkey is both our National Vice President of Kappa Delta and Director of Student Engagement at Northern Kentucky University. She is awesome - smart, sweet, funny, practical and tough. She is exactly the right leader in the right place for this issue. We are so lucky to have her.

I don't know if the purpose is to spark debate. I don't think that National KD cares if it causes debate, though. They know what they see as the right thing to do is and they're going to do it. If that causes debate, so be it.

Damn - where is the LIKE button for GC? KDCat, what you said times a thousand.

PS AZ-Alpha Xi and I have a close KD friend here in town and I kinda sorta hope she'll be on the team going to Alabama, because she's just awesome. Not that I have any say or anything, because I don't!

[violetgeek]

Originally Posted by KDCat

My big girl pants are green and white. I'm extremely proud of the way National KD is taking this on.

KD has some really good professional leadership to take on this issue. Betty Mulkey is both our National Vice President of Kappa Delta and Director of Student Engagement at Northern Kentucky University. She is awesome - smart, sweet, funny, practical and tough. She is exactly the right leader in the right place for this issue. We are so lucky to have her.

I don't know if the purpose is to spark debate. I don't think that National KD cares if it causes debate, though. They know what they see as the right thing to do is and they're going to do it. If that causes debate, so be it.

KDCat -- I applaud KD for their leadership on this issue. I have known many KD's from the Alabama Chapter, including a 3 generation family and their strength in the state of Alabama is outstanding. The type of change we are all talking about needs leadership from the "top" of the Greek food chain. Change like this needs to come from the top down. If KD leads, I hope everyone else follows.

[BadCat25]

Anyone who thinks this situation only applies to Alabama is kidding themselves. Most of the Greek systems at deep south universities are whites only. The chapters fear being the first one to break the color line will be ostracized by the rest of the greek community and find recruitment of new members very difficult. They see little reward and a huge risk.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by BadCat25

Anyone who thinks this situation only applies to Alabama is kidding themselves. Most of the Greek systems at deep south universities are whites only. The chapters fear being the first one to break the color line will be ostracized by the rest of the greek community and find recruitment of new members very difficult. They see little reward and a huge risk.

You mean NPC and NIC. Please do not say "most of the Greek systems" when you are only talking about particular (predominantly white) conferences.

This is more overt in the South but, just as this isn't only an Alabama thing, it isn't only a Southern thing.

[Titchou]

OK, folks, let's not get another Alabama thread shut down. Like my daddy used to say to me and my sister when we were young and going out to dinner, "we're going to play a game. Play like you are ladies."

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by Titchou

Like my daddy used to say to me and my sister when we were young and going out to dinner, "we're going to play a game. Play like you are ladies."

OMG - I love this.

ETA: Also love KDCat's green & white big girl panties comment. LOL.

FWIW - I applaud KD's efforts to shake up the status quo. Doing nothing certainly hasn't made any changes. I wish the chapter all the best!

[Titchou]

A chapter being eligible to do COB and them actually doing it are two different things.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Titchou

A chapter being eligible to do COB and them actually doing it are two different things.

Huh. Do other national organizations allow chapters to choose to COB or not? We mostly don't get to choose whether our chapters are going to COB.

If any chapter isn't at total, National Kappa Delta requires the chapter to participate in COB. It's not a choice. You have have to get special permission from National KD to NOT participate in COB if you aren't at total.

The way chapters handle that requirement is different from chapter to chapter, though, and darn near invisible sometimes.

[DrPhil]

It is important to remember generalizations are not intended to (and do not) apply 100%.

There are some women from predominantly African American communities** who have access to these resources just as there are first generation white college students who do not have access or have minimal access.


**especially if a family member was a trustee. There are predominantly African American communities that are not struggling and dilapidated. Therefore resources are more accessible because forms of capital potentially buffer some of the effects of racial exclusion and discrimination. Those resources can be used to access predominantly Black institutions and organizations and/or predominantly white institutions and organizations. It is also possible that someone from a struggling community has a mentor/school counselor/teacher who has assisted with college and GLO interests. The reduced likelihood of these things should not be confused with the impossibility of these things.

/carry on....

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

It is important to remember generalizations are not intended to (and do not) apply 100%.

There are some women from predominantly African American communities** who have access to these resources just as there are first generation white college students who do not have access or have minimal access.


**especially if a family member was a trustee. There are predominantly African American communities that are not struggling and dilapidated. Therefore resources are more accessible because forms of capital potentially buffer some of the effects of racial exclusion and discrimination. Those resources can be used to access predominantly Black institutions and organizations and/or predominantly white institutions and organizations. It is also possible that someone from a struggling community has a mentor/school counselor/teacher who has assisted with college and GLO interests. The reduced likelihood of these things should not be confused with the impossibility of these things.

/carry on....

I'm not trying to make any distinction about class, resources, etc. between AA and non-AA communities, because obviously these vary from area to area. However, if many of the adult women in your community were not welcome in NPC groups because of their skin color, it's going to be harder to get recs, that's all.

[Low D Flat]

Agreed. The problem is worse in the South, but can be found everywhere. The difference is that in, say, Ohio, you won't have groups of NPC chapters that have NEVER admitted a black student. Instead, there's a trickle, and the few who rush every year get into chapters, but (to my knowledge) most NPC chapters at big state schools in the North have not acknowledged and grappled with the history of racism that led to this state of affairs.

My totally unscientific observation is that systems at small liberal arts colleges in the north are doing a WAY better job than the big state schools of recruiting from, and serving, the entire pool of campus women. It makes sense, since at those schools everyone more or less knows each other before rush, so there's less of a temptation to make assumptions about people.

[AOII Angel]

In other parts of the country, my experience from advising in Maryland, AZ and CA is that chapters are NOT excluding women based on race. The chapters I have advised are ethnically diverse, including the one I advise currently, which is majority Latina. The chapters that are STRONG recruiting chapters will have diversity completely dependent on the mix of women who apply for formal recruitment. They may not have as many non-White candidates as the process can be more daunting. All of the African American PNMs in those recruitments are offered bids, however, so there is no issue of system wide exclusion. The weaker recruiting chapters I have worked with tend to have more diverse memberships as they pull their members from a cross section of the university and find women of all backgrounds as they participate in COB. The South is definitely behind the times, but to say ALL are the same as Bama is ridiculous. As a Southern alumna, I am embarrassed by the lack of diversity in the Southern chapters, but have been pleasantly surprised many times in the past few years when chapter pictures are displayed on FB from our smaller chapters in the South which show increasingly diverse groups which include African American women. Older, more established chapters at bigger schools seem to be the biggest hold outs, so don't generalize. There is much work to do, but all is not lost.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

As a Southern alumna, I am embarrassed by the lack of diversity in the Southern chapters, but have been pleasantly surprised many times in the past few years when chapter pictures are displayed on FB from our smaller chapters in the South which show increasingly diverse groups which include African American women.

One Christian University I can think of, St Leo's in Florida, has always had the pleasure of diversity within its NPC groups since NPC's began colonizing there thirty years ago.