Alabama recruitment fall-out

[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.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Cheerio

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.

I'll have to look. Also, the newest chapters being colonized are all diverse. Our colonizing teams are taking the time to recruit women from all ethnic groups that they can. It makes me very proud. I just hope those chapters can keep the promise of their colonizing classes.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by 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.

One point I have seen raised in this thread is that removing the possibility of exclusion based on race is not enough to integrate chapters (such as Alabama, for instance) - that more needs to be done to recruit AA members. This is a valid point considering the preparation necessary to participate in a recruitment of this nature.

I looked at the University of Maryland AOII facebook, and did not see AA members (and none among those in white dresses - are these new initiates?).

The Arizona State University Panhellenic Recruitment Guide doesn't reflect NPC chapter membership of AA women either:

http://asupan.com/wp-content/uploads...oklet20121.pdf

Just using those examples as you mentioned these states.

So I guess my question is -- what threshold of AA membership is considered "fully integrated" and sufficient to claim that a chapter is racially diverse?

Do these chapters actively recruit AA women? What have the chapters you advised done to address recruitment of potential members from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds?

[AOIILisa]

I looked at AOII Maryland's tumblir, and I thought I did see an AA member?



AAs are 12% of the Maryland student population, and Greeks are 15% of the student population. The whole chapter is pretty white, but I did see Asian and Latina members. The one chapter I advise has AA members (St. Joseph's U) but the other does not (U Maine) - but there just aren't that many AA students at Maine. When I read our national magazine, AOII seems like it is very diverse, but I guess it depends on the school.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by AOIILisa

I looked at AOII Maryland's tumblir, and I thought I did see an AA member?



AAs are 12% of the Maryland student population, and Greeks are 15% of the student population. The whole chapter is pretty white, but I did see Asian and Latina members. The one chapter I advise has AA members (St. Joseph's U) but the other does not (U Maine) - but there just aren't that many AA students at Maine. When I read our national magazine, AOII seems like it is very diverse, but I guess it depends on the school.

You did see one. The only one in 240 pictures of sisters on that Tumblr (I stopped counting after that point). I didn't see any on their facebook page. The national magazine of any GLO at Alabama would seem diverse as well.

Thus my question:

What threshold of AA membership is considered "fully integrated" and sufficient to claim that a chapter is racially diverse?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Hartofsec

You did see one. The only one in 240 pictures of sisters on that Tumblr (I stopped counting after that point).

Thus my question:

What threshold of AA membership is considered "fully integrated" and sufficient to claim that a chapter is racially diverse?

Note: I never said I have any experience with this chapter. I advised at Towson, four years ago. I don't know the make up of recruitment at UMD, so you can stop trolling the UMD AOII FB page. How about you look at the AOII NAU page?

The difference in how these chapters handle race and how the chapters at Alabama handle race is that when qualified AA PNMs go through recruitment, they ALL get bids. At Alabama, NONE of them get bids. The chapters at UMD and Towson are examples of Strong recruiting chapters which I discussed earlier that are subject to the diversity of the formal recruiting mix. In my experience at Towson, the AA students typically did quite well in recruitment. These chapters could have more diversity, but they are not discriminatory.

The chapters I have worked with in AZ and CA are much more diverse and have a much greater opportunity through COB to approach and recruit women of other ethnicities that may not normally go through formal recruitment.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Note: I never said I have any experience with this chapter. I advised at Towson, four years ago. I don't know the make up of recruitment at UMD, so you can stop trolling the UMD AOII FB page. How about you look at the AOII NAU page?

Note: I didn't say you did. I didn't know what chapter you advised. I used MD and AZ because you mentioned these along with your general statement about the south:

Originally Posted by 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.
[...]
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.

Here is what I actually said:

Just using those examples as you mentioned these states.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by Hartofsec

One point I have seen raised in this thread is that removing the possibility of exclusion based on race is not enough to integrate chapters (such as Alabama, for instance) - that more needs to be done to recruit AA members. This is a valid point considering the preparation necessary to participate in a recruitment of this nature.

I looked at the University of Maryland AOII facebook, and did not see AA members (and none among those in white dresses - are these new initiates?).

The Arizona State University Panhellenic Recruitment Guide doesn't reflect NPC chapter membership of AA women either:

http://asupan.com/wp-content/uploads...oklet20121.pdf

Just using those examples as you mentioned these states.

So I guess my question is -- what threshold of AA membership is considered "fully integrated" and sufficient to claim that a chapter is racially diverse?

Do these chapters actively recruit AA women? What have the chapters you advised done to address recruitment of potential members from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds?

Re - the bolded. Are. You. Serious? SMH. You are missing the point entirely. If you go to the Arizona websites on various sororities, you may or may not see the diversity of membership (and I'm not talking solely about race) - it all depends on who is selecting the photos and who happened to be in the photos that were selected. Sheesh.

Surely you know that you can't judge ethnicity based on a photograph. Right?

As for your "what threshold" question, perhaps you'd like to formulate a research question, based on scientific principles and do the investigation? That would be a good use of time and energy.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

Re - the bolded. Are. You. Serious? SMH. You are missing the point entirely. If you go to the Arizona websites on various sororities, you may or may not see the diversity of membership (and I'm not talking solely about race) - it all depends on who is selecting the photos and who happened to be in the photos that were selected. Sheesh.

Surely you know that you can't judge ethnicity based on a photograph. Right?

That appears to be the demographic "data" used by many speculating on chapter/campus diversity -- what data are you working with?

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.

What threshold of AA membership is considered "fully integrated" and sufficient to claim that a chapter is racially diverse?

One member? A percentage that reflects the enrollment of a particular race?

What do the chapters you advise do to actively recruit potential members of diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Hartofsec

One member? A percentage that reflects the enrollment of a particular race?

What do the chapters you advise do to actively recruit potential members of diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds?

Very few chapters anywhere actively recruit any specific target group because they are dependent on which women the College Panhellenic in general recruit to participate.

To make this a productive conversation- let's ask - What could College Panhellenics do to get more women of color to go through recruitment? Since most schools promote recruitment through the organization fairs at the beginning of the school year or at freshman orientation, what would help?

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by AGDee

To make this a productive conversation- let's ask - What could College Panhellenics do to get more women of color to go through recruitment? Since most schools promote recruitment through the organization fairs at the beginning of the school year or at freshman orientation, what would help?

I advised on a small commuter campus and when we had open houses/meet the greeks/etc events, the minority members always signed up to host because they wanted girls "who looked like us" to sign up for recruitment. Two out of the three chapters had minority members from a wide variety of backgrounds and ethnicities. The third chapter had a hard time attracting minority members because they didn't have them, it was like a recruitment Catch-22. Minority PMNs didn't want to join a chapter that didn't have girls who looked like them. Granted this was a small campus, but it was interesting to see how PMNs did notice the sorority members who looked like them. So in my experience, promoting what diversity exists, whether it's a little or a lot, does help attract diversity.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Very few chapters anywhere actively recruit any specific target group because they are dependent on which women the College Panhellenic in general recruit to participate.

To make this a productive conversation- let's ask - What could College Panhellenics do to get more women of color to go through recruitment? Since most schools promote recruitment through the organization fairs at the beginning of the school year or at freshman orientation, what would help?

Brain-storming here:

1. Some schools have orientation days for non-majority students. They get a lot of information targeted to those students. If Panhel tabled during those days at locations where that orientation was happening, it would be a way to draw in a more diverse crowd for formal recruitment. Doing a "Meet the Greeks" or information session during that orientation period could be helpful. Invite all of the NPC and non-NPC groups to participate. If there's an activity fair, table at that.

2. At some schools Panhel sends out information re. registering for recruitment by email or regular mail over the summer. It might be helpful to make those materials include information that indicates that all NPC chapters are open to all qualified candidates and which includes information on the process for both women of color and first generation college students who might not otherwise have access to information about recruitment.

3. Target qualified women of color during COB. Every university in the US in integrated. All of our collegians know women of color through their classes and other organizations. Chapters should target the women they are already friends with. Even if she says "no," to COB or a bid the active courting is going change the climate and make it more clear that NPC is more open than it used to be.

[Hartofsec]

Originally Posted by KDCat

Brain-storming here:

1. Some schools have orientation days for non-majority students. They get a lot of information targeted to those students. If Panhel tabled during those days at locations where that orientation was happening, it would be a way to draw in a more diverse crowd for formal recruitment. Doing a "Meet the Greeks" or information session during that orientation period could be helpful. Invite all of the NPC and non-NPC groups to participate. If there's an activity fair, table at that.

2. At some schools Panhel sends out information re. registering for recruitment by email or regular mail over the summer. It might be helpful to make those materials include information that indicates that all NPC chapters are open to all qualified candidates and which includes information on the process for both women of color and first generation college students who might not otherwise have access to information about recruitment.

3. Target qualified women of color during COB. Every university in the US in integrated. All of our collegians know women of color through their classes and other organizations. Chapters should target the women they are already friends with. Even if she says "no," to COB or a bid the active courting is going change the climate and make it more clear that NPC is more open than it used to be.

Thanks for putting some thought into this. I think those would be great ideas for almost any campus, though it also seems as if the nature of recruitment at Alabama involves some unique "rubs." Orientation seems to be a great way to "get the word out," but the time frame involved for preparation really places PNMs who find out at orientation at a disadvantage.

I can't vouch for the specific info incoming freshmen receive, but the info on recruitment is easily located (and perhaps pointed out in info incoming students receive). However, it has not had info targeted at first generation or women of color in the past. It will be interesting to see if there is any mention in the recruitment brochure for 2014.

I agree with what you said about COB, though many chapters at Alabama do not participate in COB. This may be another "rub" unique to Alabama - I don't know what this looks like on other campuses.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by KDCat

Brain-storming here:

1. Some schools have orientation days for non-majority students. They get a lot of information targeted to those students. If Panhel tabled during those days at locations where that orientation was happening, it would be a way to draw in a more diverse crowd for formal recruitment. Doing a "Meet the Greeks" or information session during that orientation period could be helpful. Invite all of the NPC and non-NPC groups to participate. If there's an activity fair, table at that.

2. At some schools Panhel sends out information re. registering for recruitment by email or regular mail over the summer. It might be helpful to make those materials include information that indicates that all NPC chapters are open to all qualified candidates and which includes information on the process for both women of color and first generation college students who might not otherwise have access to information about recruitment.

3. Target qualified women of color during COB. Every university in the US in integrated. All of our collegians know women of color through their classes and other organizations. Chapters should target the women they are already friends with. Even if she says "no," to COB or a bid the active courting is going change the climate and make it more clear that NPC is more open than it used to be.

I like plan 1 and plan 2. I don't like plan 3. If you're a chapter that has to do COB, it means you're under total and need to get up to total with members that will fit in quickly and be committed to YOUR group, not just A group. If a woman such as that happens to be A-A, that's fine. But COB is not the time for a teachable moment or diversity for diversity's sake.