Alpha Phi and a racial slur...again???

[Jill1228]

Did I tell y’all that I love my little? She rocks.
I was on the way to the airport when I heard about this

Originally Posted by Jen

I basically said I'd like to see a zero tolerance policy, charters yanked, members kicked out etc when this shit happens. Also, that they need to get off their asses and DO something.

I said I don't feel comfortable donating money to the sorority any longer, because I have no idea what I'm supporting. Am I giving a scholarship to a white supremacist? Backing a program that's turning out racists like an assembly line?

I want EO to stop being wishy washy with lame apologies at best and at worst, silence which is complicity. I want them to stand up and DO something. You know ... show some character, which is supposed to be part of the new values programming.

I wrote over 20 recs this year. Three of those recs (so far) have gone Alpha Phi and two of those PNMs are women of colour.

I am terrified of what kind of organization I just recommended them into.

I am so, so angry.

[navane]

Or maybe she was thinking of Alpha Phi January 2019 at Old Dominion University? OCU...ODU?

Link: https://www.wavy.com/news/old-domini...t-allegations/

[VioletsAreBlue]

I don't want to jump to conclusions but...are we to assume that nobody outside of the team members heard about the name of this team before the tournament? That there were no "come out and support team abc!" type announcements that usually take place in advance of events like these? That the teams weren't registered in advance, and all of this happened on the fly?

Because that is hard to believe. And that also means that nobody said a THING. That's really really horrifying.

[Jen]

I commented on a FB post EO made asking them to publicly address this issue which is in the media and totally public news.

Guess what they did?

Hid the post so no one could see it.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Jen

I commented on a FB post EO made asking them to publicly address this issue which is in the media and totally public news.

Guess what they did?

Hid the post so no one could see it.

Jen, I hurt for you, and every other Alpha Phi.
Sadly, it could have been so many other GLOs, but I would still rather see a better response from EO.

[Jen]

I was hopeful when the ED contacted me by email yesterday wanting to chat by phone. Since I can't do phone (gives me panic attacks), I said I was glad to talk via email more. So we'll see.

There's still been no acknowledgement that this happened though, and on a campus that had a previous incident. It's really disappointing.

[Kevin]

I went to OCU for law school.

Their undergrads tend to be very white and very sheltered. That's not so much of an excuse as it might be an explanation. Kristen Chenoweth is an alumna--and she's pretty representative of the student body.

As far as the "previous incident," are you sure that was at OCU and not OU? They're about 30 minutes away from each other, but easy to confuse.

And to make things even more confusing, my bachelor's was at UCO, where we have had zero incidents of this nature.

[Jen]

martha1872 posted a link to an article about a blackface incident at OCU involving Alpha Phi in 2015.



It's this one - https://okcfox.com/news/local/outrag...ensive-costume


So this is the second racist incident at the campus I've seen and the second where Alpha Phi is involved in some fashion (enough so that the school called for a suspension of the Alpha Phi chapter).



Here's another (better written) article about the most recent event - https://kfor.com/2019/09/25/ocu-soro...er-tournament/


My favourite part is "News 4 reached out to local and national chapters of Alpha Phi and Kappa Sigma and we haven’t heard back."


Haha, of course you haven't heard back. If members can't get answers, why would anyone else? (They'll come out with a statement as soon as more news outlets report on this, I'm sure ... )

[Iota_JWH]

Since I am not an Alpha Phi, I have been hesitant to comment. Yes, I am shocked at the number of horrible incidents of collegiate women flexing their power to degrade others they see as weaker than themselves. (To me the true measure of a person is how they treat those with less power, is it with helpfulness / kindness or is it to manipulate / degrade?) This is the 21st century, shouldn’t we be behind this??
So, Alpha Phi wanted to increase their presence and be the most sought-after sorority on campus (as we all do) so decided the most straightforward route is to recruit on looks. Afterall collegiate men usually only seek out beautiful women and “GreekRank” intensifies this. (See the missive about University of Michigan recruitment that showed a case where a lovely and very accomplished young woman, who most of the chapter wanted, was denied membership by the HQ staff member because she wasn’t pretty enough.)
Unfortunately, there is a higher percentage of entitled and “mean girls” in the beautiful young women category. So, now several chapters had had to contend with the consequences. And the consequences of closed chapters and unflattering PR have not been enough to promote a culture change. While there have been a number of closed chapters, Alpha Phi continues to be chosen for extension frequently. (I just saw APhi will present at Randolph Macon.) So, none of this has hurt Alpha Phi with PNMs (this is not surprising as the pull of being in a “top” group outweighs almost everything to an 18-year-old.) However, I would have hoped that being chosen for extension would entail College administrators having a voice (at least on who is invited to present) and they would not want the potential headache of an organization giving voice to racists or “mean girls”.
So, as sad as this is, I cannot see the situation changing until Alpha Phi HQ feels negative consequences in terms of numbers (i.e. not being selected for extension opportunities, fewer PNMs highly ranking APhi chapters.)

[Sororitysock]

I'm a grown ass adult who has been around a bit and lived in many places. At the risk of sounding hopelessly naive, I have never heard this particular racist term before. If something including this term had come my way for approval, I wouldn't have known any better. So, I've learned a valuable lesson to check out all terms online before approving anything in the future. But it also makes me wonder if those involved understood what the term meant.

However, Alpha Phi's failure to address this issue (again) is inexcusable. I am in full agreement with others here that something is very broken there, and they don't seem to give a flying fuck about it as long as they remain the hot girls.

[33girl]

^^Nowadays it’s better safe than sorry. If you refer to a “yard ape” in this neck of the woods, you mean a bratty child. But that is not what it means everywhere. So yeah, Google is your friend.

[Jen]

Originally Posted by Sororitysock

However, Alpha Phi's failure to address this issue (again) is inexcusable. I am in full agreement with others here that something is very broken there, and they don't seem to give a flying fuck about it as long as they remain the hot girls.

Quoting for truth!

[SigmaCat]

You guys have every right to be ferociously pissed. I'm so sorry.

[Sen's Revenge]

Well well well

https://www.instagram.com/friendinheaven/

[andthen]

^^^I’m glad to see whoever set up this IG account is working to seek change and also bring awareness to these issues. BTW for anyone who reads this post I’m not an Alpha Phi, nor do I have any involvement with this IG account. I am going to follow to help them get traction though.