GA State College White Student Union

[ElieM]

That makes about as much sense as having a "men's officer" on the student council

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by ElieM

That makes about as much sense as having a "men's officer" on the student council

In certain situations this would make sense. The WSU makes sense in some situations as well, where the white students make up a small minority of the population. At GSU, not so much because they are still the largest single group.

[chiojes]

This is ridiculous to me. I think people who create things like "white student unions" are so ignorant. Our greek week at UCF would include the NPHC organizations as well as other diverse greek chapters. We also had a step component to our Greek sing.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by badgeguy

I would love for the entire world to think of us all as human beings first....forgetting the religious, ethnical, skin color, and all that....

I'm not a fan of the "why can't we all be color-blind?" approach. I think it encourages us to accept a false uniformity by asking us to ignore the things about "them" that (1) make "them" who they are, and (2) make them different from "us." At best, it is disrespectful; at worst, it carries an expectation that everything would be okay if everyone could just be like "us." (As in, perhaps, suggesting that it's somehow wrong that the NPHC don't act like "the rest of us.")

Instead of trying forget or ignore these things, I think the better course is to strive to accept and respect the many things that make us all different -- my religious perspective would say strive to see how all of those differences somehow reflect the image of God -- and to understand how those differences can be enriching to us all rather than alienating. And in my experience, that can be much harder work than trying to "forget" the differences.

Originally Posted by badgeguy

Georgia State Student Forms White Student Union

Any thoughts?

Yes.


If you want more response than that, then perhaps you should offer thoughts of your own first rather than just plopping it down in the middle of the room and then waiting to see what happens.

[pshsx1]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

I'm not a fan of the "why can't we all be color-blind?" approach. I think it encourages us to accept a false uniformity by asking us to ignore the things about "them" that (1) make "them" who they are, and (2) make them different from "us." At best, it is disrespectful; at worst, it carries an expectation that everything would be okay if everyone could just be like "us." (As in, perhaps, suggesting that it's somehow wrong that the NPHC don't act like "the rest of us.")

You said this flawlessly. I'm probably going to quote this elsewhere at some point, if you don't mind.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by pshsx1

You said this flawlessly. I'm probably going to quote this elsewhere at some point, if you don't mind.

Thanks, and be my guest.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by badgeguy

Georgia State Student Forms White Student Union

On a side note, when I was in school, our chapter tried repeatedly to contact Alpha Phi Alpha, and Kappa Alpha Psi to have parties together, but we never got any responses. We were a brand new chapter on campus and maybe we didn't approach the groups correctly, or weren't clear about how parties worked with other groups at that time.

I had the same issue in the 70s at my campus. We - the Unified Fraternal Organization (we didn't have separate Panhellenic and IFC except on paper), the dean of students (who was black, but not a member of one of the chapters on our campus), and the student government representative - all tried to find a framework for the groups to work and socialize together, but got no response other than "not interested" from the three or four traditionally black organizations.

I would have liked to hear it had gotten better.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by DGTess

I had the same issue in the 70s at my campus. We - the Unified Fraternal Organization (we didn't have separate Panhellenic and IFC except on paper), the dean of students (who was black, but not a member of one of the chapters on our campus), and the student government representative - all tried to find a framework for the groups to work and socialize together, but got no response other than "not interested" from the three or four traditionally black organizations.

I would have liked to hear it had gotten better.

I think things have gotten better.

However, I would like to point out that no single organization is under any obligation to have an event with any other organization. When you were an active member, did your sorority accept every invitation from every fraternity for a mixer, etc? We didn't always accept every invitation. Was it because we didn't like the fraternity or sorority asking us? Of course not. You can't always work everything out and do everything with everybody. No matter your letters or council, a group's primary obligation is to their own members and their own mission, however those things may be defined. Individuals can be (and are) friends on their own time across organization lines and council lines.

When BG's fraternity invited Alpha and Kappa to have parties, Alpha and Kappa were under no obligation to do so nor were they under any obligation to explain why they couldn't or wouldn't. Just in the same way if my KKG chapter turned down an invitation from ABC or XYZ fraternity when I was in college. Unless the Alphas and Kappas came straight out and said "we're not hanging with you crackers," I wouldn't have assumed it was a race thing.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

I think things have gotten better.

However, I would like to point out that no single organization is under any obligation to have an event with any other organization. When you were an active member, did your sorority accept every invitation from every fraternity for a mixer, etc? We didn't always accept every invitation. Was it because we didn't like the fraternity or sorority asking us? Of course not. You can't always work everything out and do everything with everybody. No matter your letters or council, a group's primary obligation is to their own members and their own mission, however those things may be defined. Individuals can be (and are) friends on their own time across organization lines and council lines.

When BG's fraternity invited Alpha and Kappa to have parties, Alpha and Kappa were under no obligation to do so nor were they under any obligation to explain why they couldn't or wouldn't. Just in the same way if my KKG chapter turned down an invitation from ABC or XYZ fraternity when I was in college. Unless the Alphas and Kappas came straight out and said "we're not hanging with you crackers," I wouldn't have assumed it was a race thing.

ETA: I chuckled at your Edit. Kappa, Kappa, Kappa ... but don't assume it's a race thing lol

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

ETA: I chuckled at your Edit. Kappa, Kappa, Kappa ... but don't assume it's a race thing lol

Yeah, that didn't come out quite right the first time.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

I think things have gotten better.

However, I would like to point out that no single organization is under any obligation to have an event with any other organization. When you were an active member, did your sorority accept every invitation from every fraternity for a mixer, etc?

Of course not - but not a single work OR social event in years? That's not just scheduling.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Of course not - but not a single work OR social event in years? That's not just scheduling.

Did he say it was years? That they actually tried for YEARS to schedule something with these groups? Because at some point, that's just stupid to keep trying when you keep getting turned down. Even so, that doesn't mean that it was due to race that they were declined. It could be that those extending the invitation were socially challenged. That's as good a conjecture to make as thinking it was race-related on the part of the invitees.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Of course not - but not a single work OR social event in years? That's not just scheduling.

I think you need to understand that there is just a different set of priorities.

Its just not uber-critical for NPHC orgs to have socials, mixers, and formals. We don't base our year on social events.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

I think you need to understand that there is just a different set of priorities.

Its just not uber-critical for NPHC orgs to have socials, mixers, and formals. We don't base our year on social events.

This and perhaps other reasons that have been discussed on GC over the years. I always find it funny when predominantly white organizations cannot handle being told "no" or being ignored completely. Welcome to the club.

Speaking of clubs, White Student Unions are a good place for whites to express outrage over being told "no" or being ignored. Not really.

[Sen's Revenge]

And, you know, not to be snarky.... and it's been said more politely above....

But maybe we just didn't want to?