Probably the most racist thing I've ever seen in an official fraternity publication..

[Kevin]

A huge missed opportunity, in my opinion. What jackasses our members were in the early 60's.

[PGD-GRAD]

There were LOTS of jackasses in the early ‘60s. State laws declaring “separate but equal” were in place in a huge swath of the US. African Americans couldn’t vote, eat where they wanted or marry outside of their race in many places. Don’t forget that even though Rosa Parks helped get a policy changed in 1955, racist laws stayed in place for another 15+ years in some places.
I think many of our Greek organization simply responded to current state laws and social norms—not that it wasn’t RACIST and DISGUSTING, especially now looking back.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by PGD-GRAD

There were LOTS of jackasses in the early ‘60s. State laws declaring “separate but equal” were in place in a huge swath of the US. African Americans couldn’t vote, eat where they wanted or marry outside of their race in many places. Don’t forget that even though Rosa Parks helped get a policy changed in 1955, racist laws stayed in place for another 15+ years in some places.
I think many of our Greek organization simply responded to current state laws and social norms—not that it wasn’t RACIST and DISGUSTING, especially now looking back.

I'd say that state laws made a difference, but the founding situations and culture of a Fraternity make quite a difference as well. Certainly not all Fraternities and Sororites have had the same history in this regard. Some members of the NIC *never* had this issue, some still had this type of issue well into the 1980s and beyond.

[Kevin]

We didn't take until 1984 to change our policies.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Kevin

We didn't take until 1984 to change our policies.

I'd appreciate a way to rephrase it, ideas? The 1984 is when Sigma Nu Delta rejoined, not when Sigma Nu's policies changed.

[chi-o_cat]

Originally Posted by naraht

I'd appreciate a way to rephrase it, ideas? The 1984 is when Sigma Nu Delta rejoined, not when Sigma Nu's policies changed.

Probably something like:

In response to the national fraternity's segregationist membership policies, the fraternity went local in 1963, becoming Sigma Nu Delta. The national fraternity's policies were changed in <whatever year it happened>, and in 1984 the fraternity reaffiliated with the national.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by chi-o_cat

Probably something like:

In response to the national fraternity's segregationist membership policies, the fraternity went local in 1963, becoming Sigma Nu Delta. The national fraternity's policies were changed in <whatever year it happened>, and in 1984 the fraternity reaffiliated with the national.

Now we just need the fill in the blank.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by naraht

Now we just need the fill in the blank.

Closest that I've got to filling in the blank is part of a 1965 Time Magazine article (reprinted in the Congressional Record)

A fifth, Sigma Nu, still retains a “whites only” clause, but has permitted chapters, if pressured by college officials, to request special dispensation to admit Negroes.

Not sure whether that means the date to "fill in the blank" then would be before that (with special dispensation) or after (a general removal of the clause)

Also, Trent Lott's Article in Wikipedia says

While an undergraduate at the University of Mississippi, Lott participated in the effort at the 1964 national convention of the Sigma Nu fraternity to oppose a civil rights amendment proposed by the Dartmouth College and Duke University chapters to end mandatory racial exclusion by the fraternity. Lott sided with the segregationists who defeated the amendment. The Dartmouth chapter subsequently seceded from the fraternity, and Sigma Nu remained whites-only until later in the decade.

(Which references the Time Magazine article at https://web.archive.org/web/20040212...399310,00.html)

And Dartmouth wasn't the only location to have chapters cut ties. Stanford had Alpha Tau Omega in 1961 and Sigma Nu in 1962 do so. (https://stanfordmag.org/contents/what-they-stood-for)

So the best I think I can do without further help is (And I'm

In response to the national fraternity's segregationist membership policies, the fraternity went local in 1963, becoming Sigma Nu Delta. The national fraternity's policies were changed later in the decade, and in 1984 the fraternity reaffiliated with the national. (and reference the Trent Lott Time Magazine article)

[Kevin]

The 1964 vote was extremely close. I believe in 1968 or 1969, the same factions remained. Future Senator Trent Lott on one side and future President of CNN, Tom Johnson led the other. The anti-segregation measure passed supposedly by single digits.

I had the fortune to visit with an alumnus who had been at every Grand Chapter since sometime in the 1950s (this was back in 2002, I'm sure he has since passed).

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Kevin

The 1964 vote was extremely close. I believe in 1968 or 1969, the same factions remained. Future Senator Trent Lott on one side and future President of CNN, Tom Johnson led the other. The anti-segregation measure passed supposedly by single digits.

I had the fortune to visit with an alumnus who had been at every Grand Chapter since sometime in the 1950s (this was back in 2002, I'm sure he has since passed).

I found this...
https://www.sigmanucornell.org/public7.asp

A good amount on the topic. The Sigma Nu chapter at Cornell got a "Waiver with Honor" for the membership policies in 1962. It talks about Efforts to remove the policies at the 1962, 1964 and 1966 Grand Chapters and "Finally, at the 43rd Grand Chapter in Denver in 1968, restrictive membership qualifications were removed from the Law by a nearly unanimous vote."

The fact that it was nearly a unanimous vote surprises me, but given that it probably required more than a majority to change this (2/3 or 3/4) it actually passing might have been a nearly unanimous vote, or the delegates on the "keep" side might have seen they were going to lose in a preliminary vote and decided to vote in favor for the unity of the Fraternity.

So I have 1968 as the year.

I'll change the entry to
In response to the national fraternity's segregationist membership policies, the fraternity went local in 1963, becoming Sigma Nu Delta. The national fraternity's bylaws were changed at the 1968 Grand Chapter[1], and in 1984 the fraternity reaffiliated with the national.

with the [1] being the ref to the Cornell Sigma Nu page.

Look good?

[Kevin]

Seems legit.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Seems legit.

Done.