Who Has Removed Preferential Treatment for Legacies?

[Sororitysock]

The whole defense of "we can't give them bids because they don't go through our recruitment" is bull excrement. Let's look at the most egregious offenders in modern times, Alabama. In all the 110 years prior to 2014, only one black woman was given a bid to an NPC sorority, and that sorority was degraded and ostracized for it all the way up to the time the sororities were forced to desegregate. When asked why there were no women of color in their chapters, the go-to response was the tired "we can't bid them because they don't rush."

But what happened after they received national attention? The university extended recruitment and quota. Then 21 black women were extended bids. That to me says it all. There were many black women have wanted to join NPC chapters there but knew they had no chance. Now black women in recruitment and sororities are a regular occurrence.

I cobbled together the approximate number of black undergrads there who could potentially become one of our sisters.

Total undergraduate students 33028
Total males 44%
Total females 56%
Total black enrollment 10.4%
10.4 x 33,028 = 3435 total black students
3435 x .56 = 1935 estimated Black females

That 1935 total also includes women who want to go NPHC, those without financial means, those who adamantly want to remain independent for any reason. We should be approaching, supporting and encouraging the women who want to join our sororities.

[carnation]

Been doing it over here for over 20 years!

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by carnation

Been doing it over here for over 20 years!

Good for you. That doesn't mean that everyone is. And the evidence overwhelmingly shows that they aren't.

But truly, the legacy policy isn't our only issue. And the policy doesn't only hold us back in terms of diversity. If we truly analyze the way we recruit, it's no surprise to me that we can't get women to join our organizations and commit to them for life.

They arrive on campus, go through two weeks of recruitment and a few conversations with members, get a leg up if a certain woman bore them decades prior or someone wrote them a recommendation having never met them before, then are given a bid. And if they don't get a bid in their first year or two of college, we tell them their dream of being in a sorority is dead.

We complain that recruitment is too short and we have to make sharp cuts based on a 30-minute conversation. We complain about angry mothers calling and berating chapters. We complain about our six-week new member period and that these women "don't truly know us" by the end of it. We complain that we have so many members but they all disappear after graduation.

So many of us are missing the big picture. The NPHC figured it out a long time ago. Us NPCs severely limit our recruitment and member-building potential and then wonder why we're not succeeding, which is evident based on hundreds of threads right here on GC.

[carnation]

NPC has most of it right and NPHC has most of it right. Same for NIC. No one is perfect.

What I hate is when people come here and berate sororities, especially Southern ones, for their lack of diversity/lack of reaching out to minorities or first generation college students or whoever. This is WRONG. Women my age from my chapter and others are constantly working behind the scenes trying to help our chapters find the strongest pledge class we can, and race does NOT play a part in it. It doesn't matter!!!

And if we know of a girl who's rushing at a school that doesn't have our chapter, we work to help her find recs to the others, no matter what race she is. I'm a member of one Facebook group that was created especially for that and we are almost ALL Southern.

I am so tired of people saying that we're all rocking on our antebellum mansion porches, trying to keep women of color out of our GLOS. IT IS NOT TRUE!!!!

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by carnation

NPC has most of it right and NPHC has most of it right. Same for NIC. No one is perfect.

Then why do we all come here and complain about the issues I mentioned when we're willing to do nothing to change?

What I hate is when people come here and berate sororities, especially Southern ones, for their lack of diversity/lack of reaching out to minorities or first generation college students or whoever. This is WRONG. Women my age from my chapter and others are constantly working behind the scenes trying to help our chapters find the strongest pledge class we can, and race does NOT play a part in it. It doesn't matter!!!

And if we know of a girl who's rushing at a school that doesn't have our chapter, we work to help her find recs to the others, no matter what race she is. I'm a member of one Facebook group that was created especially for that and we are almost ALL Southern.

I am so tired of people saying that we're all rocking on our antebellum mansion porches, trying to keep women of color out of our GLOS. IT IS NOT TRUE!!!!

Who is saying this? Has anyone specifically been coming down on southern chapters and them only? I must have missed that.

[carnation]

Yes, they have.

[PersistentDST]

Originally Posted by Sororitysock

The whole defense of "we can't give them bids because they don't go through our recruitment" is bull excrement. Let's look at the most egregious offenders in modern times, Alabama. In all the 110 years prior to 2014, only one black woman was given a bid to an NPC sorority, and that sorority was degraded and ostracized for it all the way up to the time the sororities were forced to desegregate. When asked why there were no women of color in their chapters, the go-to response was the tired "we can't bid them because they don't rush."

But what happened after they received national attention? The university extended recruitment and quota. Then 21 black women were extended bids. That to me says it all. There were many black women have wanted to join NPC chapters there but knew they had no chance. Now black women in recruitment and sororities are a regular occurrence.

I cobbled together the approximate number of black undergrads there who could potentially become one of our sisters.

Total undergraduate students 33028
Total males 44%
Total females 56%
Total black enrollment 10.4%
10.4 x 33,028 = 3435 total black students
3435 x .56 = 1935 estimated Black females

That 1935 total also includes women who want to go NPHC, those without financial means, those who adamantly want to remain independent for any reason. We should be approaching, supporting and encouraging the women who want to join our sororities.

This is exactly the same point I made in another thread. The numbers will absolutely go up as people realize that can have a positive experience in the NPC. It’s simple causation. And despite that, there are still growing amounts of diverse populations that want to find their home. I’ve seen schools with super diverse biddays.

In my previous posts, I never picked on southern schools specifically. Alabama is obvious because it was well documented and clearly systematic. There are plenty of situations and incidents at schools all over the country (including my alma mater in the Midwest) that have and would deter diverse young people from finding a home in the NPC.

• The “Blackest Chi O Award” given to an active during a ceremony, because she dated a Black student. There were no Black members in the chapter and barely any in the NPC at the time. (At my alma mater)

• “There will never be a ‘blank’ in SAE.” As young men and sorority women sat and laughed on the bus.

• Catching multiple actives across the country in Blackface on Snapchat in the past couple of years.

• Costume parties where the theme is mocking racial/ethnic groups and their cultures.

• The frat guy that sat in front of his house with some actives on Halloween asking Black students (including me and my friends) if we had Ebola. The girls just sat there and looked at us. What if I was a PNM or an active in another chapter?

These experiences (some personal) were very real and hurtful. It’s deeper than simply saying, “WOC don’t want to join,” or “Black girls would rather be in the NPHC.” I’ve said this multiple times, we are not a monolith. There are plenty of women who want the Panhellenic experience and that is something that the NPHC will not offer them. Just like the first Soror that contacted me on social media after I was initiated is White. She chose Delta, because that was the sorority experience she wanted.

There’s thousands of things that the NPC does yearly that are positive and exemplary. There are chapters full of women who would never purposely harm or offend anyone and that’s great if that’s people’s personal experiences. But the discrimination is real and it exists, rather it’s Alabama in the past decade or a micro aggression from a specific chapter member that will hurt a WOC active. The trash stuff is not every chapter, not every school and it’s not every girl. But...one girl or chapter can bring awful attention to an organization. There’s nothing wrong with admitting that in some ways, things can be improved!

I agree that no one is perfect. I just wish that when people post the “I see you. I hear you,” posts that they actually mean it and are really listening to us. There’s been plenty of statements I’ve made in here that appear to go ignored. Some of the Women of Color from the University of Georgia NPC made a video talking about their experiences. Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CDC0BEz...d=dbi1pc8c217x

[33girl]

ASA is officially on the Legacy Death Boat!!

https://www.alphasigmaalpha.org/news...y-on-legacies/

[carnation]

I get it, I really do. But it's also hurtful for NPC women to constantly hear, "You aren't doing enough. You're racists. Bama pulled some racist stunt, so all Southern schools are like that." and so on and so on. It is NOT true. Who likes being the butt of generalization?

And we do all have different goals. As I mentioned, I have had little luck interesting the black high school seniors I know well in the NPC because they see these powerful black women (a lot are educators) in our community and that's what they strive to be. I teach in a nearby town and have had the same experience there. Obviously, this is not the norm in some areas.

I'll be talking to this year's crop of seniors but this is the truth--many women and I have knocked ourselves out trying to diversify our groups by doing that and contacting sororities about women who might not be on their radar. But when we see all these posts all over the Net about what failures the NPC groups have been at diversity and what racists we probably all are--this is painful, and I know sorority alums who have given up on helping at all.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by carnation

I get it, I really do. But it's also hurtful for NPC women to constantly hear, "You aren't doing enough. You're racists. Bama pulled some racist stunt, so all Southern schools are like that." and so on and so on. It is NOT true. Who likes being the butt of generalization?

And we do all have different goals. As I mentioned, I have had little luck interesting the black high school seniors I know well in the NPC because they see these powerful black women (a lot are educators) in our community and that's what they strive to be. I teach in a nearby town and have had the same experience there. Obviously, this is not the norm in some areas.

I'll be talking to this year's crop of seniors but this is the truth--many women and I have knocked ourselves out trying to diversify our groups by doing that and contacting sororities about women who might not be on their radar. But when we see all these posts all over the Net about what failures the NPC groups have been at diversity and what racists we probably all are--this is painful, and I know sorority alums who have given up on helping at all.

This is why we all should be working on a unified message and efforts. We can't have only a handful of people striving for positive change and expect something to come out of it.

We've all dealt with the stereotypes, the chants of "End Greek life!", the assumption that we're no longer relevant in today's world, the accusations that all fraternity men are drunks who assault women and all sorority women are stuck up bitches living on their parents' dime.

But to argue that we can't somehow, collectively. do better is what bothers me most. To think that every fraternity and sorority chapter across the country is striving for diversity is simply not accurate, and we all know it.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Good for you. That doesn't mean that everyone is. And the evidence overwhelmingly shows that they aren't.

But truly, the legacy policy isn't our only issue. And the policy doesn't only hold us back in terms of diversity. If we truly analyze the way we recruit, it's no surprise to me that we can't get women to join our organizations and commit to them for life.

They arrive on campus, go through two weeks of recruitment and a few conversations with members, get a leg up if a certain woman bore them decades prior or someone wrote them a recommendation having never met them before, then are given a bid. And if they don't get a bid in their first year or two of college, we tell them their dream of being in a sorority is dead.

We complain that recruitment is too short and we have to make sharp cuts based on a 30-minute conversation. We complain about angry mothers calling and berating chapters. We complain about our six-week new member period and that these women "don't truly know us" by the end of it. We complain that we have so many members but they all disappear after graduation.

So many of us are missing the big picture. The NPHC figured it out a long time ago. Us NPCs severely limit our recruitment and member-building potential and then wonder why we're not succeeding, which is evident based on hundreds of threads right here on GC.

By the time you join an NPHC group, you’ve spent at the very least moths and more often YEARS focused on that group alone. Obviously you’re going to be more loyal to it as a national entity.

But as far as “lifetime commitment”? If you’re only counting national involvement, maybe my chapter of initiation isn’t doing that hot. But if you’re talking about lifetime friendships, we’ve hit the ball out of the park.

[oncegreek]

Any thoughts about the "Abolish Greek Life" movement? There is an eye opening article about it in the NY Times. Also, racism in Greek life has been discussed on other sites. (NOT GR, that I know of) One young woman (of color) spoke of her experience in a UGA sorority, on Good Morning America. That was a great video.

[PersistentDST]

Originally Posted by 33girl

By the time you join an NPHC group, you’ve spent at the very least moths and more often YEARS focused on that group alone. Obviously you’re going to be more loyal to it as a national entity.

But as far as “lifetime commitment”? If you’re only counting national involvement, maybe my chapter of initiation isn’t doing that hot. But if you’re talking about lifetime friendships, we’ve hit the ball out of the park.

I think that the lifelong friendships and sisterhood are absolutely invaluable and if that’s one thing you take from joining, there’s nothing wrong with that. That being said...

...our commitment isn’t as much about loyalty. We have members who are inactive after graduation or even after initiation in an alumnae chapter, that could be considered loyal. Those of us who truly believe in our lifetime commitment’s understand that there is work to be done. There are people that need to be registered to vote, there is social action initiatives that need support and there is community service that needs to be done. Our undergraduate chapters and graduate chapters have the same missions and still have the same type of activities, even from a social standpoint, which makes it a bit easier to transition.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by PersistentDST

Our undergraduate chapters and graduate chapters have the same missions and still have the same type of activities, even from a social standpoint, which makes it a bit easier to transition.

This is a HUGE thing to consider. Many NPC alumnae go from a jam packed calendar where every day had something sorority related (not to mention living with your sisters) to a monthly meeting, if that. This isn’t everyone’s experience but it varies to such a degree that trying to give women a clear and consistent picture of alumnae involvement is impossible.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by oncegreek

Any thoughts about the "Abolish Greek Life" movement? There is an eye opening article about it in the NY Times. Also, racism in Greek life has been discussed on other sites. (NOT GR, that I know of) One young woman (of color) spoke of her experience in a UGA sorority, on Good Morning America. That was a great video.

Youth rebels because it must. I see young people quitting their greek orgs and then raising a stink to get attention for themselves, instead of working with their fellow brothers and sisters to improve the situations they perceive as "wrong" and "hurtful".

Be that friend upon whom your brother and sister greeks can rely. Live your rituals. Help your fellow greeks grow through mutual education and actions.

All people can learn, and their teachers don't need to quit on them to make their points.