Minorities in 'white' frats/sororities

[jubilance1922]

I'm probably repeating something that was said before, but I'm gonna through my 22 cents in anyway...

I grew up in a very diverse area, yet when I was growing up, I definately knew about NPHC sororities. Most NPHC'ers feel that membership and involvement is a lifelong commitment, and so I had teachers and mentors that were sorority members, and you knew it. So going to college I already knew about the 4 NPHC sororities, but I didn't know anything about NPC recruitment. Coming in as a freshman I would have totally missed out, cause I never got any information about it.

I think a lot of African Americans still gravitate towards NPHC orgs because of two reasons: our community service projects directly benefit our communities, and also because of the history of our organizations. I'm not saying that I can't do community service for other groups of people, but it gives me a sense of giving back when I help teenage mothers, or raise money for sickle cell, or donate money for grain grinders in Africa.

Overall, people gravitate towards what's good for them. For me, it happened to be a NPHC sorority. I personally have friends in NPC, NPHC, and multicultural sororities, and all of them are happy with the choice they made.

[Rudey]

Our international philanthropy helps out Ethiopians and we're not black. But then again that's one of the reasons that all the ladies of every race and ethnicity love us. Mmmm mmmm here's to all the ladies. Ohhh yeah that's right. You, you and you. We love all of you.

[sigtau305]

Originally posted by sambadoll
I am one of maybe four minorities in my house. I am also the only black girl and one of two black girls in NPC. It doens't really matter bc they love me ( the whole mutually chosen thing) and I pref-ed at really decent houses, so I don't wonder about discrimmination or anything. I just wonder if it's similar elsewhere with few minorities in your NPC/ IFC. I would like some non-heated, diplomatic, thoughtful speculations, as to why there are so few minorities and whether you personally believe there are biases on either side. Do minorities tend to stick to one particular house?


Chi Omega
Eta Delta

It's a lot more Diverse here at Cleveland State. Each Fraternity / Sorority has no more than one or more Minorities in each organizations. But while Our Greek Council / Department of Student Life continues to actively promote greek life and gain more members each semester ( Plus, having a Greek Affairs Advisor who is gung ho and cares about what's happening with the Greek Orgs.) , the overall atmosphere at school is still slow to check out what CSU's Greek System has to Offer, Regardless of Color.

[DST4A00]

Originally posted by PiLove
It is true that there are alot of whites in the NPC, but I think it's unfair to label us a strictly "white" sorority or fraternity. In conversations with other sorority girls (multicultural) they always say "white." It bothers because I feel that multicultural/latino/african american sororities promote the idea that we (NPC) wish to exclude minorities wish is totally not the case. In our chapter (small about 20) we have a vietnamese, korean, african american, indian and mexican all represented.

I'm only speaking for myself!

When I refer to NPC sororities as "white" I'm referring to historical pretext not current situations. They are (correct me if I'm wrong) historically white just as ours are historically black. This classifacation doesn't exclude the existence of minorities.

Coincidentially, minority doesn't just refer to Blacks, Asians Latinos, etc. in a White sorority, it goes both ways.

[kk_bama]

Le sigh.

I go to Alabama, and my chapter fully integrated in 2003. We were the first NPC chapter on our campus to do so. If you have any questions, just PM me.

[Tom Earp]

Rudey, it is nice that you love ladys. It is also nice You help Etheopians. That still does not answer the question.

I often wonder if color is such a big deal, then why do Blacks join non NPHC and Whites do join them?

Maybe it is because of the FEELING OF BROTHERHOOD/SISTERHOOD! That is between people only.

The only ones upset about this whole thing is those that want segregation, not as some of us who dont care! We like The Person only, Not The Color!

I am sure Garth understands that along with Rodney and Quiten who are My LXA Brothers at my Chapter..

[sigtau305]

Originally posted by Tom Earp
Maybe it is because of the FEELING OF BROTHERHOOD/SISTERHOOD! That is between people only.

The only ones upset about this whole thing is those that want segregation, not as some of us who dont care! We like The Person only, Not The Color!

I am sure Garth understands that along with Rodney and Quiten who are My LXA Brothers at my Chapter..

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
We've discussed this a few times on the board before, and I'm just going to warn you that it can be a touchy topic, so don't be surprised if it gets out of hand.

I think the main problem is two-fold: a lack of interest from many of the minorities to join, and a sense (justified in some cases, not justified in others) that they're not welcome. This is especially true of African-Americans -- because of the strong history of black Greek organizations, many blacks are raised to not even consider the historically white sororities and fraternities. Now with the proliferation of multicultural/Asian/Latino/Native American/whatever-based organizations, people of color have a lot more choices, and they may not want to join a group that they associate with being "white" (or that has the history of race-based discrimination that some of the NPC/NIC groups do). There are still tons of people out there that don't know that the historically white organizations TAKE people of color, which is ridiculous, but shows what stereotypes we're working against in this country. Also, there are a handful of campuses in this country where the Greek system still is extremely segregated, and these are the places that tend to get in the news quite a bit for the race issues -- and every time that we get another article saying, "Our sorority has never had a black girl in it" it's more enforcement for the stereotype.

I would just like to add to this that another problem could be the lack of diversity on the campus in general. It's very hard to have a diverse chapter if the school is not diverse. It's important to look at the big picture and start increasing diversity on campus before increasing diversity in the fraternity/sorority.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by TheEpitome1920
We've had instances were NPC women will tell women (both white and non-white) that our organizations are only for Black/Latino/Asian women. It's sad because they actually thought they were telling them the truth. I honestly don't see how anyone could believe that in this day and age.

You can't really roll your eyes on that. I barely knew anything about any type of Greek organization before I joined Phi Mu. Our campus is a small commuter campus, so Greek life isn't huge and non-Greeks don't know much about us. I wouldn't be surprised that many of our Greeks didn't know that historically Black GLOs are not only for African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha are on our campus (I think Delta Sigma Theta and Sigma Gamma Rho? are too but I'm not sure), but they are never around and only sometimes have booths up at Student Org day, so many people don't even know they exist on our campus. I know they are, but I've never seen them try to recruit non-African American students, so if I hadn't learned this on Greek Chat, I never would have known.

Please don't be surprised or disgusted with things that we do not know. The thing is to educate us if you want us to know, let people know what you're about. It's the same with any kind of Greek member, if a GDI doesn't know what sororities or fraternities are about, we tell them. We don't roll our eyes, because that would just add to the negative perception of us. (not saying that there is a negative perception coming from me, just people in general)

[Corsulian]

GMU is one of the most diverse schools in the country (we had #3 last year, this year I'm told we may actually be #1)

There are definitely concentrations of minorities in some of the historically white GLOs here though--in some cases they aren't minorities of the groups at all. Nobody really cares--but at least one fraternity is sometimes called the 'persian fraternity.'

[qteasied]

I know that in my school there's NPC, AKA, and LTA. Most minority females here don't rush for NPC because they don't feel as if they relate to the majority white sororities. However, a few black girls rush each semester, and mostly end up with bids. I remember meeting a few other black girls during rush last year, and they mostly turned down their bids, saying they'll probably "do the Black Greek thing" That was formal. This semester rush was informal, and the black girls that rushed did end up with bids and most ended up staying. The one girl that did drop did so because she just wanted to be a party girl...

I don't think that my school's NPC GLO's are rascist. There may be a few girls that may be clueless about other cultures... I believe that the reason why so many minorities don't rush is because they simply want to be around members of their own culture and don't feel as if they can be comfortable being the only one in their sorority.

[jubilance1922]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
You can't really roll your eyes on that. I barely knew anything about any type of Greek organization before I joined Phi Mu. Our campus is a small commuter campus, so Greek life isn't huge and non-Greeks don't know much about us. I wouldn't be surprised that many of our Greeks didn't know that historically Black GLOs are not only for African Americans. Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha are on our campus (I think Delta Sigma Theta and Sigma Tau Gamma? are too but I'm not sure), but they are never around and only sometimes have booths up at Student Org day, so many people don't even know they exist on our campus. I know they are, but I've never seen them try to recruit non-African American students, so if I hadn't learned this on Greek Chat, I never would have known.

Please don't be surprised or disgusted with things that we do not know. The thing is to educate us if you want us to know, let people know what you're about. It's the same with any kind of Greek member, if a GDI doesn't know what sororities or fraternities are about, we tell them. We don't roll our eyes, because that would just add to the negative perception of us. (not saying that there is a negative perception coming from me, just people in general)

I think that a PWI, much of the study body doesn't get to see the work that is being done by NPHC groups, because a lot of our community service in done in the larger community, instead of on the campus directly. Also, compared to NPC sororities, NPHC groups are smaller, so if you attend a large school, its difficult to see those members out and about on a regular basis. At my alma mater, there were maybe a total of 30 women in all four NPHC sororities, and maybe 30 men in three NPHC fraternities. So our numbers are much smaller than those traditionally seen in NPC/IFC, especially at our school, which has 50,000+ people.

Finally, people tend to gravitate towards people they have something in common with. I know for myself, it was a bit intimidating to be one of 4000 minority students in a total population of 50,000. I don't think that initially (as a freshman) I would have been comfortable enough with myself to branch out and interact with a new group of people. Eventually I did get more comfortable with my surroundings and meeting new people, but it would have taken some time.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Corsulian
GMU is one of the most diverse schools in the country (we had #3 last year, this year I'm told we may actually be #1)

There are definitely concentrations of minorities in some of the historically white GLOs here though--in some cases they aren't minorities of the groups at all. Nobody really cares--but at least one fraternity is sometimes called the 'persian fraternity.'

Are they really hairy?

-Rudey

[roqueemae]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha are on our campus (I think Delta Sigma Theta and Sigma Tau Gamma? are too but I'm not sure),

Sigma Tau Gamma STG is an IFC Fraternity. My daddy is one. Maybe you mean Sigma Gamma Rho
SGR

[carol9a]

Originally posted by Corsulian
Nobody really cares--but at least one fraternity is sometimes called the 'persian fraternity.'

I thought Persia doesnt exist. Isnt now Iran?