Alabama Faculty Senate Diversity Report

[Low D Flat]

And no, the university does not pay for the Greek houses. THey do loan the HCs the money but it still has to be repaid

Yeah, but don't the GLOs lease the land under the houses for $1 a year? If so, that's a valuable subsidy from the university.

[Sciencewoman]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

In my experience and depending on the school, they can be somewhat influential.

Ours is. Faculty give input to the elected senators, and they have significant voting influence on issues such as curriculum, tenure processes, etc., in conjunction with the Provost. Compromises generally result from the input of both parties.

Sorority and fraternity business...none whatsoever.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I've never even heard of a Faculty Senate. Do they have any power?

Yes, they have power. Exactly how much power they have depends on the school. When they are tasked with analyzing particular situations, like they were here, the president and/or board of trustees/visitors/regents/whatever usually really wants to hear what the senate has to say.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by Low D Flat

Yeah, but don't the GLOs lease the land under the houses for $1 a year? If so, that's a valuable subsidy from the university.

Yes, but the GLO is providing housing for University students that the U doesn't have to build and manage...and they wouldn't pay themselves any rent if they built their own dorms on the land...and they wouldn't get the interest off the loans...

[PiKA2001]

Who decides which recommendations to put in place and how much of a say does Panhel have in all of this? I'm assuming that this is a result of the allegations last year that alums were keeping black girls from getting bids even though the chapter wanted them, right? If so, they should come up with a way to keep the membership selection in the hands of the active chapter. I also read it as the chapter would have to explain to the black PNM why she didn't receive a bid to their chapter..that is unnecessary and awkward for all involved I think. I also heard that a record number of black pnm's rushed and received bids from Bama sororities this year (except Chi O lol) so maybe they already learned quite a bit from the scandal alone.

[DubaiSis]

PiKA, the alumnae problem is a challenge, but likely not the entire problem.
But because this issue last year made nationwide news after hearing grumblings for years, it was time for the school to intervene. It's a stain on the school as a whole.
While Membership Selection is sacred to all of us, I do think there is room for having to justify cutting girls. There has to have been a reason to cut any particular rushee and I think they'd have to suck up any answer other than "because she's black." And I think the faculty advisor would probably get a whole new respect for these girls and what they go through, because we all know these decisions are not as easy or shallow as an outsider might think. And I personally think the faculty advisor would function as an effective barrier between was seemingly happened where the girls thought they were submitting one list and the alumnae actually submitted something else.

And for all those questions about Alumnae Initiates, this would be a place to do that.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I'd really have to read the full recommendations to understand completely what they are referring to in a lot of the recommendations. The article is a quick summary and may be misleading.

Agreed. It seems weird that a task force would spend time studying the issue and them come back with recommendations that make them sound like they aren't familiar with the issue.

[Low D Flat]

they wouldn't pay themselves any rent if they built their own dorms on the land

No, the students would be paying them rent.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

I also heard that a record number of black pnm's rushed and received bids from Bama sororities this year (except Chi O lol)...

It's my understanding that Chi O pledged two African-American women.


For general information: UA owns a handful of small houses on one section of fraternity row that are leased to fraternal groups. The groups include NPHC, engineering, and IFC-type fraternities.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

It's my understanding that Chi O pledged two African-American women.

They very well could have, my comment was just based off of the Snapchat snafu.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

the suggestion of providing "an explanation of the denial of membership for a minority recruit."

What would they classify as a "minority"? You could twist that all sorts of ways. To the point of hilarity and/or ridiculousness. Not only that, what if the woman in question doesn't want to "use" this status? Can you imagine two girls rooming together, and one gets an explanation and one doesn't simply because of the color of her skin or some other factor?

This is just another case of assuming integration was desired because black people really really wanted to hang out with white people.

[DubaiSis]

Well, we could always go back to the "blue blood" test.