How do we foster diversity on a college campus? How do we give students more freedom than they’ve ever experienced and then force them to befriend someone who is different? Throughout our institutions, we see student organizations made up of predominantly one race. Students identify with one group and tend to congregate with students who have similar experiences and lifestyles.
In a 2011 court case, it was ruled lawful for the University of Texas to take race into consideration when selecting students for admission. Some critics of this decision question the necessity of such policies. Why force diversity and admit minority students who might be less qualified in order to reach quotas for certain student populations? Instead, why not focus on quality education for ALL students and accept them based on achievements rather than race?
At the University of Alabama, a school rich with tradition and history, the school’s historically white sororities remain just that—white. In her book, Pledged, Alexandra Robbins notes that the only time (as of 2005) that a minority woman was given a bid to a white sorority it was by mistake. A student whose mother was Caucasian and her father was bi-racial was granted membership into a traditionally white sorority, her family’s race unbeknownst to her new sisters. During Greek recruitment in 2001, an African American student with a stellar GPA, extensive volunteer experience, and a padded resume didn’t make it to the third round of recruitment. Although she had made many friends before and during recruitment, these relationships were not enough to secure her a bid. After completing the recruitment process twice and not receiving a bid, the young woman created her own group. She was looking for sisterhood and lifelong friendships and decided to create a sorority of her own to meet those needs. Rather than focus solely on social events and upcoming philanthropies, her organization participates regularly in service activities and engage in intellectual conversation.
Many critics of the Greek system claim that overbearing advisors and mothers run Greek houses, living vicariously through the lives of their daughters and holding on to memories of their college days. To effectively change the environment of institutions and the Greek system, we must put leaders in place who are advocates for facilitating diversity. If we force groups to accept members based on their race are we really teaching students anything? Without a change in adult and student leadership and supervision within these organizations we will never see a change in the demographic layout of Greek organizations on our campuses.
As student affairs professionals, we should work with Greek letter organizations to develop programming that will encourage diversity within these groups and teach students and advisors to be accepting and willing to change. Programs should focus on what an individual has to offer regardless of their skin color or family history, teaching students to place value on other characteristics. Chapter members would initially be taken out of their comfort zone, but eventually these changes would become the norm and multicultural organizations would thrive on campuses. Who knows what potential these organizations would have if they didn’t discriminate based on race?
Sources:
Pledged: The Secret Life of Soroities
No Time for Complacency
Powerful Greek Systems
How to Handle Racist Practicies in Sororities and Fraternities
No comments:
Post a Comment