Fraternities and sororities are a big part of many universities. Every fall, thousands of students worldwide pledge to Greek organizations and hope to be invited to join the long-lasting bonds of brotherhood or sisterhood.
Alysia McKenna, graduate assistant for fraternity and sorority life, said, “Sororities and fraternities provide a bond between students and serve as a home away from home. They provide leadership opportunities and ways to become more involved on campus.”
Recently, however, the excitement of becoming an active member of a sorority turned into something more like a Greek tragedy for a female student at the University of Alabama.
This student, who decided to remain anonymous, appeared to be the perfect pledge on paper and had all the credentials that any university would look for in its students. She had a 4.3 GPA in high school, was salutatorian of her graduation class, is involved in local and state public service and has close ties to the university.
Even though she met all the requirements that would allow her to be part of a sorority, she did not receive a bid, or formal invitation, from any of the 16 Pan-Hellenic sororities during formal recruitment.
The Crimson White, the University of Alabama’s newspaper, stated that the reason she was not invited to be a member was because she is African-American. The article continued to say that the student and at least one other African-American student went through formal recruitment but were not offered bids into sororities.
This story caught the attention of national media and press outlets and even prompted students at the University of Alabama to protest the racial segregation within their school’s Greek system.
Several hundred people, including Greek and non-Greek students, united at the University of Alabama and marched through the campus until reaching the president’s office, where they stood and proclaimed their opposition to what they saw as racial segregation. NSU has 11 Greek organizations, and this year, more than 100 students were welcomed into Greek organizations. According to Mckenna, no accusations of racism have ever been reported.
McKenna said, ”We have never experienced that [racial segregation] on our campus, which shows how accepting all of our organizations are at NSU.”
To be eligible to pledge for a sorority or fraternity at NSU, students must meet certain requirements. The GPA requirement is set by the national or international organization of each fraternity or sorority, which varies between 2.5 and 3.0. Some Greek organizations also look for potential members who demonstrate that their personal values match the organization’s values, have performed community service and have leadership experience.
“If students do not meet a requirement GPA, they are encouraged to work on bringing up their GPA so that they can attempt to go through the process at another time,” said McKenna.
If a student is concerned with the requirements or the recruitment process, McKenna said that the Office of Student Activities would have a conversation with the student to gather more information on the matter. The Office of Student Activities would then work with the sorority or fratenity’s NSU chapter and its international or national organization to address the student’s concern.
Marianne Martinez, sophomore musical theater major and member of Delta Phi Epsilon, said that hearing about the Greek life controversy in the University of Alabama does not change her perception of being a member of her sorority.
“I think what is so great about Greek life at NSU is that they stay away from all of that. The Greek life here has been educated so well not to be stereotypical and to not segregate people because of race,” said Martinez. “At NSU, they do have policies and they are strict about it, so if that stuff happens, it’s not going to be pushed aside. People will know about it and there will be consequences for it.”
