This week we read “Pledged” by Alexandra Robbins. This book gave me an interesting insight on the activities that take place on American college campuses. To write her book, Alexandra Robbins went undercover as a college student to get an inside look into the college workings of Greek life, in particular, a look at the unseen negative aspects that come with sorority life on a college campus. There are many unseen negatives, such as hazing, that sororities possess, but one of the more interesting things I noticed was the still standing racial divide.
Even in Greek life today you can see racial tensions. These race factors would seemingly have disappeared over the last one hundred years since blacks were allowed higher education and co-education at institutes of higher learning, but the issue of race has not disappeared. In “College Girls” chapter one, The Birth of the College Girl, by Lynn Peril, an earlier reading, she states the first historically black “schools operated under the most primitive conditions. There was always the threat of physical violence from the nascent Klu Klux Klan or other whites ill-disposed to the idea of an educated black citizenry.” (Peril, page 41) This negative background between whites and blacks paves the way for racial tension to continue in today’s higher education institutes.
As viewed in the book “Pledged”, the average mainstream sororities are predominately white. Each sorority has only a handful of black females and they are often silently considered “a charity case” or a way for the sorority to be politically correct. These black females, while accepted into the sorority by the other women, are often viewed from the outside to have been picked to make the sorority appear more accepting and diverse.
One quote from Robbins book shows the racial tension in a predominately white sorority between white and black members; “[Fiona] expounded on what she saw as the recent trends in Alpha Rho. “You know” she said, eyeing Sabrina [a black member], who wasn’t a part of the conversation but who was studying close enough to the group that she could hear every word, “it’s getting so that every pledge class in the house has a black girl. The sophomores have C.C. and the juniors have Sabrina.” The other girls glanced sideways at Sabrina, then hurriedly focused their attention back on Fiona. Sabrina only chuckled and said lightly, “Yes, that’s me.” But inwardly she cringed. To many of the girls in Alpha Rho, she would always be the “token black”; to some of them, apparently, that would be her only role.” (Robbins, page 24-25) and “an organization in which some sisters mocked her culture (with racist remarks).” (Robbins, page 302) These examples show clear racial divides among sororities.
This is sad and makes the sororities look bad, but one has to ask, what’s the difference between picking a black woman, or any woman of color, to join the sorority to appear more diverse and picking women to join the sorority based solely off good looks or deep rolling bank statements? Not anything to me. Sororities today have become much different than their founding mothers imagined. Sororities once stood for scholarship and true friendship in sisterhood where today it means connections to parties, boys, money, and popularity.
But in defense of the sororities of the National Panhellenic Conference, or the traditional rich white girl sorority that you image, the percentages of black women to white women that rush these sororities are extremely low, thus, there are slim pickings when it comes to selecting a black woman for the sorority. So where are all the black women? Do they not participate in sororities? Well yes, they do, but in special sororities. Black women rush a different council, or the National Pan-Hellenic Council, that comprises of nine sororities and fraternities, otherwise known as “the divine nine” that are all black. This council is separate from the largely recognized sororities and is often criticized for being racist within themselves. Many media outlets target these groups just like the traditional sororities and use them for laughs, such as in the show “Campus Ladies”.
In conclusion, sex, parties, drugs, dirty money, and high standards aren’t the only negative aspects of sororities. The racial tensions that go on are often overlooked and what can be even the most negative aspect of the sororities, a lack of diversity resulting in ignorance.
-Laura Condyles
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