By: Jillian Niedermeyer
In the United States, fraternities and sororities have been, and still are, predominantly white organizations. Minorities have slowly increased representation in these institutions, but are still highly excluded to this day. Diversity in these organizations is a major issue because it is an example that systemic racism still exists.
In Lawrence Ross’ book Blackballed: The Black and White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses, he discusses how Greek organizations formed after the Civil War with the requirement that members be “Aryan.” Though a UCLA study declared that these formal policies banning non-whites from joining fraternities and sororities were dissolved in the 1950s, Greek Life across the US is still largely racially exclusive to whites.
In the 1950s other organizations and councils formed to provide a separate option for minority students. Specifically, the University of Oregon Division of Fraternity and Sorority Life addresses the “Divine Nine” African-American sororities who were formed under the new National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) as an alternative to ‘white’ sororities. Greek Life intended for Latino-Americans and Asian Americans formed as well. In an article by Marie Claire magazine and a case study at UCLA, white women in these sororities were documented steering minorities to join these groups rather than the historically white Panhellenic sororities.
In the UCLA study, multiple women diverted claims of racism and segregation by claiming minorities didn’t join sororities because it was an individual decision. They asserted that potential new members were judged on their confidence rather than skin color and that sororities choose members based on personality and ‘fit’ rather than background.
Today, there is inherent discrimination in the Greek Community that deters minorities from joining. In a video that went viral in 2015, members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Oklahoma were filmed singing a racist chant. In 2014, the University of Alabama announced that it had admitted its first ever African-American woman into a sorority. In a study conducted by Princeton University, the Greek community had less diversity than the overall campus. Through documentation, interviews, and studies, these organizations have been proven to be systematically segregationist.