Even after fraternal integration began following the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Similarly, over the past year, thousands of members have disaffiliated from the Greek-life system due to what they say is its history of racism, sexism and homophobia.Īnd activists aren’t wrong: historically white organisations were formally segregated and, today, continue to struggle with instances of racism and sexual assault. During the US’s ongoing reckoning over racial injustice sparked by George Floyd’s murder this has galvanised into the concerted national #AbolishGreekLife movement. Given this influence, anti-Greek life activists have long-criticised historically white fraternities and sororities for being inherently discriminatory, hierarchical, and for entrenching in students certain modes of exclusionary thinking. The perspective of anti-‘Greek Life’ activists According to the New York Times, only about 2% of the US population is affiliated with Greek life but 80% of top executives at Fortune 500 companies and large majorities of US Congress, Presidents, and Supreme Court justices are ‘Greeks.’ And, despite Harris’s political ascendency, the benefits of Greek life disproportionately favour members of historically white, male Greek-lettered fraternities, and reflect the inequities of US society as a whole. In fact, Greek life regularly produces very powerful people. Most importantly, they offer career networking opportunities with their organisation’s alumni, and possible access into elite social circles. Commonly organised into individual campus chapters, centrally directed by well-monied and professionalised national organisations, they provide members with potential benefits that extend beyond graduation. But within the US, these societies are institutions at the centre of university social life. Outside of the US, fraternities and sororities (collectively known as ‘Greek Life’) are somewhat mysterious entities, often associated with drink-laden parties, hazing or initiation controversies, and raunchy comedy movies like Animal House and Neighbours ( Bad Neighbours outside the US). One interviewee, Carla Mannings, said that AKA (along with the other historically Black ‘ Divine Nine’ sororities and fraternities) help make ‘sure that everyone has a chance to be a part of the economic mainstream of this country.’ In an interview on CBS This Morning, three of Harris’s sorority sisters described AKA as a ‘secret weapon’ that cultivates leadership, learning, and social justice. At Howard, Harris – the United States’ first woman and African American Vice-President – was also a member of the country’s oldest Black intercollegiate sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA).
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Studying how minorities use and transform predominantly white institutions raises questions about how we go about deconstructing the white supremacy within them.ĭuring coverage of January’s US Presidential inauguration, many learned about Kamala Harris’s time at Howard University (HCBU), a renowned historically Black college and university in Washington DC.
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Yet, as Taulby Edmondson points out, the existence of longstanding Black sororities and fraternities complicate calls for an end to this culture. ‘Greek Life’ is a distinctive part of the social and cultural experience of universities in the United States, and has faced recent scrutiny for acts of racism, sexism and homophobia.