Racism in the South is not a new topic and intrinsic to its very fiber; authors such as Faulkner have wrote and labored over, anti-racist statue protests have demonstrated, as well as institutions sought to address through affirmative action (not just in the South, but general US.) At this critical juncture in time on the precipice of potential great systematic change with Black Lives Matter and anti racist movements growing in size, demonstration, and longevity, The University of Texas at Austin has publicly announced that it intends to increase its diversity within its student body, with a predominantly white and hispanic student population, 4% black and marginal other percentages of ethnicity groups.

In conjunction with The University’s goals, systemic racism and intentional exclusion within almost 99% white consistency of the sorority University Panhellenic Council and Interfraternity Council must be addressed, particularly during this time period. Using the excuse or rhetoric that the UT student population is not diverse, so therefore these groups do not need to be inclusive is rather loathsome. There are particular schools within the nation’s “Greek” system (composed of fraternities and sororities) in which racism is worse than others, UT being one of them, also seen at University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, Southern Methodist University, Baylor University, and more, mostly within the South. This said, as members of the University of Texas at Austin community, and Greek community, the time is now to be and act upon the change we wish to see in the world regarding intentional racism and exclusion from these groups. While self-selection and finding like-minded people is always understood, there is simply no excuse for intentional exclusion and overt racism within these student groups by other members. Racism is evil, point blank. And as we move towards a society in which we must be all anti-racist, this starts in our communities, our lives, and our groups. Simply marginalizing diverse or non-white people into their respective ethnic group fraternities and sororities feels sort of like telling someone to sit on the other side of the restaurant sectioned off by color. 

It must not be every person of color’s choice to join a sorority or fraternity made up of people of only their own ethnicity. As a Greek institution, there is a need for diversity in all groups, as simply it’s educational, good for business, and inclusion is always the correct path. The common rhetoric or excuse is that they're not from the right background, area, or family, or no one knows them. That's just an excuse to justify racism and not usually accurate. 

As a member of The University of Texas at Austin’s greek system (University Panhellenic Sorority) from 2010-2014, I witnessed overt and intentional racism during my time within the larger institution. Certain guys were not given bids because of the color of their skin despite them having tons of friends in common with guys within the fraternity, and it was a thing that almost all of the UPC sororities on campus had only two to four members who were not white. That’s not acceptable. I can't recall a single IFC fraternity on campus who had a black member while I was a student.

As a larger institution, the UPC and IFC need to be transparent about their actions to improve this, work with the chapters to provide educational systems, training, and facilitate discussions to empower each chapter to create their own equity, diversity, and inclusion plan to take matters into their own hands with what would feel right and work best for them as self-selecting groups who hopefully also want to see change and create diverse and equitable and comfortable environments, where the person as an individual is accepted for who they really are. What other way is there to connect?

No sorority or fraternity is going to want to be the first to act upon this change because they want to be competitive in Rush/recruitment, and deeply ingrained habits are hard to break. While in an ideal world, X chapter would step up and develop diversity groups, plans, etc. to make it happen, It has to happen as a larger institutional movement to create the necessary change within our environment. 

If you agree, please sign, share with your networks, talk to your chapters, talk to your friends, and we can all create systemic movement. Thank you.