Students at Northwestern University are demanding the abolition of fraternities and sororities as inherently racist institutions. The Instagram page “Abolish NU IFC/PHA [Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Association]” denounces all those who support the Greek system as “perpetuating harm” to minorities.
Zana Rashid, a spokesperson for Northwestern’s Panhellenic Association, has disclosed that the association is in fact discussing abolition. The closing of the Greek system would impact 20 percent of the student population.
The question is whether an entire Greek system should be abolished when almost a quarter of the student body reportedly values and supports it. If a house exhibits discriminatory conduct, it can be addressed like any other part of the university. These fraternities and sororities are first and foremost voluntary associations supported by each of these students. Even if some students do not support or even approve of the system, these students do. It is an associational choice that is tied to their values. Rather than force all other parts of the university to confirm to the views of these opposing students, the university should allow them to create associations that appeal to their own values and interests.
I was a Gamma Delta Iota. I’ll translate that at the end. But i8f it’s like that fiasco at Evergreen in Washington State only five percent complained but as a result the student body 5took a heavy down hill disappearing act. This one is 20=%. In my University days there was no Greek clubs TKE tried to start it up and the school just said. Off Campus activity only. They didn’t have ROTC either so I left. Did I care either way? Not a bit. Too busy studying to deal with minor matters. And yes back then in the sixties we had all cultural and ethnic backgrounds. So it was a big nothing deal.
Now the answer. GDI is G** Dam Independent. I’m a life member which explains my Constitutional Republic Coalition stance.
There was no way I was joining a sorority when I was in college. What was wrong with sororities?? There were no boys!!! LOL.
Being in an all-girls club with a bunch of giddy, silly females would have driven me crazy!
So I auditioned for the college glee club….40 boys, and only 6 girls! We worked hard, having concerts around the state almost every weekend.
(We had to pledge glee club for a year, and endured hell week, like a sorority/fraternity. And we were integrated…….in the mid ’60’s!)
Black student unions are racist by definition.
It’s no worse than any other ethnically-delineated organization. The policy needs to be that no student club gets any institutional subsidy beyond some in-kind, costs-already-sunk services they all get. It also needs to be the case that the student services apparat does not try to dictate the terms of association (which is routine these days vis a vis evangelical clubs). If you want to identify the most odious characters on any campus, hunt for those truffles among the victimology faculties, the diversicrats in the provost’s office or the HR office, the rest of the staff in HR, and in and among the student services apparatchiks (or, that portion thereof who don’t have specific work that outsiders can understand; the clinic nurses and the registrar’s office is not your enemy; the assistant dean for blah blah is).
Absurd on black student union: “It’s no worse than any other ethnically-delineated organization.”
****
Is a white student union racist?
Two people who can’t be accused of racism, “Diamond and Silk,” say that “Jim Crow Joe” will lead America to “Hell in a Hand Basket” as he trembles in fear, “Hiding in his Basement.”
Diamond and Silk suggest that President Trump debate “Jim Crow Joe” in his very “Basement” itself.
You go, girls!
Oh, yeah!
Uh, huh!!!
Integrate! Integrate!
Dance to the music!
No more Greeks. No more Frogs!
Stamp to the new beats.
(A Frog is a French person)
Why would Northwestern’s Panhellenic Association even consider this? The fraternities and sororities have been fully integrated for years. Whatever happened to freedom of association?
There’s nothing wrong with fraternities and sororities except perhaps some class discrimination, and even if that still exists (I don’t know if it does but it did long ago), that can be changed if that organization chooses to change. I don’t begrudge the black organizations (unless they impose their beliefs on me or get public funding) or other ones such as the Masons, etc. Let people stay free to associate with those of their choosing.
At my old school, sororities were novelties and there was only one of them. Fraternities were numerous and they were niched to social type. If you wanted to join one, you could usually find one that fit you and wanted you. Most guys couldn’t be bothered. Every school is different in this respect.
The thing is, when everyone is your brother, no one is. Lots of us don’t mix well. Your vocation in life is to learn to live with it, not to make a pest of yourself to others because you resent their social skills.
Class discrimination is when French class is looked down on. “Frog Talk”.
The “Greek” system is embedded with racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and classism. That is completely true and has no place at a university. If they want to exist as private organizations off campus, that is fine of course, but they have no place being an official part of the university. Having greeks and universities mixed is a recipe for trouble that we see over and over again.
The “Greek” system is embedded with racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and classism.
It would be more concise to say it’s ‘poopy pants’. The semantic content’s the same.
The sororities don’t want you as a member Molly because you’re lousy company. Get over it.
My undergraduate school did not have the Greek system so even thinking about rushing was not ever an option. I observed them and spoke to their members in grad school and the Greek system is quite messes up.
I observed them and spoke to their members as an undergraduate and as an institutional employee. Unlike you, I wasn’t predisposed to find them pathological and didn’t. Everyone who reads what you write here has your number and knows you cannot be fair to anyone.
+1. Anyone wanting part of this infantile system can have it – it’s a free country – but why are universities and colleges supporting it?
There’s nothing infantile about it. College students often behave badly, but that’s characteristic of young people in general.
The college administration is usually in the business of harassing the Greeks, not ‘supporting’ them. That includes extorting the sale of Greek property to institutions so the institution can control their internal operations.
must you destroy something just because you don’t like it?
All we have to do is stop capitulating to these temper tantrums (that’s what they are) and arrest those that go on further and do real damage. Nobody seems to want to endanger their bottom line. :/ Kids are ignorant by default, it is the older and wiser letting this happen.
Soon these nitwits will realize that their very being is the summation of all these bad things and they will have to commit Harikari to cleanse the world of bad people.
I wonder why those young Commie punks at NWU are screwing around with this crap when they could have been with their Commie professors attempting to burn down court houses, police HQ & attempting to harm more cops?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/breaking-mostly-peaceful-rioters-break-portland-police-union-third-time-light-fire/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/portland-update-elderly-women-attacked-antifa-defending-police-precinct-speak/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/caught-video-far-left-antifa-protesters-call-black-brown-trump-supporters-fcking-coons/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/antifa-shows-pro-police-rally-ft-collins-huge-mistake-not-end-domestic-terrorists-video/
What are they complaining about? They’ve already had six months of paid fraternity leave.
I add: If these social justice warriors knew anything, they’d realize the key to success in our society is to adopt the values of what was once called the Establishment. E. Digby Baltzell, the late sociologist, wrote in “Sporting Gentlemen” of how amateur tennis was a gateway for young, talented, less-advantaged young men. So, too, in a different connection, did Richard Brookhiser in “The Way of the WASP.” Elites, they concluded, were fine, so long as they would integrate people of merit from other (viz., non-WASP) groups (e.g., Jews, Irish, Italians, blacks), and could thrive ONLY if they did so. All that is lost on these college-educated numbskulls.
Yes, of course this is what they want. Anything the SJW mob can identify as a potential power imbalance based on group identity will need to be torn down.
Keep in mind that our entire society is based upon hierarchies and they reject hierarchies. They will keep coming and coming, not too unlike zombies trying to kill every last remaining human. Not much smarter than zombies, either.
Google a John Belushi skit ‘Don’t look back in anger.’ In the end, that’s all that matters. I’ve hired people to continue my comments, well after I’m gone. You’ll never know.
Issac,
I hope all is well for you. Peace.
Get rid of all Black Student Unions on campuses. All student tuition general fees have to support this organization without the ability to opt out. While loosely knit and with no real infrastructure, making all students support this organization is un-democratic and the antithesis of inclusion.
Mandatory fees of any kind should be abolished. The only mandatory charge should be tuition (after the apposite discounts have been accounted for). Room and board should be a mandatory charge for people who elect to live in campus housing. All text books and course materials should be on reserve at the library, so students have an option to refrain from purchasing them. Parking and library fines could remain on the books (on the understanding that people elect their preferred level of conscientiousness). Student clubs would be financed by voluntary donations and grants. The student services apparat could employ a couple of office employees who would act as gatekeepers for the reservation of space and equipment, assess any charges due for that, prepare a directory of student clubs, and maintain a mail drop for them. A campus can get along quite well without a student government, so these annoying institutions should be abolished.
Birds of a feather flock together. Something wrong with that? It’s nature. That’s why we have black universities, black and Jewish fraternities, women’s lunches and stag parties. Not to mention political parties, churches and synagogues and stamp collecting clubs. Only white males are forbidden from free association.
Very good perspective in this comment.
Unfortunately, adolescent life is suffused with status competition. Fraternities and sororities are the residue of that among youths who are of an age to be wading into the world of work. The people who lose out in (commonly inane) adolescent status competition are insisting that adult authority inhibit the winners from associating with each other. They ought to do what we did 30 odd years ago: develop your own circle of friends and your own interests and get on with life.
Politics among late adolescent and post adolescent populations is almost always silly if not disgusting. When you are 20 years old, you are still learning and you should have the disposition of someone who is still learning. And that’s to say you should be listening much more than you are talking.
There is no “Greek” aspect other than Greek frat or soriety names. Many frats encourage entry of minorities. Fifty years ago my frat brought in an African American guy. It was good for him and good for the rest of us.
Liberty2nd – all fraternities and sororities are integrated. It is just some people get b**thurt when they don’t get selected and they want to tear down the system.
Inclusion/exclusion systems that create an “elite” membership are always open to abuse by the unscrupulous and can foster unethical behaviour patterns.
https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/vile-bodies-mutual-secrets-mutual-blackmail/
I’m okay with abolishing sororities and fraternities. I think groups are weird – but I’m absolutely AGAINST giving lunatics possessed by Left-wing ideology anything at all that they want.
I could not agree with them more. Greek life should be abolished because they never invited me to join. BTW, aren’t there black fraternities and sororities? I was in Las Vegas several years back and the major black sororities were having their national convention. Boy, howdy, they can throw a convention. 🙂
Paul– Years ago I was in Chicago staying at the Palmer House. The National Bar Association was having its annual convention. They too know how to throw a convention and it does not include sleep.
Ironically, Northwestern University’s black students have “For Members Only”, a black student organization. A recent announcement on its facebook page from June 18 said, “Tomorrow’s class of 2020 commencement falls on Juneteenth, a holiday honoring the emancipation of slaves and serves as a reminder of the ongoing anti-Black colonial project that is the United States… Join us as we celebrate Juneteenth and disrupt graduation” Two things about this statement bother me. First, blacks at Northwestern are only 6% of the student population and yet, these people are so full of themselves they feel entitled to disrupt the commencement ceremonies for the other 94% for whom this day was incredibly special. Second, they despise this country even though it afforded them opportunities that most of the world will never know. And, of course, they are demanding that campus police be disbanded. There was a time when such mindless selfishness was considered a bad thing. Not so much anymore.
Thomas Sowell has remarked that many do not recognize a reality that parents with common sense recognize: the disposition and behavior of a particular subject is influenced by how people react to them. Institutional authority in higher education gives blacks positive feedback for displays of self-centeredness, narcissism and megalomania, so you get more of these things.
honestlawyer – well, the key to any good party is lack of sleep. 😉