Monday, October 6th, 2008

The Greek Divide

Kelsey Schepmann studies the history hanging on the walls of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority house. She pays close attention to a 1915 photo of the founding women, 21 of them, in lace dresses and hair in neatly tied buns.

By Louis Mora (Contact)

Monday, December 5th, 2005

Kelsey Schepmann studies the history hanging on the walls of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority house. She pays close attention to a 1915 photo of the founding women, 21 of them, in lace dresses and hair in neatly tied buns.

She circles the rows of composites lining the study room.

Row after row of fair-skinned women pass her by until she reaches the corner of the room where one face stands out among 151 women. It’s Schepmann, the only African-American member in the chapter. The realization causes her to laugh without a smile.

“We are all of the human race. What’s going on?” she asked. “We have come so far but we don’t have diversity?”

Forty years after the University of Kansas’ traditional greek organizations removed clauses from their constitutions preventing African-American membership, University fraternities and sororities remain more than 99 percent white. Schepmann is one of only 13 African Americans among the 3,000 members of traditional greek chapters.

The student body of 26,934 has 912 African Americans or about 3.4 percent. The Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic organizations have 32 fraternities and sororities, and 22 have no black members.

While the organizations’ once racially exclusive histories still make it difficult to recruit African Americans, other factors, including the cultural and economic divide, have created barriers. High costs and houses dominated by whites have African Americans looking elsewhere for housing. Traditional greek members hail from upper- to middle-class, suburban white backgrounds while African Americans are associated with an urban, working class culture. These differences have fostered stereotypes about both sides.

The cultural divide

When Jeisun Lawson, Overland Park junior, hits the Lawrence nightlife with his black friends he doesn’t worry about what he says or how he acts. He can let loose to the R&B; and rap beats of artists such as Kanye West, Dr.Dre and Twista.

But when he goes home to the Theta Chi house, where he’s the only African-American member, his demeanor becomes introverted.

The free-spirited personality he demonstrates with brothers from his own culture is shed. He can’t slip into his Ebonics vocabulary when he’s around men from the chapter, he said.

“When I’m around a majority of whites I have to keep my guard up and have to watch what I say,” he said.

Lawson said the decision to join an IFC fraternity or one of the black fraternities of the National Pan-Hellenic Council was the toughest decision he’s made and one he now regrets. He has decided to leave Theta Chi to join a black fraternity.

The language of Ebonics, which he uses with black friends and which dominates songs he listens to, is difficult for his white fraternity bothers to comprehend, he said.

He said Theta Chi provided a sense of brotherhood, but in NPHC fraternities brotherhood runs deeper than just a group of friends; it’s a bond shared through common culture.

He said if there were another African American in his chapter he would have reconsidered, but with no one to connect with culturally, living in the house was difficult.

“It’s like going away to a place you’ve never been and you’re kind of homesick,” he said.

Emi Erekosima, Rosehill freshman and the only African-American member of Alpha Delta Pi, recalls similar feelings of displacement when sorority members reacted to her skin color during open recruitment.

When introduced at one of the houses, she said her skin color triggered this response from a member: “My best friend is black.”

Later, when they were going out for dessert, a member asked, “Are you going to eat vanilla? I heard all black people eat vanilla.”

“I felt I was going to be the token,” she said about that chapter.

She said at Alpha Delta Pi she wasn’t treated differently, but after she joined, her black friends started to tease her about being the only black in the house.

Friends upset her when they called her an “Oreo” because of her involvement in a “white” sorority.

Erekosima said she has not forgotten her ethnic roots. She is a member of the Black Student Union and said she doesn’t have to talk or act a certain way to be considered black.

“If they could just see past the whole idea, ‘I have to act this way because I have to be black,’ I think they might join a fraternity or sorority,” she said.

Sampson Yimer, Lawrence junior and the only African-American member of Sigma Chi, said the lack of diversity stems from vastly different cultures rather than skin color.

Yimer recalls being asked by a white woman, “Well, why didn’t you join a black fraternity?” His answer: Why do we expect all blacks to fit into a socially constructed box by joining members of their own ethnic culture?

“Regardless of color of skin, if everybody acted the same there wouldn’t be these racial hatreds,” he said. “It’s the difference in culture that breeds racial hatred.”

The battle of urban vs. suburban

Freshmen dues for sorority members range from $1,016 to $2,443. Living in the house sophomore and junior years can cost anywhere from $4,600 to $7,300. The cost is far greater than dues of the historically black NPHC sororities and fraternities where members pay only $100 to $200 for dues.

The five historically black chapters at the University are much smaller, don’t have lavish, pillared houses like the traditional greeks and hold meetings in the Kansas Union.

Christina Strubbe, Leawood senior and 2005 Panhellenic president, said the lack of African Americans could be the result of the “ridiculous fees” traditional greeks paid.

Erekosima said if cost deters African Americans from joining a sorority, it shouldn’t.

She said scholarships and financial assistance are available. She said members weren’t punished for missing a payment and would not be kicked out even if they did.

“People look at the book price and don’t see what they are gaining from it,” she said.

Strubbe said the absence of African Americans has as much to do with a clash of urban and suburban culture as it does economics. She said a majority of sorority members are from areas like Johnson County and North Shore Chicago, which are heavily populated by affluent whites.

Erekosima said one’s background plays a role. Coming from Rosehill, where there were only three African Americans in her high school, made her feel comfortable with a group of white women who came from the same background.

“I haven’t met anybody who’s from the ghetto,” she said.

Scarred by the past

Laura Bauer, the University’s program director for fraternity and sorority life, said the chapters still face the problems of their racist past.

She said they’ve made strides, but admitted, “Historically, there is an uphill battle. They don’t have a glowing history.”

The constitution of Sigma Chi fraternity in 1959 read, “No person shall be eligible to membership in the Sigma Chi fraternity who is not a bona fide white male student in the college or university in which the chapter proposing his initiation is charted.” These clauses existed in other greek houses, prohibiting black membership.

Exclusion of blacks caused then-Chancellor W. Clarke Wescoe to issue a statement on July 1, 1962, asking for the removal of discriminatory clauses.

The last clause was removed nearly three years later when Sigma Nu fraternity received a waiver from its national council to eliminate the white only rule on March 4, 1965.

The words had been removed, but discriminatory practices remained through blackballing tactics that included negative letters of recommendation from white alumni for black pledges and a voting system where one “no” vote eliminated a potential member.

On March 8, 1965, the segregation problem boiled over when more than 150 students from the Civil Rights Council conducted a sit-in at the chancellor’s office, protesting the practices of fraternities and sororities along with other civil rights issues.

The council asked Wescoe to reassure African-American students that the sororities and fraternities no longer practiced racial discrimination by providing a signed statement from the chapters.

The Kansas Board of Regents put an official stop to segregation practices on Sept. 27, 1965. It established a policy eliminating discrimination in all fraternities and sororities at the six Kansas colleges.

That racist history is still remembered by the African-American community. Erekosima’s black friends reminded her about the problems they felt still existed.

When she joined, her black friends warned her that sororities wouldn’t let her in, because they select only a few “token” minorities, or that alumni wouldn’t approve her membership. But she was invited and joined.

Misunderstandings and insensitivities still exist she said. She said this year’s Delta Delta Delta bid day shirt reflected those insensitivies. It featured the Dukes of Hazzard theme with the unmistakable stars and bars of the Confederate flag.

“It’s a symbol of racism. It’s rude,” she said. “They didn’t think before they made the shirt.”

She said they were oblivious to racial issues and should be more sensitive.

Who do you know?

With greek members coming from suburban areas that lack diversity, the problem only continues as chapters recruit the people they know.

The fraternities conduct their formal recruitment in the summer. Scott Shorten, Stillwell senior and 2005 IFC president, said all incoming freshmen receive information but recruits usually have a connection with a chapter, whether through friends or family.

“There’s an incentive to get the members who are the easiest to get,” he said.

Chapters needed to go beyond normal recruiting methods and pursue a diverse group by finding ways to pique their interest, Bauer said.

“It’s a fear of the unknown,” she said. “It’s having the guts to step out of the box.”

Richard Young, Overland Park junior and 2005 IFC vice president for recruitment, said informational programs could generate interest from African Americans.

He said better informing African Americans so they wouldn’t feel like outsiders could help, but ultimately the decision to join was on their shoulders.

“I don’t want to force a minority to join an IFC chapter if they don’t want to, just so we can better our situation,” he said.

Yimer, Sigma Chi member, said blacks shouldn’t blame the greek system because the opportunity to join exists for everyone. He said blacks have to become more open-minded and make an effort to join the organizations.

Strubbe said it was difficult to recruit African Americans because they gravitated toward organizations that fit their culture and values.

She said an African-American woman joined her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, this year, which excited her but opened her eyes to the issue.

“Is it exciting that we have an African American in our chapter or is it disappointing that we are excited?” she said. “I’m excited to get some diversity in our chapter, but it shouldn’t be that way.”

Black members said attracting more diversity could be as simple as discussing the topic of race, which Yimer said was considered “taboo.” When people can’t discuss the issue, it only continues misconceptions, he said.

“It’s something that we shouldn’t shy away from,” he said. “We should confront the issue head on.”

Strubbe said diversity or race issues were not a focus for sororities and were seldom discussed. Efforts being made by both councils to work with NPHC could help to resolve problems, she said.

Strubbe said that having traditional greeks participating in NPHC’s step show last year and having its members involved in this year’s Greek Endeavor, a retreat for incoming freshmen in the greek organizations, has provided exposure to cultural differences.

“We are just trying to get it,” she said. “Maybe we don’t have a huge number of African Americans within our own council, but at least we are trying to learn more about their organization and why their culture is so important to them.”

Schepmann turns away from the sea of white faces staring back at her from the walls. She talks about stepping up and erasing the divide between races that has existed far too long.

She said she would like to pursue a role in the Panhellenic community that would allow her to share her message with other African-American women so she could one day return to the study room of Gamma Phi Beta to find more faces that look like her.

“If people work hard and people are genuine, it will change,” she said. “It’s not going to be easy but with enough will-power, it could.”

— Edited by Anne Burgard

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