Community Chat

[Jordan2]

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@DiAnne wrote:

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@Shanus wrote:

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@DiAnne wrote:

I am sure many girls who do not have Downs syndrome are excluded.  They can only take a limited amount of girls.

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@DiAnne  Yep, that’s the excuse or reason they use to turn you down. Then after some research, in the 60’s when I was in school, I found this southern sorority had NEVER admitted a Jewish girl. Exclusivity? BS. I call it prejudice. 

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Some how that does not suprise me.  

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It was Groucho Marx (Jewish) who once sent a wire stating, "Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member".

[Shanus]

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@RainCityWoman wrote:

We had a Jewish girl in my sorority, but there are also all Jewish sororities and frats. Since the membership ceremony is based entirely on Christian symbols and beliefs, at least in my sorority,  I always found it curious that a Jewish person would want to go through a Christian type ceremony. However, I explained earlier how sororities came about in the first place: to keep birds of a feather together.

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@RainCityWoman  By the time my kids went to college, there were no Jewish only sororities or fraternities. I know of no exclusively now, either. Some of them accepted Jewish kids and those were the ones they pledged. I attended a 2 yr. Southern Baptist junior college before my 4 year degree at a university. There was mandatory Christian chapel services once a week. I was one of only 3-5 Jewish students. I viewed the chapel hour as an educational experience to learn about another religion (s). 

In a time where people are separated by race, religion, country of origin, how sad that as part of a college education, kids are taught this bias. How will we ever overcome this if it’s allowed to continue?

[Shanus]

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@RainCityWoman wrote:

We had a Jewish girl in my sorority, but there are also all Jewish sororities and frats. Since the membership ceremony is based entirely on Christian symbols and beliefs, at least in my sorority,  I always found it curious that a Jewish person would want to go through a Christian type ceremony. However, I explained earlier how sororities came about in the first place: to keep birds of a feather together.

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@RainCityWoman  Birds of a feather? Really? What antiquated thoughts and beliefs. Strange that they’re referred to as Greeks (yes because of their names), but I’m sure a Greek student may not be accepted either. That stinks!

[Shanus]

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@Kalli wrote:

Reading this thread reminded me of something that happened 10 years ago.  Our local university sent a challenged student to my employer for experience.  Quickly it became apparent this placement wasn’t going to work as she couldn’t perform the job expected of her. Her supervisor had to inform her of this and remove her from the training program.

At the time I thought the university had done her a huge disservice as she’d been in that program for 3 years, preparing for a career into which she’d never be admitted.  I wondered how she’d passed all the prerequisite courses? Had her parents paid for her years of college truly thinking their daughter would be able to get her degree in this field? Did she understand why she’d been removed?

It seemed to me that she’d been treated unfairly and had been mislead. Jmho

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@Kalli  No. Everyone should be a fair shot to succeed. If she wasn’t right for the job, so be it, but her resume should and was accepted to gain experience. You said “quickly it became apparent”....Was she given as much time as other new employees to learn the job expections or the decision made early on based on some bias?

[CrazyDaisy]

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@Shanus wrote:

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@DiAnne wrote:

I am sure many girls who do not have Downs syndrome are excluded.  They can only take a limited amount of girls.

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@DiAnne  Yep, that’s the excuse or reason they use to turn you down. Then after some research, in the 60’s when I was in school, I found this southern sorority had NEVER admitted a Jewish girl. Exclusivity? BS. I call it prejudice. 

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A lot has changed in the last 50 years concerning acceptance. However to this day there are still active sororities that are race exclusive and everyone seems ok with that.

[reiki604]

I find it incredibly telling and sad that in 2018 people are still rationalizing, intellectualizing. and excusing discrimination. Somehow tho, it doesn't surprise me and that is the saddest thing of all.

[occasionalrain]

We are all free to choose those with whom we wish to socialize and shouldn't be faulted or labeled if we prefer some and not others. 

College is meant to benefit one's future career. Membership in fraternities/sororities provides a network and often gives preference when applying for a job.

[gidgetgh]

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@PamfromCT wrote:

No one in our entire family ever had any interest in joining "Greek life."  DIfferent generations, but a concept that we are not happy with.  The college experience should be an opportunity to expand your social horizons by meeting and befriending all groups of people.  For many, the first time they might have been exposed to people very unlike themselves.  What a missed opportunity.  To me, at least, Greeks reflect another bygone era.

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@PamfromCT- you think that people in a sorority or fraternity don’t “befriend all groups of people”???  Nothing could be further than the truth. 

Speaking just for me of course, but I had friends in the Greek system, friends in the dorm and from class who weren’t in sororities and fraternities. Some were in different clubs, some were in no clubs at all. I don’t agree with your comment at all and I speak from experience. 

[RainCityWoman]

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@Shanus wrote:

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@RainCityWoman wrote:

We had a Jewish girl in my sorority, but there are also all Jewish sororities and frats. Since the membership ceremony is based entirely on Christian symbols and beliefs, at least in my sorority,  I always found it curious that a Jewish person would want to go through a Christian type ceremony. However, I explained earlier how sororities came about in the first place: to keep birds of a feather together.

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@RainCityWoman  Birds of a feather? Really? What antiquated thoughts and beliefs. Strange that they’re referred to as Greeks (yes because of their names), but I’m sure a Greek student may not be accepted either. That stinks!

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I was trying to be as subtle as I could in describing the situation and the original reasons for the Greek system at colleges. If you look at my other post, I go into more detail, but can't really spell it completely out because of the nature of this chat board. Actually, we had an actual Greek in my sorority, if I'm not mistaken as well. The council governing the system is called the Panhellenic Council. Hellenic refers to Greek, and yes, sororities and frats are referred to as Greeks as opposed to Independents.  The Greek Jewish ones on my campus were Alpha Epsilon Pi, Sigma Alpha Mu, and Zeta Beta Tau. At that point in time, they were kosher and practiced rituals of Judaism within their houses.  The antiquated beliefs you referred to began as an extention of society in specific areas of the country. The system has probably gone through many reincarnations but is probably based on some of the same tenets that it was in the beginning. Antiquated thinking is not exclusive to the college Greek system. We are witnessing that in real time every single day.

[RainCityWoman]

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@DiAnne wrote:

I am sure many girls who do not have Downs syndrome are excluded.  They can only take a limited amount of girls.

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That is true. Just because a person goes through rush, she isn't guaranteed a sorority to pledge. And it DOES stand to reason that there is only so much room in a house. The average number of new pledges per sorority is  20 to 30. There are hundreds who go through rush. 

Quite often girls who live in town and attend the university pledge, but do not live in the house or if they do, they only live there when someone leaves for a while.