The Greek system: a critique from a fellow Greek

I attend a tiny college in the great state of Alabama, just 45 minutes up the road from the storied University of Alabama.  Certainly, 15 national football championships are enough to make any university a legend.  Yet, football is not what is garnering the University of Alabama its most recent attention from the outside world.

At the beginning of the fall 2013 semester, as Greek letter organizations geared-up to decide who (and who wouldn’t) join their ranks at colleges and universities all across the country, I’m confident the common refrain came from the peanut gallery:  “Sororities and fraternities are not inclusive!”  This has become so expected that when I heard the first rumblings about the recent issues at Alabama, I did not bat an eye.  It was, I thought, the tired refrain of non-Greeks critiquing a system they do not understand, nor care to.  Then, I quickly realized the media—from  local outlets all the way up the national chain —was voraciously latching-on to this story because it was about race.  From magazines to televised news , the attention was laser-focused on demanding racial justice.   It was obvious this wasn’t the annual, garden-variety critique of the college Greek rush system.

Is it wrong for sororities and fraternities to deny a bid  (invitation to join the organization) based only on someone’s race?  ABSOLUTELY.  It is never right to deny someone anything (from employment to membership and everything in between) based solely on the color of their skin.  But it is likewise never right to grant someone something based solely on the color of their skin. To do so reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the innate dignity of every human person.  By all accounts, the female student who was denied a bid at Alabama is a wonderful person.  Why isn’t the focus on that and not her skin color?

This recent (and continuing) story at the University of Alabama reveals our culture’s hyper-sensitivity to race, and the exact opposite effect is taking place.  Now, if a rushee is non-white, those within Greek organizations are frightened to deny a bid solely because the rushee is non-white.

Martin Luther King, Jr., said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Both denying and granting a sorority or fraternity bid to someone because of their skin color is wrong because it destroys the level playing field.    Let’s honor Dr. King’s words and restore a meritocracy.  We are supposed to be color blind.  Let’s have a  world where people get what they deserve based on the content of their character.

Is that such a utopian thought?