1993 Volume 116 No 1–4 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

Crossing color lines
Breaking through racial barriers is never easy for
an African-American going through rush, but for one Phi it proved
more difficult than he imagined BySheitonM. shepard
Diversity is a new buzzword in
the Greek commiinity these
days. The fact that minorities
are an ever-growing segment of the
student population has led to a
natural debate about ethnic sensitiv
ity and multiculturalism.
Whether they believe
in diversity as an
issue of survival or of
moraUty, mostGreeks
think that all they
must do to pledge minorities
is offer them a
bid. Butpledgingatraditionallywhitefraternity
is a compUcated
issue for minorities,
especially African-
Americans, as I discovered
when I went
through rush at North
Carolina State, a university
with a strong
Southem tradition.
As a young black
man from Selma, a
small, rural town in
North Carolina, I was
beginning what some
people say are the best
years of a person's life.
Like most freshmen,
the fear of being considered
a small fish in
a big pond caused
some anxiety for me,
but fortunately, I
made friends fairly quickly.
Because I was African-American, I
gave little consideration to joining
one of the many predominantly
white fraternities on campus. I had
always thought of myself as a
student leader, and 1 wanted to be
involved in campus organizations.
When the time came, I thought I
would seek membership into one of
the black fraternities on campus.
During those first days on campus
I heard many stories about parties,
hazing rituals, and other events at the
fraternities. The image did not appeal
to me, but, occasionally, 1 was invited
to attend parties at these fratenuties.
I refused the invitations, because the
groups were predominantly white.
The thought of being the only
minority in a fratemity made me
imcomfortable. Since the black
fraternities only recruited sophomores
and upperclassmen, I deferred
from participating in any rush
events.
At the beginning of my sophomore
year, I eventually reconsidered
and began going to events at the
white fraternities, because many of
the members were friends I had met
through my residence hall and
contacts through student organizations.
My friends encouraged me to
think about joirung, and I began to
reconsider. At the very least, I
Illustration by James R. Grove
thought, I should go through rush
and see for myseK what these groups
are about.
At the same time I participated in
several interest meetings of the
African-American fraternities on
campus. The process was very
different from fratemity rush.
Rushees had to prove themselves
worthy of membership tlirough a
personal interview process. The
78 TheScroU * Spring 1993