In a fantastic and depressing exposé, the Crimson White reports that at least four traditionally white sororities at the University of Alabama had their alumnae blatantly block two Black women from pledging this year, women that current sorority members had already targeted as prime candidates who they wanted to offer bids to.
The sororities mentioned in the article are Alpha Gamma Delta, Tri Delta, Chi Omega and Pi Beta Phi, four sororities part of a robust Greek life at UA that felt they were, in the words of Alpha Gamma Delta member Melanie Gotz, "powerless over the alums":
“People are too scared of what the repercussions are of maybe taking a Black girl,” Gotz said. “That’s stupid, but who’s going to be the one to make that jump? How much longer is it going to take till we have a Black girl in a sorority? It’s been years, and it hasn’t happened.”
Another unnamed member of Tri Delta agreed: “To my knowledge, the president and the rush chair and our rush advisors were behind this, and if we had been able to pledge her, it would’ve been an honor,” the Tri Delta member said. “However, our [alumnae] stepped in and went over us and had her dropped.” … “Not a lot of rushees get awesome scores,” the Tri Delta member said. “Sometimes sisters [of active members] don’t get that. [She] got excellent scores. The only thing that kept her back was the color of her skin in Tri Delt. She would have been a dog fight between all the sororities if she were White.”
