#BamaRush, Explained

August 18, 2021 4:12 PM

Panhellenic organizations discourage freshmen from sharing specifics on social media about their recruitment experience ... but showing off outfits for rush is just fine. "So, what does it take to get into one of these sororities? It did not formally desegregate until 2013, after the student newspaper reported that Black freshmen were still being denied bids during that year’s recruitment process. Since then, diversity among the chapters has increased, though not by much ... another barrier to sorority membership at Bama (and many, many other schools) is cost."
posted by geoff. (32 comments total)

Panhellenism? I genuinely thought this was going to be about Greek nationalism...

... but maybe it is...
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:19 PM on August 18, 2021 [5 favorites]

Here you go: Bypass paywalls.
posted by geoff. at 4:20 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]

Just signing up for rush requires a $350 fee,

Burn it down. Burn it motherfucking down. Not only do they discriminate but they take $350 from those they discriminate against? Set it on fire, salt the Earth, and piss on the ashes.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 4:39 PM on August 18, 2021 [41 favorites]

The videos are worth checking out, for an anthropological view into a different world if nothing else. I've been around frats and sororities very tangentially, but never in the south.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:21 PM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

I highly recommend anyone interested in how these societies are directly responsible for class inequality in the US reads the wonderful ethnography Paying for the Party. It is indeed a very well written and eye-opening anthropological (or sociological) view into this world.
posted by EllaEm at 5:47 PM on August 18, 2021 [14 favorites]

I went to Ole Miss, which is the Greekest of the Greek Southern colleges. My brother is KA. I'm what they called "an independent" - which meant I was just like every other student who did not join a pledge. Burn it all down. The racism, the sexual assault, the entitlement, the physical abuse. Burn it all down.
posted by gwydapllew at 6:07 PM on August 18, 2021 [9 favorites]

Greek life at big Southern state schools is a whole 'nother planet. At least where I went to school, I was able to join a rent and beer co-op without coughing up $350 just to rush!
posted by Hollywood Upstairs Medical College at 7:11 PM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

The only meaningful justification I've seen for these clubs' continued existence is that they give their membership access to secret influence networks in the business and political world. Or in other words, rank corruption.
posted by 1adam12 at 2:35 AM on August 19, 2021 [10 favorites]

Panhellenism? I genuinely thought this was going to be about Greek nationalism...

Tell me about it - this is super annoying if you're actually Greek; confusing and embarrassing at the same time.
posted by each day we work at 3:54 AM on August 19, 2021 [8 favorites]

I watched a few more of these and it took me a sec to realize that they were saying "bid day." Not "bidet."
posted by HotToddy at 4:17 AM on August 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I watched a few more of these and it took me a sec to realize that they were saying "bid day." Not "bidet."
posted by HotToddy at 7:17 AM on August 19 [+] [!]

Something Ironic there.

posted by JPD at 4:19 AM on August 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

My alma mater (not in the south) had a strong Greek presence but one thing I appreciated was that rush was at the beginning of second semester, not in the fall. I believe the intent was that they wanted folks to try making friends and establishing social circles first, or at least get a better sense of campus life before signing away your next four years to be with the same group of people the entire time. If you have to have sororities and fraternities, I thought this was a good approach. That said, no thank you. The stories/rumors about the hazing and watching my roommate go through getting rejected by her top choices were so awful.
posted by misskaz at 4:54 AM on August 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

I went to college in the SEC (UGA, '93). Greek life was definitely there but the student body was so huge that while it sure looked Super Important to the folks who were involved, it was largely inconsequential (or just plain dumb) for the other 30,000 of us.

And to hell with the Tide.
posted by jquinby at 5:15 AM on August 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

Here's why the NYT is writing about Bama rush - Vox.com - Bama sorority recruitment has taken over TikTok.
posted by soundguy99 at 5:51 AM on August 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

(NYT) 7. Why did Makayla get dropped from every sorority despite being the undisputed queen of Bama Rush TikTok?

Please, someone write this. We deserve the truth!

If there's someone inside the sorority doing checks on the girls' clothing and appearance there almost certainly is someone digging up the social media history of the candidates and figuring out which ones are going to be a liability in the years ahead.

Tik Tok seems to be a realllllly sharp double-edged sword.
posted by JoeZydeco at 6:18 AM on August 19, 2021

Worth checking out the documentary Bama Girl, about a young black woman going up against the Greek System and "The Machine" at the University of Alabama.
posted by jca at 6:18 AM on August 19, 2021

My father grew up very poor during the Depression and remembered with shame being asked if he was interested in a fraternity and how he responded by asking how much it cost, saying he had $5. I think he would have been so happy if I had pledged a sorority - I think he would have really felt like he'd made it - but when I started college in the 70s, it was pretty much the most uncool thing you could do. Plus his experience and that of an aunt who tried to pledge made me feel like fuck these people, which is pretty much how I feel now.

And don't get me started on pledges as students. When I was teaching, one student missed an exam because his fraternity brothers tied him up. He was shocked when I wouldn't let him make it up. (And maybe I should have figured something out for him - I'm still not sure I handled that the best way.)
posted by FencingGal at 6:19 AM on August 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Why did Makayla get dropped from every sorority despite being the undisputed queen of Bama Rush TikTok?

It should be noted that Makayla identifies as biracial and clearly is one, if not the only, person of color featured in the #bamarush tiktok phenomena. Worst yet, she was denied by every sorority for a video that show her allegedly drunk and mooning the camera (which she denies is and is now removed).

The best commentary I saw, emphasized that the top sororities likely know who will be admitted long before anyone even sets foot in the door: they take dressage lessons together, they went to summer camps together and knew the social mores of the societies. They wouldn't have photos or videos appear of them drinking because everyone at the right parties were also aware they needed to constantly be on their behavior in social media well into high school. This is how classism is perpetuated, they certainly partook in the same behavior as Makayla... no one is denying that... they just had a social group that was aware they could not get caught. Or better yet, couldn't get caught where it was illegal. Drinking on cruise ships or the Carribean is usually fine.

It is sad and a bit over the top that your college experience can largely be defined by the 2 year period before you set foot on a campus.
posted by geoff. at 10:10 AM on August 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

My experience in a lot of these conversations about Greek life is that it's very easy to explain away a lot of the issues by the type of school that these fraternities and sororities are a part of. I went to MIT for college, and people would always say that Greek life was different there, because it was MIT and somehow MIT was above issues that Greek life had at state schools. But things like diversity, classism, racism, sexism, were all problems in Greek life at MIT also. There's a lot to say about this, and I don't really have the expertise given that I never joined a fraternity myself. But when the entire men's water polo team joins the same frat, at the very least you are selecting for kids who played water polo in high school.

I personally suspect that a lot of issues with Greek life can be explained by the way recruitment and rush work. As much as people like to say that we make similar decisions in the real world when making friends, there are a lot of differences. In the real world, we tend to get to know people over time, rather than over a week. And more importantly, in the real world, we do not have hours-long meetings with our other friends judging the people we meet amongst ourselves to decide if we should be friends with them or not. We make decisions about who we should be friends with mostly independently.
posted by chernoffhoeffding at 10:28 AM on August 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

In college, I remember asking friends in the LGBTQ frat and the chemistry frat why in the world they'd want to be members of such a creepy and strange tradition. As I recall, the answer was, basically, "it's the cheapest place to live next to campus that isn't awful." (And, to be fair, the people were nice and the meals I had there were really good.)

I'd vote for not burning them to the ground. Instead, remove all university benefits and city subsidies and turn them into transparently run co-ops when they go bankrupt. Maybe burn a few to the ground just so we can make smores.
posted by eotvos at 11:02 AM on August 19, 2021 [3 favorites]

The Greek system is also *heavily* subsidized by UA. Fraternities and sororities get low-interest loans from the university to build massive houses on extremely valuable land for only nominal rent, and on top of that get paid out of activity funds charged to every student, so folks who can afford ~$13,000/yr to join a social club are supported by everyone else who is excluded.

And Bid Day is quite a spectacle: all the PNMs gather at Bryant-Denny stadium and then run en masse to their new houses. (Though it looks like they've relaxed the dress code over the past few years,)
posted by fogovonslack at 12:05 PM on August 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

i went to a small midwest liberal arts college. i had a very rough first semester and didn't really have any friends. at the beginning of second semester i was open bid to one of the lamer sororities. i was so excited! people wanted to be my friends! my mom gave me the $250ish fee and i was in. the sorority houses weren't dorms, we couldn't live there. they were just literal like one-family houses that we could use for meetings. the meetings were exhausting and stupid and so fraught for no reason. for the induction ceremony i had to go buy a floor length white skirt because we all had to wear white (why i have no idea. virginity signalling or something?). the meetings got in the way of my homework. i dropped out over the summer and then none of them talked to me ever again (almost literally). still pissed about wasting my mom's money like that.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:23 PM on August 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

In college, I remember asking friends in the LGBTQ frat and the chemistry frat why in the world they'd want to be members of such a creepy and strange tradition.

I really don't think that the LGBTQ frat and the chemistry frat are part of the same phenomenon as the mainstream, white fraternity and sororities. Historically Black frats and sororities have their own issues, but they're also really, really different from the Greek organizations we're discussing here.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 2:30 PM on August 19, 2021 [2 favorites]

Something Ironic there.

posted by JPD at 4:19 AM on August 19 [3 favorites +] [!]

Feeling sympathy for all the (literal) Karens of the world . . .
posted by HotToddy at 3:20 PM on August 19, 2021

Related somehow, and also to the room-makeover horrorshows a few threads ahead: the dorm decor industry. (Vox article.)

Kills me about the dorm decor in a box, paid for by parents: it's sold as new adulthood and self-expression, but the more it's chosen by influencers and paid for separately, the less autonomy it can actually provide. Creepy.
posted by clew at 4:30 PM on August 19, 2021

Today is my 30th anniversary (sadly I'm 2000 miles from home on a work trip). I met my wife on a blind date set up by a fraternity brother so excuse me if I don't harbor the hate the rest of Mefi does. I had a lot of fun living in a dumpy run down fraternity house for 3 years with a bunch of friends and a lot of those guys are still my good friends today. Also greek life in the SEC seems like a different world. Nobody at my large Midwest school ever took it that seriously. I'm still involved on the alumni board and nobody is taking it that seriously today either.
posted by COD at 9:49 PM on August 19, 2021 [1 favorite]

Having fun living in a dumpy house with people who remain your friends decades later isn’t due to the Greek system though. I assure you it happens without frat/sororal oversight. The rushing, afaik, doesn’t.
posted by clew at 10:13 PM on August 19, 2021 [4 favorites]

Nobody at my large Midwest school ever took it that seriously. I'm still involved on the alumni board and nobody is taking it that seriously today either.

I went to a large Midwestern university and I can assure you that Greek life was taken INCREDIBLY seriously there and it took years of substantiated sexual assaults and near-death hazing incidents to get just one frat disbanded. And nearly all of them were guilty. And when a Black woman was pledged into an "elite" sorority, it actually made the newspaper. Because she was the first. In 1990.
posted by cooker girl at 9:27 AM on August 20, 2021 [1 favorite]

I grew up going to a Greek Orthodox church, and a lot of the references to "Greek life" continue to baffle me before I realise it's about frat boys etc.

I think the article owes it to us to footnote and disambiguate its nonstandard use of the word "Greek" in that article before continuing on. Especially since it shows up in the "In case you aren't familiar..." paragraph.

Also it's worth noting that ethnic Greeks were almost universally banned from these organisations until shockingly recently.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:20 AM on August 21, 2021 [2 favorites]

That makes the arrogation of "Panhellenic " just extra triple salted infuriating, rum-soaked space hobo.
posted by clew at 12:16 PM on August 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Having fun living in a dumpy house

We weren’t watching the same videos, because the houses I saw looked nicer than most hotels I’ve stayed in. Example
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:29 PM on August 21, 2021

That’s at "Bama", which is extreme and proud of it within the US frat/sor system; COD was fairly pointing out that parts of the system are way less luxurious.
posted by clew at 10:24 AM on August 22, 2021