14 African-American students have accepted sorority bids at University of Alabama
theGRIO REPORT - The University of Alabama has made significant progress in increasing racial diversity within the school's Greek system, the university president Jody Bonner announced in a video last week...
The University of Alabama has made significant progress in increasing racial diversity within the school’s Greek system, the university president Jody Bonner announced in a video last week.
Bonner’s latest address delivered reassuring remarks on the university’s efforts to end desegregation within the predominately white sorority and fraternity organizations on campus, and so far the school has added a number of minority students to these groups.
“Every sorority has reached out to a diverse group of young women,” Bonner said in the video. “To date, 200 bids have been offered during the past few weeks. One hundred and 45 women have accepted those bids. Twenty-three are minorities, including 14 African-Americans.”
The progress report comes after the university’s Greek organizations were slammed by current sorority members for practicing discriminatory behavior, which were exposed in an article published in the school’s newspaper, The Crimson White.
The expose identified four traditionally white sororities who blocked two black girls from pledging, despite the recruits’ stellar academic records and family ties to the university.  This soon prompted a series of campus protests and the story soon received national attention.
Shortly after, Bonner addressed the public in a video and in her latest appearance, she announced a continuous open bidding process – which according to Alabama.com, allows sororities to offer bids to new members following the formal recruitment phase.
“It is important to note that now 12 of our sororities have African-American members and all sororities have minority members,” Bonner said. “You can be assured that the Office of Greek Affairs will continue to work with both local chapters and national organizations to provide support for all members.”
Despite the progress that has been made, Bonner made it clear that the university is far from reaching it’s final goal.
“Let me be clear: We have not reached out destination, but we are moving forward with resolve, energy and enthusiasm,” she said. “We are determined. We are focused. We will succeed in creating and maintaining a welcoming and inclusive campus that is defined by access and opportunity.”
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