A history lesson: UNC did not acknowledge ? its first historically African-American Greek organization until 1967, six years after the founding of the Black Student Movement.
In 1973, the Psi Delta chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., received its charter and initiated a trend that would include seven more of the “Divine Nine” Greek letter organizations governed by the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Despite boasting many distinguished alumni and successful member organizations, the NPHC has faced a disproportionate amount of prejudice from the UNC student body. That needs to stop now.
Greeks of color deserve equal representation, not only in the campus media, but also in our campus consciousness. We attend one Carolina, and my being here is for my benefit — not for increasing the diversity of the student body for the benefit of white people.
Recently, The Daily Tar Heel published a front-page article about UNC’s sororities and their well-known Bid Day on Wednesday. It’s a celebration in which mostly white, sorority women-to-be, receive a bid or invitation to join one of the organizations of the NPC, or National Panhellenic Council. This is followed by a stampede of screams and stomping throughout the university campus.
Covering only these events doesn’t reflect UNC’s larger, more diverse greek system.
I cringe every time I hear blanket descriptions such as “UNC’s sororities” or “that multicultural fraternity,” because they do not accurately distinguish between the Greek councils. This whitewashed terminology tends to marginalize those not a part of the National Panhellenic Council or Interfraternity Council.
Regardless of its membership and governing body, a fraternity or sorority should be respected for its commitment to charity and personal growth. People of color do not hold a monopoly of involvement in the Black Student Movement, the NPHC, or the Greek Alliance Council.
These spaces are necessary in order to allow ideas to generate and to resist the normalization of whiteness, but these spaces are not meant to be devoid of white people. In my opinion, white people are afraid to venture outside of their own comfort zones and acknowledge their privilege in order to eradicate their ignorance.
