The University of Louisville is still considered one of the most diverse colleges in Kentucky and is the number one for LGBT students in the South. It seems like everything is how it should be.
Except it's not.
I believe the University of Louisville and most other universities and colleges are breeding grounds for some of the most intense race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity discrimination. It's not necessarily in the classroom, in the quad, or at Red Barn events.
It's in Greek life.
The structure of UofL's Greek life is segregated. There are three separate Greek mega associations whose members are the individual sororities and fraternities: Panhellenic Council (sororities), Interfraternity Council (fraternities) and National Pan-Hellenic Council (fraternities and sororities). It seems innocuous, right?
Wrong.
If you take a closer look at which fraternities and sororities are members of these three mega organizations, the racial divide becomes startlingly clear. For the most part, majoritarian white-member sororities make up Panhellenic Council. Majoritarian white-member fraternities make up the Interfraternity Council. Majoritarian black-member fraternities and sororities make up National Pan-Hellenic Council.
And of course, I can already hear someone shouting at the top of their lungs, "But we have minorities in my sorority/fraternity! We aren't racist!"
Newsflash: Having a few students in your organization of a minority race, sexual orientation, or gender identity doesn't clear you from discrimination accusations. It didn't work for Mississippi, and it won't work for you.
Make no mistake: This isn't explicit racism, where these Greek organizations say to a minority, "You aren't welcome here." This is a modern manifestation of implicit racism and not enough people protest it. Implicit racism is similar to structural racism where the culture of an organization and its people discourage minority participation.
How can you tell this exists?
In your average Interfraternity Council fraternity, how many African-American males would you see on the active list? At UofL, it's most likely a single-digit number. That is no way representative of the campus as a whole. The same goes for National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternity or sorority. How many white males/females would you see on the roster? Here's a better question yet: How many minorities do you see going to Rush in the first place?
And that's just the issue of race. Greek life is still wildly unaccepting of queer identities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer, questioning, asexual, pansexual). This is something that would be incredibly difficult to change in organizations that are separated by male and female and are mostly of one race. In fact, those who have a queer identity in Greek organizations often do not feel comfortable being themselves because of the Greek life environment that increasingly mandates the suppression of other identities other than one race, one sexual orientation, and of a certain gender.
The main issue here is of space. Space in this sense is a social sphere with certain guidelines one must ascribe to in order to occupy it. In Greek life, it would seem each sorority or fraternity's space would be solely defined as one gender and a desire to belong to a supportive group. However spaces unfortunately are much more strict for Greek organizations, implicitly incorporating requirements of race, politics, drug use, views on women, etc and often they vary from one to another.
Interestingly enough, the University of Louisville and the Student Government Association requires all organizations that are registered with the university to have this clause in their governing documents:
The membership of this organization shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, gender or gender expression, religion, age, nationality, political affiliation, sexual orientation or affectation, military status, or physical, mental or emotional disability, except as provided by federal law.
How many Greek organizations actually follow this rule? This brings into question the legitimacy of such organizations. If their "governing" documents are required to have this policy, and the organization acts against it, have they actually filled their true governing documents with the university? What is governing Greek life?
It's incredibly upsetting that in Greek life, which is already a minority on campus (less than 1/3 of UofL students are in Greek life), is a powerhouse of discrimination for other minorities on campus.
So much for brotherhood and sisterhood.
