Beyond Rugby Road The Lowdown on Historically Black Sororities by Kristine O'Brien Before spring break, the Cavalier Daily ran a rash of articles about the whiteness of Rugby Road. "Is Rugby Road a comfortable atmosphere for black students?" the CD wondered. "Segregate Now, Pay Later," headlines hollered, and various writers addressed the need for the "integration" of Rugby. I kept asking myself, "Of all the places to make more socially diverse, why Rugby? Why encourage even more people to get ripped and pass out on a beer-slimed floor?" It is, I suppose, a nice gesture to want more African-Americans involved in white fraternity and sorority culture. But in the rush to make Rugby more multicultural, has anyone bothered to find out more about the black fraternities and sororities that are already a part of the greek system here? African-Americans may be absent from many Rugby Road parties, but they are not absent from U.Va.'s greek system. There are four black sororities here: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho, and Zeta Phi Beta. The four fraternities are inactive but expected to return soon. The eight sororities and fraternities are part of the Black Fraternal Council, which separated from IFC/ISC several years ago because they felt that the historically white organization did not address their concerns. There is no Black Sorority Council; there is such a long history of cooperation between the sororities and fraternities that no one sees a real need for separate councils. Stop for a second: what do you know about the black sororities at U.Va.? I knew very little about the subject before beginning this article. The first question I asked was, "Do I say 'black sorority,' or is that politically incorrect?" Shannon Pierce of Delta Sigma Theta explains that it is more correct to say "historically black sororities," but "black sororities" is perfectly fine. Although the four sororities were originally founded by African-American women in the early 1900's, nowadays there are numerous white and Latino members, especially in the New York City area. Black sororities are not racially exclusive; any woman is welcome to join if she shares the philosophy of service and sisterhood. But at U.Va., there are currently no white members in the historically black sororities. "At other schools, the sororities are more diverse than at U.Va," says Malica Ahmad, historian of Zeta Phi Beta. "But," she adds, "why is diversity limited to race? We are a diverse group of black women." Service vs. Social Many people, if they know anything about black sororities, know about step shows, which are dazzling displays of dance and rhythm that take months of work to perfect. But stepping is only the most public aspect of what the sororities do. "Stepping is great, but it's not all that we do. It's not the focus," says Ahmad. Kelly Lemon, president of Delta Sigma Theta, agrees: "We plaster fliers for our community service programs, but people are always asking, "When's the next step show?" The focus is service, and it has been since the four sororities were founded. Nicole Nelson, president of Sigma Gamma Rho, explained that the main difference between white and black sororities is that black sororities are not primarily social organizations. Her sorority was founded in 1922 on the philosophy of "greater service, greater progress." Today Nelson upholds that philosophy by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. This philosophy of service has historical roots. Ahmad explained that to understand the emphasis of service over social activity, one must consider the era during which the black sororities were founded. "Think back to 1920, why women got together in the first place. The current organizations weren't effective or didn't do enough for the community; the social was not a huge priority at the time. Service is still needed." Ahmad's sorority tutors with Upward Bound, volunteers in the First Year Resource Center, awards scholarships to an outstanding African-American U.Va. student, and recently sponsored a forum on AIDS/HIV. The sorority also co-sponsored a bus trip to march in the Million Woman March in Philadelphia last spring. Explains Ahmad, "Social is great, you can always socialize, but there's work to be done. It's all about prioritizing what we feel is most important." So how does the social fit in? "In everything!" she responds without hesitation. "As a group of women who have similar goals." Pierce says that social activities such as step shows, parties, and greek picnics serve mainly to celebrate the hard work. Delta Sigma Theta, founded at Howard University in 1913, organized the Soul Food Dinner in February and runs the Delta Academy to tutor and mentor middle school girls. Pierce's sorority also adopted the national program Summit Five Health and Healing, sponsoring workshops that address the disproportionate number of African-American women who have clinical depression. "Our sisterhood is utmost," she says. "We have potlucks, we go out, but through our work we grow stronger. That's the main way." Still, the women do party and have fun. Ahmad's sorority has one or two parties a semester. However, she explains, "The alcohol issue doesn't affect black sororities to the same degree." Since the sororities do not have houses, they must rent space on Grounds, where alcohol is not allowed. Even when parties are held off-Grounds, there is not always alcohol there. Nelson explains that at parties where there are mostly African-American students, they prefer to dance instead of drink. Misconceptions This is where differences with IFC/ISC come in. Last month Student Council debated eliminating fall rush for first years because of concerns over academics and alcohol. Fall rush, which is presented as a greek concern, really doesn't affect the black sororities. "First year rush is attacked as a greek issue, but black sororities don't rush," says Ahmad. The general ignorance becomes most obvious when articles clearly ignore black sororities and don't realize that "greek" means more than just historically white fraternities and sororities. Although Ahmad works with IFC/ISC, Dean Laushway, and others, she says, "I want to know if they even know what we're about." In the black greek system, a prospective number gets information about the sorority, approaches it, and asks to go through the induction process. There are no round robins since each sorority has a separate membership process. "We don't recruit," Ahmad explained, "we make sure information is publicly available." Her sorority encourages women to look at their website, and all sororities hold informational meetings that are publicized with fliers. Black sororities do not rush, yet few articles about greek concerns bother to explain the distinction. One editorial in the Cavalier Daily did address it, but only to point out the tragedy that a separate rush for black fraternities ensures that few black students can rush white fraternities. Hence, the writer said that black greeks cause "self-segregation." (The author didn't mention sororities, nor did he seem to realize that the black fraternities are inactive right now.) Articles about greek concerns at U.Va. don't mention black sororities too often, as if everyone just kind of forgets that they are a part of the greek system. "I suspect that some people don't know much about the BFC," says Ahmad. "I don't want to emphasize differences, but we did break off because we felt IFC didn't best address our concerns." Family Ties Since the sororities do a lot of their work in the black community, it makes sense in a way that many at this predominantly white school are unaware of what the sororities are all about. In fact, many prospective members learn about the sororities before college through conctacts made in church or high schools. Tomeka Elder, president of Zeta Phi Beta, explained that most women know what sorority they want to join before they come to U.Va. This may be one reason why an elaborate rush process is not needed. Elder, even though she lived abroad in high school, heard of Delta scholarships at school and knew many AKA's from her church. She saw step shows while at U.Va.'s Spring Fling for prospective African-American student, and during her second year at U.Va., a personal connection told her about the Zeta Phi Beta interest meeting. She attended the meeting and decided to join. Pierce took advantage of one of the Delta's scholarships when she was in high school. Delta Sigma Theta did work in Pierce's community; she helped the sorority raise money and kept 60 percent for college. When she came to U.Va., she decided to join. Nelson, from Arlington, VA, knew members of all four sororities, except Sigma Gamma Rho, from her church at home, and she attended step shows at Howard. During her senior year, Sigma Gamma Rho performed at her high school, and she chose to join the organization at U.Va. Ahmad heard about Zeta Phi Beta's informational meeting from a friend. She liked the friendly, down-to-earth women whom she met, and so she decided to join. Lemon's mother had been in Delta Sigma Theta, as were her aunts. The black sororities are small, tight-knit chapters. Numbers range from one to twenty-five. The small size of sororities is not due only to the fact that there are smaller numbers of African-American women at the university. Since black sororities do not recruit, the women that seek out the sororities are ones who really want to join and won't drop out. "Number of members isn't a consideration," says Ahmad, "it's the quality, the number of quality people in the chapter." The small size contributes to close friendships among the members. "You know everything about them," says Elder. It can be hard, she says, "like running a business with family, instead of people you hire," but rewarding. The four sororities are also tightly-knit with each other. Nelson says that the sororities get along extremely well, unlike at other schools, where there is competition among the sororities. This is especially important for Nelson, who is currently the only member of Sigma Gamma Rho at U.Va. She says it is hard being the only member at U.Va., but chapters from other colleges call, email, and visit. The close-knit community continues after the women leave college. "You know before you join that it's a lifelong commitment," says Ahmad. Sorority members almost always join a graduate chapter when they leave college or move away. There are also auxiliary groups of non-college women, often older women, who support the sorority's efforts. Do People Need To Learn More? "Sure, if they want," says Nelson. But Ahmad is more adamant, wishing that people knew a lot more about black sororities so that ignorance can end. She cites a letter written to the Cavalier Daily in which a student angrily accused black sororities of excluding people. "We don't exclude people; anyone can join. He didn't even talk to us before he wrote that," says Ahmad. Lemon says that when she comes across articles about the black greek system that accuse them of separatism, she doesn't even read them. "I don't read them. I see them every year: 'Well, since y'all decided to separate ...' When I read these articles every year, and no one has asked anyone -- the BFC, the BSA, the Black Law Students -- I just throw the paper away." Until people begin to learn more, we will contintue to see the "you exclude people" school of thought which appears in editorials that use terms like "self-segregation" and "reverse discrimination." The old, "Well, what if we had the White Student Alliance, would that be fair? You don't see the White Sorority Council, do you?" argument will continue in all of its superficial pointlessness until we make an effort and learn about organizations that feel separate to us. Before we get too worked up over who's not on Rugby, let's figure out where they are and why. Once we get past being angry and blaming people, we can note rationally, like Sharonda Callendar of Zeta Phi Beta did in her February 26 CD editorial, that separate social spheres are partially due to different music and partying styles. (Yes, the big C word, CULTURE. Will these differences that frustrate us so much decrease one day? Probably. Be patient.) We can note like Chris Nehls did in his February 23 CD editorial that there is still a lot of pain, in black, white, and all other ethnicities about the deep and not so distant history of racism in our country. I have an optimistic theory that our generation is the one dealing with the hard stage in race relations where we see the possibilities clearly, but aren't quite there emotionally. We'll get there. Be brave, open your mind, ask questions. How to get more information: http://www.nphc.org http://www.stepshow.com http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/5656/blackfc.html http://darwin.clas.virginia.edu/~mna2q http://www.meetgreeks.com

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