Race and Greek societies
...m.” Lloyd J. Jordan, president of the national Omega Psi Phi organization, a historically black fraternity, thinks that calling these acts pranks, is just a cop-out. He refers to the blackface costumes as “acts of racial terrorism”. Jordan believes that the costumes were meant to “threaten and provoke black students.” (Bartlett p2) Another similar event happened on the Auburn University campus. Members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity held a party where members appeared in blackface, Afro wigs, gold jewelry, and T-shirts with the Greek letters of Omega Psi Phi. These members were also seen “throwing up”, hand gestures, gang-signs. Auburn University officials acted swiftly in a response to this. The university suspended 15 students and withdrawn official recognition of the two fraternities. William F. Walker, Auburn’s interim president, was quoted saying: “I was hurt, saddened, and angered by the photographs. Occasionally you might hear about things like this, but until you see it, you don’t stop and think about how offensive it really is.” (Bartlett p3) If the interim president had heard about these things happening before, then why had the matter not been looked into by the University? This makes one wonder if school officials are honestly trying to get rid of racism on their campuses. When rumors of such acts occur, they should be taken seriously. No one should ever just brush off something like this. If colleges are to be free of racial discrimination, then officials should have investigated the matter earlier. The company that the developed the film, Village Photographers, should have done something about this too. Allen R Patterson, owner of Village Photographers, was quoted saying: “In the past, my studio has removed photographs of students wearing blackface. My studio normally edits out any offensive photographs before sending them to candid Color Systems, the company that operates partypic.com.” (Bartlett p 3) If this is true, Village Photographers should have taken the photos to Auburn officials. Instead, the company and its workers just turned their heads and looked the other way. They just threw away the pictures as though nothing major had happened. Once again, the issue of racism was pushed under the rug. The question that has arisen is whether the actions taken by the University of Auburn is in violation of Constitutional rights. To argue that the actions are a violation one could look at the 1989 Supreme Court Case of United States v. Johnson. In this case, the court decided that the state of Texas violated Johnson’s rights when he was arrested for burning a flag, another act considered offensive by most people. The Constitution does not protect people from being offended. The fact that something is abhorrent, offensive, or outside of the majority opinion does not change its protection by free speech. These acts cannot be considered free speech because they promoted racism, something the government has tried to end for a long time. Yes, one could argue that these acts are a form of symbolic speech, but one person’s rights end where the next person’s begins. This means if a person is not being troublesome, then one should not be able to restrict that person’s actions. When these students committed these acts, they bothered a great deal of people. That means that the school was within its rights to discipline the students at there discretion. The school was also within its rights because; a school’s job is to provide a safe place to learn. Romaine Scott is one person who offers a defense for these acts committed by one of the fraternities, Beta Theta Pi. Mr. Scott, whose son was a member of the fraternity but did not participate in the blackface, believes that these acts did not require such punishments by the university. Mr. Scott, a lawyer, argues: “The disciplinary action against the students and the fraternities violates the First Amendment. In the case of Beta Theta Pi, the students did not intend to be racially offensive and that there has been a rush to judgment. The costumes worn by members of Beta Theta Pi-afro wigs, gold jewelry, and Omega Psi Phi T-shirts-were intended as a tribute to African-Americans. They did it because it’s cool, not because it is racist. The donning of blackface is related to the popularity of rap music and the use of African-American slang by young white men.” (Bartlett p3) Mr. Scott’s explanation is half-hearted attempt at protecting his son and his son’s friends. He has assumed that this act would be a “tribute to African-Americans”, and that Auburn officials acted to quickly. Mr. Scott seems to believe that there is no wrongdoing on the part of the fraternity. I myself, being bi-racial, have seen these pictures, but I must not be looking at them right. When I viewed these pictures, I was disgusted. The students clearly were not trying to pay tribute to African-Americans. They were dressed up to be stereotypical African-Americans. If these students were trying to pay tribute, then they should have dressed up as famous African-Americans. These acts of racism have not only been limited to fraternities, but sororities as well have had problems with racial discrimination. A young woman who was a junior at the University of Alabama was trying to be the first black student in the history of the school to be accepted by a white sorority. Though she was a good student she was turned down. “Melody Twilley, a junior at the University of Alabama, wanted to be the first black student in the school’s history to get accepted by a white sorority. However ‘the Machine’ a shadowy organization of the all-white fraternities and sororities whose influence extends far beyond campus, didn’t want to let her. At 7:21 Sunday morning, Twilley got a call that creased her heart. ‘I’m sorry,’ her sorority rush counselor told her. ‘You didn’t get asked back.’ Her progress through the rush selection process, an important rite of passage at many colleges, North and South, had been closely followed by the university’s top officials, civil rights leaders and the vast alumni network that dominates politics and business in the state. Administration, vexed for years by the school’s stubbornly segregated social order, tried to boost Twilley’s prospects by meeting with her, encouraging white sororities to take her in and lining up important recommendations at several houses. The issue was especially charged because of Alabama’s uncomfortable legacy as the school where segregationist Gov. George C. Wallace made his stand in an auditorium doorway in 1963. The University of Alabama is the last college in the South where no black student has ever been accepted to a traditionally white fraternity or sorority.” (Gettlemen p1-2) Despite the fact that Twilley had 3.87 grade-point average,...