Christopher Cervantes
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From my experiences on a college campus, students rarely have an active filter when it comes to what they say and/or post on social media. For some reason, we, as adults-in-progress, think that whatever we might say in conversation is a smart thing to let out into the world. Recent developments though have made students think about the effect of flippant statements.
Over the course of the Halloween weekend, an anonymous student at Southern Methodist University posted a list stating why African-American women shouldn’t bother to join a sorority.
The statement in question has since gone viral. Among the reasons listed were claims that African-American women were “aesthetically unappealing to the eye” had low GPAs, and “generally don’t deserve to be at SMU to begin with.” Below the post were comments that agreed vehemently with the list, with one reader questioning why it was racist for wanting likeminded women in their sorority.
Honestly, this is disgusting.
Compared to SMU, the Sigma Alpha Epsilon racist-chant scandal of last year is now overshadowed. It is one thing to say something out of line and offend someone. What happened at this Texas school was an example of lowly, malicious actions deliberately aimed to hurt a specific demographic. There is no soapbox to stand on here, no just cause, no hint of dark humor satire! Just good old fashion narrow-mindedness.
It is times such as these that I wonder what greek life does to the various student bodies across the nation. There are several sororities and fraternities that are often classified as historically race-oriented. While the history of those groups may be a deterrent to some pledges, they do not actively campaign against them.
When it comes to denying someone access into a specific social circle, there are grounds that makes sense. Differing opinions, lack of platonic chemistry, are good examples. Race however, is, and will continue to be an active issue.
This is normally around the point in the column where I try to find a solution to the bigger problem, try to make sense of the situation. When it comes specifically to this situation, there is no answer. What has presented to SMU and the rest of the nation is a rare case of, for lack of a better phrase, black and white morality. I have tried long and hard to find any form of justification for what the anonymous sorority sister posted, but there is no way to lighten the matter without insulting the affected parties.
While the perpetrators are somewhat “protected” by their anonymous status, that does not mean that administration officials can just sit on their hands. As of Wednesday, there has been no news of actions from SMU. Best-case scenario, this is a delayed reaction. Worst-case scenario, it’ll be ignored. For the good of the school, it best be the former. University of Iowa student Bree Jones noted the event, saying, “Southern greek life has an extensive history of discriminating against people of color. What really disappoints me is the fact that incidents like this continue to happen and no one, not even the school officials, do anything about it.”
For the good of the greek system, and for the good of their school, action must be taken against those who promote the list. If that happens, then the message will be loud and clear.
