Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Greek System at Universities and Racism

After a discussion in class about the Oklahoma racist chant, one of my students mentioned seeing an article that included a picture of a sorority that posed with sombreros, moustaches, and signs that said, "I don't cut grass, I smoke it." I might add that that class is two-thirds Latino. That particular picture struck a nerve.  My students have heard the terms "beaner," "burrito-eater," and the like, but this one hit a little harder, especially when the photo appeared to be nearly exclusively white.

I did a quick search and discovered this article which cites a dozen examples, several that have pictures. I know kids are young and make mistakes. But these make me sick. This article could be great for a discussion on group decision-making, prejudice, stereotypes and so much more.
http://mic.com/articles/112240/12-incidents-that-prove-fraternity-and-sorority-racism-isn-t-just-an-oklahoma-problem


posted by Chuck Schallhorn

1 comment:

Steve Jones said...

Ugh - great post, yet not a great post (in terms of content). One of my favorite websites Sociological Images has been tracking these for several years now and has even more evidence of this horrifying trend: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/05/11/individual-racism-alive-and-well/