Viral Post Says Black Women Are “Unqualified” For Sororities

An anonymous post is spreading like wildfire across social media. On Thursday, a post, allegedly from a sorority member at Southern Methodist University, went viral for explaining why black women won't be accepted as pledges for sororities on campus. The post, the authenticity of which we can't confirm, reads: The reality is is that black pnms [potential new members] are often unqualified for recruitment (low GPA, bad grades, not involved on campus, know nothing about the houses) and are heavily unprepared (no letters of recommendations or letters of support) and generally come from a completely different background (impoverished lower class). The post is on an anonymous message board about fraternity and sorority life called GreekRank and is simply titled "Black women going through recruitment…" The writer continues to say that "recruitment is 10x tougher as a Black woman, and you will have to work harder than other white, Asian, Hispanic, or foreign women." The writer also notes that diversity in on-campus sororities is a hot topic on the app Yik Yak. Refinery29 has not confirmed who wrote the post, or its validity. Requests for comment from Twitter users who shared the post were not immediately returned. A representative from SMU said to Refinery29 in a statement, "The content of these anonymous posts on GreekRank is clearly abhorrent and would not represent standards and values at SMU." The university noted that it has no affiliation with GreekRank. The university also urged readers to remember that posts like this "can easily be amplified to incorrectly represent the opinions of many, even if there is no actual affiliation with the group they purport to represent nor truth in what they post." But for Makiah Green, a recent graduate from University of Southern California, who first posted screenshots from the message board on Twitter and Facebook, it doesn't matter whether the post is legitimate. "Although there's no way to verify if it was posted by a real sorority, the racist sentiments expressed in the post are shared by many white sorority members," Green told Refinery29. "The fact that so many people have shared this story and been hurt by it speaks to its ideological legitimacy. There's a reason why people of color are not surprised by this." Celebrities uncluding Gabrielle Union and Soledad O'Brien are just two of the thousands who've shared the post on Twitter. Many others include the hashtag #BlackAtSMU, which includes outcries about the lack of diversity in SMU fraternities and sororities.

The comments on GreekRank vary. Some call the post racist. Others defend the anonymous writer. "Agree. Plus, black women are normally too lazy to get to know actives and just do not fit in with SMU culture, let alone with sorority culture," one commenter wrote. "Why are we racist for wanting girls who are similar to us in values/character and background?" "Although they did not include their name (for obvious reasons), these comments speak to the larger issue of anti-Blackness within white Greek culture," said Green. "I shared the post because it's important for people to know that racism is alive and well in 2015." According to SMU, "The GreekRank postings have created a widespread response from members of our campus community who are actively rejecting and criticizing these comments now that they have surfaced."

This is a developing story.