Several Hundred March on University of Alabama's Campus in Protest of Racial Segregation in Greek-Letter Groups (PHOTOS)
BySeveral hundred people marched at the University of Alabama (UA) to express opposition to racial discrimination in Greek-letter groups, the Associated Press reported.
Faculty Senate president Steve Miller previously announced the march and, Wednesday, hundreds of students, faculty and UA community members participated. The march comes a day after the school's president Judy Bonner mandated changes to how campus-affiliated sororities must approach recruitment.
The group marched from the school's library to the administration building, where Bonner's office is located. In a statement released by the school, Bonner, the school's first female president, acknowledged the school had all-white sororities.
She said sororities must allow new recruits at any time and must also expand the number of members to 360. These changes, Bonner said, would encourage new pledges of different races, but many believed this was not enough.
CLICK HERE for photos of the march.
UA Faculty Senate members wondered why sororities were singled out when all-white fraternities also existed and questioned if the president's actions were strong enough.
"While we will not tell any group who they must pledge, the University of Alabama will not tolerate discrimination of any kind," said Bonner.
Yardena Wolf, a 19-year-old UA student and member of an all-white sorority, publically acknowledged segregation in the Alpha Omicron Pi house.
"Rush was really, really hard to go through living in the house," she said. "We obviously didn't pledge an African-American girl like I thought we would. It was really frustrating, and I faced some difficulties in my room and my house, so I just thought it would be better if I moved out."
Wednesday's crowd included Greek members like Wolf and non-Greek members, faculty and non-faculty. As they approached administration building, the demonstrators stood behind a banner reading "last stand in the schoolhouse door."
The allegations of racial segregation were first reported by UA's student newspaper the Crimson White, when two black students said they were denied entry to several all-white sororities.