Many years ago, Bear Bryant had the wisdom to integrate the football team. Believe me, there were many who were unhappy about that at the time. Too bad the sororities and fraternities did not follow suit. Clearly, he was motivated by winning, not some sense of social progress, so maybe some incentives should be built into the system to make it attractive to sororities and fraternities. How great it would be to see Bama lead the way on this one!
But it is diverse, relative to many other state schools. Look at the enrollment of AAs at UA and compare to other schools. UA has a very high percentage of AAs relative to most other top state schools. Actually, this high percentage might be part of the problem, as the AAs feel less pressure to conform and join White Greek houses.
from UA's website: Of the 30,232 undergraduate, professional, and graduate students enrolled at UA in the fall semester of 2010,
67% come from Alabama
31% come from elsewhere in the United States
3% are international students from 72 countries
27% of our undergraduates belong to sororities or fraternities
53% are women
12% are African-American
2% are Hispanic-American
1% are Asian-American
Auburn's numbers: (so yes UA is better than auburn for that... and other things )
8% black, 1.5% asian, 1.5% hispanic
UAB's numbers are 26% black, 4% asian and 2% hispanic.
Is there a chance that the low percentage of AA at UA is influenced by the fact that Alabama has 9 historically black colleges and universities? That seems like a large number for the state.
I disagree Parent in regards to UA's diversity. Show me one state university that has higher than a 15% AA population outside the state of California.
UAB is a inner city commuter school. The comparison of UAB to UA ends with the first two letters in the name.
Lack of available AA students isn't why the greek system at UA isn't integrated. It's because traditions die hard even when those traditions are steeped in bigotry. And that goes for both the white and black greeks at UA.
well, as you cant discuss it reasonably njbama ( i'm sure you are well aware that uab is NOT an inner city commuter school) i'll step away... I was only saying that perhaps with a low percentage of black students, it may not have been seen as a priority to integrate the frats etc.... and that perhaps if those numbers increased, so would the willingness to accept different races into the frats.
I was not trashing UA, only offering a possible reason and hoping for some discussion, so that what happened to a son that was rejected from a fraternity doesnt continue. I've lived here for 27 years and i think i may have some idea of the alabama schools.
The UAB student body consists of 11,028 undergraduates, 4,086 graduate students and 2,429 professional students
29% of UAB freshmen come from Jefferson County.
60% of UAB freshmen come from other Alabama counties,
8.4% come from other states,
1.5% come from other countries.
70% of the entering UAB freshman Class of 2013 are living in campus housing.
I just did a quick check and nationally, blacks make up 13% of the population. I understand numbers are skewed geographically but UA has just under half its students from OOS.
Things have come a long way in 50 years but it is still a work in progress.
Not sure about fraternities that aren't evolving....while heritage and customs are good for strength and binding things together over time, segregation should not be one of those practices. Have to wonder about those that join those fraternities....
I hope the OP won't judge UA on the basis of its fraternities. Despite the strong political presence these organizations have, those involved are the real minority.
I don't consider 15% low in regards to AA enrollment. It's at least as high as any other State's main University with the possible exception of California.
What percentage of AA kids go to college? What percentage of state of Alabama AA kids go to college?
And UAB is in the inner city and most of their students are local and commute to school. That's not any slight in regards to it's academics or anything else.
Compare UA to other state flagships, and clearly, UA has a higher percentage of AAs in its student body than most other flagships. UAB is NOT the state flagship and it is also in a predominantly AA city, Birmingham, so that is not surprise. But compare UA to UMichigan, to UCLA, to UGA, to AU, to UF. We are doing fine there thank you.
No, NJ, no California flagship that I know of has as high an enrollment of AAs as UA. Latino is another story, but CA is becoming predominantly non White.
You're right. I was thinking in terms of all minority students and not just AA.
If we just limit this to enrolled AA students then UA ranks up there with any state flagship percentage wise as you said.
I'm not sure what I posted that was unreasonable and I certainly wasn't trying to offend you, Parent. I just think in this discussion that UA should be compared to like universities. And IMHO UA & UAB are not similar other than the name they share.
My husband and I saw "The Help" tonight. We also encouraged our son to see the movie. We feel that the movie depicted the culture in the deep south at that time (1960's) very well. Segregation was part of the culture. The children raised in the early 60's are now the parents of current college students.
Our children watch us and learn from us. They mimic our behaviors and attitudes. Behaviors toward others are learned. Our country still has a lot of selfish, narrow minded thinkers that are to afraid to do the right thing.
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