Hey, I asked who they were…because, you know, I didn’t know? I don’t think that it is wild speculation to think that a sorority girl might be socializing with her sorority sisters. I thought that that was why they joined a sorority. (Which of course doesn’t mean that they don’t hang with anyone else, but come on.)
Thanks for shedding light on the process behind the scenes.
All this business of social media character assassination and death threats boggles my mind. It seems to happen constantly. Sickening AND dangerous.
I think it is more likely that a freshman out drinking for the night goes with her dorm friends and not necessarily her sorority sisters. There are so many sororities and so many dorms at Alabama that numbers work out that a group from a dorm isn’t going be in the same sorority.
It actually is not clear whether the university did anything other than make disapproving statements, since it seems unlikely that a big public university bureaucracy would move that fast. There are also the freedom of speech issues that a public university has to observe, since this rant seems to be just a rant proclaiming her noxious viewpoints, rather than a threat or harassment or something else that is illegal regardless of the viewpoint behind it.
The university’s statement makes it clear that it does not approve, and confirms that Barber is no longer a student. But it is silent on why she is no longer a student, even though it appears that many (including some of the press) have come to believe that it expelled her (although there is no reported quote from either her or the university stating that).
BTW, out of curiosity I took a spin through the site Greekrank to see what its contributors had had to say about ALpha Phi in the past. Yes, I know that the site definitely does not represent the best of Greek life, to put it mildly, but still, it is a window into a certain mindset.
Interestingly, comments dating back four years or so referred to the membership as having many who seemed to be transplants from Jersey Shore, the show. Evidently not totally off the mark. B-)
^Considering how slowly large universities move and the whole process of expulsion taking wayyy longer than 2 days, the ACLU may simply expose the fact UA has not actually expelled the student.
(BTW I think the death threats and agressive behavior toward her sorority are downright disgusting. To me, that should be something the ACLu worries about - the fallout of violent reactions against bystanders.)
I know some friends of some young people who were indeed expelled from a public university for vile comments they made at a private function that was recorded by others present and released on social media, to much furor. I think the university knew it was unconstitutional, but banked on the fact that the students were not going to challenge it. They were right; the families of these students wanted it to die down and go away so the students could just move on from it. This may be the case here as well.
^but I’m guessing the expulsion process took longer than 48h (also, if you mean the Oklahoma case, the university unambiguously spoke of expulsion). Expulsion proceedings may have started within 48h though.
Also, can the ACLU fight a decision against the student’s wish?
That references the New York Post article at https://nypost.com/2018/01/17/sorority-sister-booted-for-posting-profanity-laced-racist-videos/ where the claim that she was expelled was made, but not confirmed in a quote by either Barber or the University of Alabama. But now it seems that most of the press and others believe that she was expelled, whether or not that was actually the case.
Of course, if a lawsuit challenging expulsion does go forward, then it can confirm that she was expelled. However, the absence of a lawsuit could mean either that she was not expelled, or that she was expelled but chooses not to sue.
@PurpleTitan I went to high school in 1980s in Northern VA. Was called racist names by both whites and blacks (mostly whites) almost every week. I also beat up quite few in retaliation in fair fights. Several years ago, my 80 year old Mom and I am walking at shopping center when some high school or College white boy comes to us on a dare joke with some girl (so it appeared to me) and yelled several times “Ching, Chong, Ching, Chong”. Of course, my natural reaction would have been, had I been alone, my right hand fist flying straight to his face, but luckily or unluckily I was with my 80 year old mom so I couldn’t do anything. I was mortified for my mom. I actually don’t care if people hold racists thoughts as long as they hold those thoughts to themselves in private — I really mean that — but when they take chance to express those thoughts to others or in public, things can turn violent quickly. I have witnessed a racial fighting escalate to a point where the other party disappeared for 5 minutes and came back with a gun and blew someone’s brains out at a KFC store. Not a pretty sight. You can imagine why I don’t like eating chicken.
@jrcsmom Actually, all white and black people looked the same to me when I first immigrated to US. I also couldn’t understand why so many whites disliked Jews when they looked same white to me. Lol. Milk also tasted terrible until I learned to like it.
I have one memory in high school. In 1980s, our white math teacher thought it would be a good idea if each student would say something to make Relations better between races since it was MLK Day. After many kids spoke PC things, I stood up and said something like “I am not going to say ‘Ugly’ or ‘dummy’ to your face even though I think some of you are ugly or dummies, so why is it that you call me racist names to my face? You can be as racist as you want in private but I think good manner should be followed.” The silence. Oh, good old days.
That girl going to learn when she spits out to intended targets, she going to receive some spits back and more. Tough. That’s how the world turns.
I’m an Alpha Phi Alum and I’d like to say that that recruitment video bothered me a lot, too. That said, here is a statement that just arrived in my inbox:
Dear Sisters,
We are writing to reaffirm Alpha Phi’s position on diversity and inclusion in our membership and to provide more information about the actions taken as a follow up to the racist video posted by Harley Barber, a former member of Alpha Phi.
Ms. Barber’s actions impact us all. For many members, it feels very personal that an organization we love – that we joined because its principles matched our own values – would be associated with the hateful rhetoric and opinions expressed in her video. It raises many questions and concerns among our membership, which we would like to begin to address today.
Alpha Phi has a long history of embracing membership inclusiveness and diversity. We are one of the NPC organizations whose governing documents have always reflected the inclusive nature of our sisterhood. From its founding until today, our Constitution has affirmed that Alpha Phi “supports the concept of equality and is committed to building a society where human judgments are based on merit, without regard to gender, race, religious preference, or disability. The Fraternity firmly repudiates actions and statements that negate the concepts of self-respect, personal development, equality and dignity.”
There was no hesitation or debate in ending Ms. Barber’s membership in Alpha Phi. Not one Alpha Phi member, collegiate or alumnae, has expressed disagreement with that decision. We remain steadfast as an organization in upholding our core principles, and we condemn racism in any form.
Many members have had similar questions about this incident. These include:
How was someone like Harley Barber invited into membership in Alpha Phi? Our Beta Mu chapter received a personal reference from one of Harley’s relatives, who is an Alpha Phi alumna from a strong west coast chapter. She too was mortified by Harley’s behavior and sent a letter of apology to the chapter for her reference.
Were the bystanders in the video also disciplined? Alpha Phi conducted an investigation into the other women shown in the video to determine whether any of them were also members. They were not. The University of Alabama is also investigating the participation of these bystanders in the incident.
What more are we doing as an organization to promote an environment of inclusiveness? We announced recently our sponsorship of a new program called Dignity U that will be used to educate and empower our members in all matters related to human dignity. Dignity U will join our leadership portfolio, along with our Emerging Leaders’ Institute, our Cultural Sensitivity officer training program, our Online Leadership Library module “Appreciating and Celebrating Diversity in Our Chapter,” and the bystander behavior module in our CampusClarity “Think About It” program.
We are also committed to continue the conversation with our members on what more we can do as an organization to ensure that our expectations of each other remain high in this important area. We must do more to actively demonstrate our commitment to these values. The time to lead by example on our campuses and in our communities is now.
We appreciate the frank feedback we received from many members. The level of concern among our member base shows that we are truly committed to our founding principles of human dignity and equality.
We believe in our members. We believe in Alpha Phi.
Loyally,
The Alpha Phi International Executive Board and Executive Office Staff
The State of New York issued papers chartering fraternal organizations, so Alpha Phi and other groups you think of as sororities are actually Fraternities. Blame NY.
@Sue22, Alpha Phi is much more than just Alabama. Look up the diversity at some of the other chapters, especially at STEM schools. Of course there is much more to diversity than race.
Many of the first women’s collegiate support groups modeled thenselves as fraternities after the men’s groups. They are chartered as fraternities.
If we are vilifying one particular group on one particular campus with photos and recruitment videos, how about we post three other NPL composite photos and recruitment videos from three other houses at the same universities as comparison as a more fair comparison?
.
Post the KKG, DDD, KAT, whatever, from the same campus.
I find the whole recruitment video thing abhorrent. It just invites 19 year olds to play to 17 year olds. “College life is bubbles and unicorns and everyone is perfect”.
“We weren’t integrated until 2013 and hardly have any non-white members, but that’s OK because none of the other historically white sororities have black sisters either.” Is that supposed to be the defense? Because I don’t think it is one.
If the campus as a whole had hardly any non-white students, then it would be understandable that sororities didn’t have non-white members. University of Alabama is only 78% white, so that excuse won’t fly.