I’d also like to point out that there is a lot of self-selection in Greek life. Here’s some insider info from someone who was involved in fraternity rushing and coordinated with other fraternity rush chairs: When there was an African American student actively interested in Greek life, fraternities would compete for him. It is rare for an African American student to WANT to be in a fraternity and continue rushing throughout the entire semester. We are all seeking more diversity and we struggle to find minority students that actually want to participate in the fraternity culture. (As a disclaimer, not ALL fraternities feel this way, but most do). The routine of dressing like a frat boy and drinking large quantities of warm beer tends to not appeal to minority students. Plus there’s the price of dues. The fact that fraternities/sororities are predominantly upper-middle class white students surely doesn’t help minority students feel comfortable during the rush process, when they could just as well retreat to student orgs where members are predominantly of their own race or nationality.
I’ve always felt that the Greek system at Vanderbilt just caters to upper-middle class students. The culture and dues definitely discourage students from low-income families from joining; it can be hard to dress and live like a Greek student when you don’t have the financial freedom. It just so happens that white students are more likely to be affluent than minority students. In my experience, the minority students who do join Greek life tend to be affluent, which is perhaps why they find themselves fitting into the Greek culture, regardless of their skin color.
I’ve mentioned this from before, but what we’ve seen in Greek rush process is that minority students are just less likely to even sign up for the rush process, for both fraternities and sororities.