The Problem With White Booster Societies
This article was originally published on Medium.com June 9, 2021.
The matching t-shirts. The bros chugging beer at the all-night ragers. The girls lined up in their Sunday best, waiting for their opportunity to be ripped to shreds.
What does being in a fraternity or sorority have to do with a successful college experience? A lot more than first meets the eye, I came to find out.
Before I continue, I must clarify that I am not talking about special interests or multicultural fraternities; I am talking about white booster societies. During my time at UCLA, approximately 30% of the student body was white. And approximately 30% of the student body was in a fraternity or sorority. You don’t have to be a math major to make sense of those numbers.
There are those who arrive at college comfortably on third base, and then there are those who fight tooth and nail just to get the opportunity to hit the ball; joining a fraternity or sorority provides an individual with the keys to a successful college experience.
You see being Greek isn’t only a social advantage; it’s an academic and political one too.
Being in a white booster society grants a student access to resources that make navigating the ins and outs of college a whole lot easier. For starters there’s access to a house full of upperclassmen who have already taken the same classes. Then there’s the ability to do online homework and take online exams communally. But perhaps most important is the access to the test bank the organization has built over the years. When your entire grade is based on two midterm exams and a final (usually each midterm is 25% of your grade, and the final is 50%) having access to a professor’s previous exams is a tremendous advantage. And when you go to a research institution like UCLA, many instructors don’t bother to change the exams for the undergraduate courses they teach.
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In the sixth week of the spring quarter were the student body elections. Each year there was the well-funded, conservative slate of candidates who overwhelmingly came from the Greek system. And then there was the other slate that was, well, everyone else. Sometimes the student groups didn’t have the funding to run a full slate of candidates. Nor did they have the resources the white booster societies possessed, namely the ability to get hundreds of votes in just a few hours, simply by going around to the different fraternity and sorority houses with a laptop.
My freshman year, I was in a frat for all of two weeks. I really had my eyes opened during that time. Looking back I’m not sure why I thought I’d fit in with the frat crowd. I genuinely was interested in the brotherhood; the sense of belonging. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t intend to have some fun, too. My two week tryst was anxiety-inducing, dangerous, and a little insane.I’ll never forget the warning we were given by one of the older brothers one evening when we arrived at the weekly chapter meeting. The night before we had a social event with a sorority, and apparently some of the girls did not appreciate the way some of our guys had treated them. The ladies of Gamma Phi had some complaints about last night, he began. I’m hearing that you guys were calling them bitches. What’s the first thing we taught you? His voice became elevated, and the smug look on his face was replaced with a scowl. You don’t tell a bitch she’s a bitch!
It’s truly blown my mind that this is something that is not talked about more: the glorification, permission, and acceptance granted to white booster societies. It’s no coincidence that many Presidents were in fraternities, and I’m sure many judges, prosecutors, Senators, and other public officials were too. White booster societies, and the ideals they uphold, have become a permanent fixture of American life. And it’s time to change that.
The problem with white booster societies is that they perpetuate inequality in a system that is already designed to serve the most privileged.
The problem with white booster societies is that they glorify the subjugation of women, and foster environments where mistreatment of them is not only tolerated, it’s encouraged.
The problem with white booster societies is that they create a facade; the experiences of the handful of token members are usually not representative of the experiences of the other members of their demographic on campus.
The problem with white booster societies is that their recruitment and retention efforts perpetuate homophobia and racism.
The problem with white booster societies is that they promote white supremacy in institutions of higher learning.
If we really want to talk about dismantling systems of oppression, closing the wealth and education gap, and giving every American college student a fair shot at success, we must abolish white booster societies.
Eric Curry is an author, activist, small business owner, and former Congressional candidate. Follow him on social media @ericcurryco