![]() In fact, Greek life regularly produces very powerful people. Most importantly, they offer career networking opportunities with their organisation’s alumni, and possible access into elite social circles. Commonly organised into individual campus chapters, centrally directed by well-monied and professionalised national organisations, they provide members with potential benefits that extend beyond graduation. ![]() But within the US, these societies are institutions at the centre of university social life. ![]() Outside of the US, fraternities and sororities (collectively known as ‘Greek Life’) are somewhat mysterious entities, often associated with drink-laden parties, hazing or initiation controversies, and raunchy comedy movies like Animal House and Neighbours ( Bad Neighbours outside the US). One interviewee, Carla Mannings, said that AKA (along with the other historically Black ‘ Divine Nine’ sororities and fraternities) help make ‘sure that everyone has a chance to be a part of the economic mainstream of this country.’ In an interview on CBS This Morning, three of Harris’s sorority sisters described AKA as a ‘secret weapon’ that cultivates leadership, learning, and social justice. At Howard, Harris – the United States’ first woman and African American Vice-President – was also a member of the country’s oldest Black intercollegiate sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA). Studying how minorities use and transform predominantly white institutions raises questions about how we go about deconstructing the white supremacy within them.ĭuring coverage of January’s US Presidential inauguration, many learned about Kamala Harris’s time at Howard University (HCBU), a renowned historically Black college and university in Washington DC. Yet, as Taulby Edmondson points out, the existence of longstanding Black sororities and fraternities complicate calls for an end to this culture. ‘Greek Life’ is a distinctive part of the social and cultural experience of universities in the United States, and has faced recent scrutiny for acts of racism, sexism and homophobia.
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