Majority of College Students Oppose Fraternity Bias, Survey Shows

Eighty percent of both college presidents and college students oppose racial and religious discrimination in fraternities and sororities, it is disclosed today in a survey by the National Committee on Fraternities in Education, an organization of prominent college educators and community leaders formed to combat discrimination in fraternities.

Prof. Alfred McClung Lee, president of NCFE and chairman of the Sociology Department at Brooklyn College, reports that despite the overwhelming opposition to discrimination in fraternities and sororities, three-quarters of the 125 colleges surveyed had done nothing to decrease such discrimination.

The survey’s conclusions are made public by Dr. Lee in an article published in “The Committee Reporter,” publication of the American Jewish Committee. “Powerful alumni forces” were responsible for maintaining restrictive practices often in opposition to the wishes of student fraternity members, Dr. Lee states, adding that the survey contradicts a commonly-held belief that fraternity discrimination is gradually disappearing.

“On some campuses,” he points out, “eighty to ninety percent of the student body are members of Greek letter societies. Their membership now totals 400, 000, more than one-fourth of our undergraduates. This pattern is aped by high school fraternities where millions of youths are subjected to the same divisive influences.

“These facts add up to the inescapable conclusion that a large and increasing segment of the nation’s future leadership is being prepared for citizenship in an environment that endorses racial and religious discrimination. This pattern of discrimination is accorded the highest social status by the tacit approval of college administrations and distinguished alumni.”

Students have been able to achieve and maintain major advances in fighting fraternity discrimination, Dr. Lee declares, only when reinforced by determined college administrators. He reports that seven colleges–Amherst, University of Connecticut, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, Wisconsin and the University of Chicago–have taken vigorous steps to eliminate racial and religious discrimination from campus societies. The State University of New York and the City Colleges of New York City have eliminated all discrimination from campus groups.

As an example of discriminatory rules, Dr. Lee cites the constitutional provision of Phi Delta Theta fraternity limiting membership to those of “full Aryan blood.” This was the same yardstick used in “the infamous Nuremberg laws,” he declared. He said that the “full Aryan blood clause” was adopted in 1910.