TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama officials have enacted a policy that allows black students to be admitted to the college’s historically white Greek organization system. The decision comes a week after allegations that the university’s sororities blocked black students from pledging.
The university’s sororities made headlines last week after the school’s student newspaper, the Crimson White, reported that a highly qualified black student had been denied a bid to join any of the school’s historically white sororities, despite receiving top scores during the recruitment process. Current sorority members said some alumnae threatened to pull financial support from the organizations if they accepted black members, TIME reports.
The university’s new policy opens a continuous bidding process to every student and every sorority, allowing new members to be added at any time, ABC News reports.