TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Former student leaders at the University of Alabama went public Thursday in support of more diversity within the school’s racially segregated sorority and fraternity system, and a federal prosecutor said her office is watching for signs of change on campus.
Eighteen former campus leaders, including a past Alabama attorney general and an ex-governor’s son, signed an advertisement in the student newspaper supporting integration of both White and Black Greek-letter groups.
Published in the Crimson-White, which last week detailed allegations of racial bias during sorority recruitment in August, the ad said sponsors wanted to “publicly encourage diversity among the University’s white and black Greek fraternities and sororities.”
Kenneth Mullinax, a fraternity member when he was an undergraduate at Alabama who now works as a spokesman for Alabama State University, said 18 people pooled funds to pay for the $1,000 ad.
The group included former state Attorney General Bill Baxley and Birmingham attorney Rob Riley, a former student government president at Alabama and son of former Gov. Bob Riley. The signers included Whites and Blacks, men and women, Greek alumni and people who didn’t join a group while in college.
“We have a lot of frat boys,” said Mullinax, who was a fraternity member and part of the powerful campus group known as The Machine while a student at Alabama.
Recent reports in Alabama’s student newspaper highlighted segregated sororities, prompting administrators to order changes in recruitment. University President Judy Bonner referred to the system as being racially segregated and said at least some membership decisions were based on race.
