All language subtitles for Houses.of.Horror.Secrets.of.College.Greek.Life.S01E06.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH[EZTVx.to]

Yeah. I mean, that was
just a sort of

a really stressful time
in my life.

So like it is. Makes me have
like a lot of anxiety, but...

it did happen.

So I guess you do
have to talk about it.

Welcome to Phi Phi House!
Come on in!

Okay.

Reporter: Recent allegations
of racial segregation

in sororities at the University
of Alabama

continue to send shockwaves
throughout the nation.

I'm in the South now
[bleep].

The N word was written in chalk
all over campus.

A cross was burned on the lawn
at a Black sorority.

A secret society that is
powerful and some say ruthless.

It is called "The Machine."

Most of the fraternities and
sororities at the university

are in "The Machine."

"The Machine" is very much
focused on White supremacy.

They're paved with a level of
impunity that suggests

that they think that they'll
always get away with it.

There are policies on the books
that said that

"We will not take people
of color."

"The Machine" continues to
hold that stranglehold on power.

I am 58 years old.

Why am I still afraid of them?

That's what a cult can do.

Not on the record.

[cheering]

There's no place in the world
that is more exciting

or thrilling than sororities
and fraternities.

But you don't know what actually
goes on behind closed doors.

All of Greek life has some sort
of a tradition of secrecy.

This was a powerful
organization.

I mean, it was a serious
cover-up.

The amount of power that the
fraternities have,

it's so thoroughly woven into
the nature of the universities.

There is always
the same playbook.

Operator: 911. What is the
address of your emergency?

They start the cover-up.
Nobody talks.

Hazing is a huge problem,

and it's resulted
in tragedy.

Someone was burning a cross
on the lawn.

They would grab a member,
force their face down

and then make them do
a line of cocaine.

It felt very sadistic.
He wanted me to be hurting.

You send your kid off
to college,

and this happens?

My name is Melody Zeidan.

I'm from a really small town in
Alabama called Camden.

I was quite a good student
growing up.

I was always one year ahead of
my classmates,

for the most part.

So I graduated from high school
right before I turned 17.

When I started at the University
of Alabama in the fall of 2000,

everything evolved around campus
and social life and fitting in.

The buildings are very stately.

They're sort of this big,
beautiful quad

in the middle of campus
where people hang out.

And Greek Row is a big part
of campus.

It's almost as important to the
university as football is.

The Greek houses at Alabama are
really something to behold.

The scale is just astonishing.

It's impossible not to come away
with the impression that

"Oh, these are the people here
who matter.

These are the people who are
important to this university."

But sororities have one way
a woman can be,

which is white, pretty,
rich, and well behaved.

I feel like when you start
learning the details,

they're not so pretty parts
show through.

The school started in
the mid-1800s

and is steeped in the tradition
of the old South

in a lot of ways.

In 1963, several Black students
attempted to enroll

in the University of Alabama.

There was a large
anti-segregation

in education movement happening
across the country.

George Wallace, who was the
governor at that time,

said, I believe his words
were...

Segregation now,

segregation tomorrow,

and segregation forever.

[cheering]

He very famously stood in the
doors of Foster Auditorium,

and he refused to allow those
students entry

to enroll in classes back at the
University of Alabama.

Man: The choice is yours.

There's a long history of racial
incidents on campus,

and the Greek life,
the recruitment process

has a tremendously
long way to go.

There've been a number
of instances in recent years

in which students have put vile
racist statements

on social media.

In 2014, a Chi Omega pledge

put a snap on Snapchat
that proclaimed

that Chi Omega has no
N word.

Also in 2018,a member of
Alpha Pi

posted on the internet
a video

of her saying that she hates...

Woman: I love how I act like I
love Black people

because [bleep] hate...

I know someone that's...
[indistinct]

'cause I said [bleep].
You know what? [bleep].

I don't care if it's Martin
Luther King Day.

[bleep].

I'm in the South now, [bleep].

When I stepped onto campus,

obviously I noticed
that there were

more White women in these
traditionally...

White sororities.

But it didn't occur to me that
there were no non-White women.

I saw the Greek houses and
thought, "Oh, yes.

"This is where the friends
are made.

Excellent. Let's get involved
with that."

As a bright-eyed freshman,

I was just looking for girls
to hang out with.

Race wasn't on my radar.

As a woman who has been accepted
to the university,

in the senior year of
high school, you fill out

sort of an intent to rush.

And it's a multi-step process.

The rush process is eight days.

So there's a convocation where
they bring everyone

into the Coliseum,
we find out your Rho Chi group.

The first two days are what they
call ice water tease,

which is where everybody has a
chance to visit every sorority.

You wait outside
and the doors open,

and there are a hundred of the
most beautiful,

glamourous women that
you have ever seen

screaming their door songs.

We've been waiting for you
all summer,

and we're so glad
you're finally here!

[cheering]

[chanting, indistinct]

Welcome to Phi Phi House!
Come on in!

After the first round,

you list the sororities that
you want to be a part of.

And similarly, the sororities
are choosing

who they want to be
a part of.

Your list is significantly
cut the first day.

It's cut down to probably, like,
between seven and ten.

And then you go home
and you agonize

over which one to choose.

It's...
It's intense.

On Bid Day, you wake up
bright and early,

and you head to Bryant-Denny
Stadium.

Everybody was given
a manila envelope

with your name on it,
and at the same time,

everybody opens up their
envelopes,

and you have a card inviting you
to join that sorority.

They make you feel like
there's no place in the world

that is more exciting,
more thrilling,

and that you will be as
beautiful and glamorous

and fun as they are.

When I was rushing,
I thought...

obviously I'm going to
get a bid.

I mean, I've got good grades,

I get along well
with people.

I mean, why wouldn't I?

But then I got a call from
my Roi Chi, as they were called,

and she said, "I'm sorry.

You haven't been invited to any
houses for the third round."

I never heard any reason for why
I was dropped.

It was just, "I'm sorry.

All of the houses have
released you from rush."

A friend of my boyfriend
at the time

came up to me and said,
"Hey,

"didn't you rush the White
sorority?

"Why did you do that?

You know they don't take
Black people, right?"

I thought, "What?"

I was just astonished.

I was like, surely that's not
right. That can't be right.

I mean, it's the year 2000.

And that was when someone
told me about

what they call
"The Machine."

And things started to
make sense to me.

A secret society that is
powerful

and some say ruthless.

It is called "The Machine."

"The Machine" is a secret group
of White students who seek

to influence the student body
government election.

Student government at the
University of Alabama

originates through
Greek life.

There was a band of fraternities
that established it.

They created a secret group to
run it called Theta Nu Epsilon.

Theta Nu Epsilon got its start

as a national Greek
organization.

In the 1880s, a chapter of them
was founded

at the University of Alabama

which was later titled
"The Machine."

You find the fingerprints
of "The Machine"

on any given political and
social structure.

Those individuals who are
elected

to student body government
positions

get internships on
Capitol Hill,

become senators from the state
of Alabama.

So you have this direct pipeline
into real political power.

But the real harm of
"The Machine"

come from institutionalized
racism.

The Greek system and
"The Machine"

have always functioned to some
degree

as a means of sort of protecting
the social class

that engages with it.

You don't think...

"We're White, so we deserve
to be on top."

You think, "We're White,
so we are on top.

That is the way
the world was created."

The goal is to maintain that
hegemonic power.

These are people who would
resort to just about anything

to get their way...

and demonstrate that they can
punish those who defy them.

When I was rushing,

"The Machine" wasn't on
my radar.

I had this GPA.

I have all the qualifications
that I need.

The only thing that I have
is an excess of melanin

to disqualify me.

'Cause I had more conversations
about this entire process

with people who were outside
of the Greek system.

It seemed as though I was
dropped from rush

because of my race,

and "The Machine" was
part of that.

To understand where
"The Machine" came from,

you have to understand where
Alabama was in 1901.

After the Civil War,

after Black people gained
political clout,

essentially the White people of
Alabama said,

"This is crazy, this is wrong,
we can't do this."

So in 1901, they wrote
a constitution

for the specific purpose

of codifying White supremacy
into law.

"The Machine" was formed at
the University of Alabama

for the specific purpose
also of maintaining

the status quo to keep wealthy
White people

in control of government,
in business, and beyond.

Narrator: Many a governor or
senator

has been born in the dorms
and sidewalks of Tuscaloosa.

Yet all but a few have owed
their success in part

to a tradition of membership
in a powerful, secret

all-White political machine.

The way it functions now
is that

most of the fraternities
and sororities at the university

are in "The Machine."

That means they're part of
the system.

They have a couple of
representatives

from the chapter that are
"The Machine" reps.

The term used on campus is
"They go underground."

No one goes to "The Machine"
meetings other than

the representative from each
sorority and fraternity.

And the meetings are shrouded
in mystery.

People who go are not supposed
to talk about

what happens in the meetings.

They didn't want to admit
"The Machine" existed.

They still don't.

"The Machine,"
they decide things.

They decide who the SGA officers
are going to be.

They decide who the Homecoming
Queen is going to be.

They decide who's going
to get tapped

into certain honor societies,

which is a big deal
at Alabama.

They agree on a slate of
candidates,

and they bring back the decision
back to their Greek house,

and you're sort of told
this is who "we're voting for."

For almost every election

regarding campus politics,

it's gonna go to who
"The Machine"

has previously delegated.

It serves as a training ground
for not just how to do politics,

but how to do politics
in a dirty way.

To perpetuate the status quo
of who's in power

and who is not.

I pledged.

It was a "Machine" sorority,
but I mean...

I didn't know at the time.

My boyfriend that I dated
in high school

and the beginning of college
was a Theta Chi,

and Theta Chi at that time

was trying to get
into "The Machine".

So by the time I got to Alabama,

I knew a good bit
about "The Machine,"

although I did not know
the history

and the more serious side to
what "The Machine" is about.

When I was a freshman,

and we were going to vote
for the SGA offices,

they passed out a list
for us to vote for

to take to the polls
with us.

I still did not see
the big picture

of what was going on
until I started writing

for the "Crimson White"
in my junior year.

I found out that there was going
to be a "Machine" meeting

at one of the fraternity
houses.

So we went to stake it out.

People started leaving
the building,

and I started recognizing
the people.

I'm trying to--Start trying to
interview them.

And they lost it.

They started leaving by
the back door

with raincoats over
their heads.

Some of the fraternity guys
followed us back to the...

to the "Crimson White" office
in their cars

and circled the building
for hours.

People involved in
"The Machine"

did work so hard to
keep it a secret.

[car revving]

I felt very unsafe.

[ringing]

I got a lot of weird
phone calls,

a lot of hang-ups.

People quit talking to me,

kinda shunned me,

told me I needed to stop
writing.

And I realized how mad
they really were.

Meanwhile at the "Crimson White"
office,

they had had threats of
violence.

It was a real concern

that something could
happen to you.

And I...
I saw it all.

I saw the dirty politics

and the willingness
to harm people physically

and just the lengths that
people would go to,

to get what they wanted
for "The Machine."

In 1992, Minda Riley decided

as a member of a "Machine"
sorority,

to run for a SGA office,
but she was not the person

selected by "The Machine"
officers.

So she was challenging the very
essence of "The Machine."

It was reported that she was
attacked in her house

and stabbed with a knife to
dissuade her

from running for office.

And that resulted in the
shutdown of the SGA,

the Student Government
Association, for several years.

"The Machine" has behaved with
a level of impunity

that suggests that
they think that

they'll always
get away with it.

It will do whatever is
necessary to maintain

the power that they think
they should have,

including racial terror.

In the mid-1980s,
a cross was burned

on the lawn of a Black sorority
that had been relocated

to what was considered
the White Sorority Row.

In the South, the KKK

used burning crosses
as a threat to Black people.

And so for what happened
at the AKA house,

it was definitely a threat.

"You don't belong here,

and we're willing to try to keep
you away."

They never found who did it,

but the only people who
would be interested

in a Black sorority moving
onto Sorority Row

would be "Machine" people.

It was an honest expression of
what they thought,

which was heinous.

"The Machine," I think,
over the course of generations

has made racial segregation
an important part

of its maintaining
the status quo.

That was especially clear when
you look at

who was in the Greek system,

because it's overwhelmingly
very White,

and always has been.

It's kind of a David and Goliath
kind of situation

because of these racial
incidents.

They involve Greek life.

There's a lot of students
from across campus

who would get really angry
and be like,

"This is how it's been
happening,

and how do we keep
looking away?"

But it wasn't until decades
later that the racism

was given any attention
by the university.

This time, people were
mad enough.

During my sophomore year,

there was this big
racist event.

The N word was written in chalk
all over campus.

But that was not
the only incident.

One of the common experiences
when I was there

was you would get fraternity
brothers who were drunk,

tearing around in their
pickup truck

yelling racial slurs at Black
students who were walking by.

And I had a whole bunch
of friends who...

you know, Black folks
who were like,

"I don't walk behind
Old Row.

"I don't want a racial slur
screamed at me,

and what if they're drunk
enough to do more than that?"

Every time the university would
send out an email

"We do not condone.

"We have not punished
anyone for it,

but we don't condone it."

And that happened over
and over and over.

I started seeing, you know,
people on campus

bringing up, like,
"This is not okay."

So there was...

already some momentum
with that.

In the fall of 2013,
there were conversations

that were happening, saying
that there were

several Black women who were
going to rush this year.

There was one woman in
particular

who seemed particularly
well-suited,

and everybody thought, gosh,
this might be the year that,

you know, an Old Row sorority
integrate.

A Black woman named
Kennedi Cobb

rushed a pretty prestigious
sorority,

and she should have been
a shoe-in for it.

She was someone with all the
right qualifications.

There was no way that not
every single sorority

would want this woman.

In my sorority,
Alpha Omicron Pi,

there were automatic drops
during rush

for certain grade levels.

There were people who would
automatically would get moved on

to the next round because she
knew somebody who knew somebody.

That was sort of
a normal thing.

But it was said specifically,
"And by the way,

"after our philanthropy day,
we do grade drops

and we drop Black women."

I tried to speak about
my concerns

to the alumna who were there,

to the women who we're tasked
with managing the rush process.

I was told...

"We're not being racist.

"We don't just not accept
Black girls,

we also don't take tall girls."

As if that...

made any difference
in any capacity.

My concerns were treated
as if...

it was just a small,
kind of annoyance that I had had

about the rush process.

After the second night of
philanthropy

when we had attended to
work drops,

the conversation reached
sort of an apex.

There was a decision made
to take a vote

within our sorority,
and the vote was...

motion to accept Black women
in the fall of 2013.

There was a vote taken,
and the motion failed,

and we ultimately decided,
as a sorority, collectively,

not to accept Black women...

on purpose.

And I just thought, this is
such [bleep] bull [bleep].

I was...
viscerally angry.

In the days immediately
after rush,

a student newspaper journalist,
Abbey Crain,

was preparing to write
about this.

All of a sudden,
the conversation exploded.

In 2013,

I would say the racial
tensions

were definitely becoming
more overt.

You could see them,
you could hear them.

This girl, Kennedi, she's the
ideal sorority candidate.

When the day came along,
she wasn't there.

And we were all kinda like,
"What? Really?"

I was like,
I know there's a story here,

and I think I can get it.

So I was asking my Greek friends
why she didn't get in.

And a lot of them cited,

"We won't get invited to parties
with the good fraternities."

Or "We may be cut out
of 'The Machine.'"

The most striking thing to me
was that

all the women we talked to
in sororities mentioned alumni.

The amount of power that those
alumni bases have is so

thoroughly woven into the
universities

and the Greek system.

Again, it goes back to
"The Machine"

because "The Machine" is very
much focused on White supremacy.

And they're beholden to the
alumni and donor base

because really what the alumni
offer is protection

through their financial gifts.

At the end of the day,

if the choice is race
or money,

money always wins.
Power always wins.

We decided that we were
gonna write this piece.

By that point, it had
gotten around.

The publishing process
was very intense.

We had sent in what we thought
was the final draft,

and my co-author got
a call from

one of the members of one of the
governing fraternity councils,

and she said,
"I have a check.

How much will it take for you
not to publish this?"

A lot of Greek life is
PR-ing their way out

of these difficult topics.

And I was nervous.

I didn't want them to
have that chance.

Just on the heels of the 50th
anniversary

of Governor George Wallace's
stand in the schoolhouse door

comes segregation allegations

on the University of Alabama
campus.

Recent allegations of racial
segregation in sororities

at the University of Alabama
continue to send shockwaves

throughout the nation.

Abbey Crain and Matthew Ford,
two editors of the campus paper,

broke the story on Wednesday,

and it is fueling conversation
beyond the campus.

Even the governor is
weighing in.

It's not the students,
it's the alumni.

Personally, I think they need
to change their attitude.

Abbey wrote this article,

and there was talk
all over campus about this.

The national news came down.

They were knocking on
sorority doors.

Sororities were texting me
and telling me that

"You don't know what you did."

This was the biggest deal,

to go against the community
publicly.

I remember I called my dad,
and he...

I'd never seen him be
serious like that.

He was like,
"You don't know.

"You don't know what
you're messing with.

Like that's--You're kicking
the beehive."

Like, he was scared for me.

I think people were definitely
scared of retribution.

But something had to happen.

The student body newspaper,
"The Crimson White,"

was deeply influential in things
that were going on on campus.

Abbey's article ignited
a conversation

that maybe the university could,
in fact,

be motivated in some way
to step in.

I started to meet other
sorority women

who were grappling with racism
in the White Greek system.

They were interested in trying
to do something about this.

These women that I had met
ultimately decided

that they wanted to do this
rally that was on the steps

of the main administrative
building

and said we'd like to have
a woman

who was actually in
a sorority speak.

You're not allowed to speak
to the press

when you're in your sorority.

So I still felt,
in some capacity,

tied and loyal to my sorority.

But I thought, maybe those
other girls in the sorority

who I haven't met who do
agree with me.

I said, "I'll do it."

On the day of the rally,

we came, streaming
across campus.

Showed up on the marble steps
of the library,

unfurled a banner.

Reporter: Hundreds of people
gathered at Gorgas Library

this morning to rally against
the recent segregation

allegations in sororities
on UA's campus.

There were several hundred
people

who were really angry about the
way that things had gone,

who wanted to say that
"We're here,

"and you can't pretend that this
is just a Greek matter.

"This is a University of Alabama
matter,

and we're not going to
stand for it."

Institutionalized racism has
been allowed to

sort of fester on our campus.

This has long been a taboo
subject, shrouded in fear.

Reporter: Participants marched
behind students

holding a sigh that read

"The final stand in
the schoolhouse door."

We felt like we needed to
put a rally on

to show that the students
of this campus

are ready for segregation and
institutionalized racism

to end on this campus.

I'm here to stand
to make sure that

no one has to deal with racism
in the Greek system,

or has to deal with
any kind of racism

for any purpose or reason.

"As we take a new stand
in the schoolhouse doors,

"to clearly demonstrated that
we, as a community,

"do not tolerate preferred or
institutionalized racism

"on our campus.

"I'm Yardena Wolf, a sophomore
majoring in political science

"and a member of
Alpha Omicron Pi.

"Although I'm not speaking on
behalf of my sorority,

I am speaking out as a member
of the Greek community."

I received several anonymous
phone calls to my phone

that were varying degrees
of threatening.

Campus police helped with
protection for several days.

But I was heartened
by the fact that

there were many students who
were willing to speak up

and to move things in
the right direction.

"We have started to create
an environment and community

"where we can support one
another as members

of the University of Alabama
student body."

[cheering]

I remember it feeling
very powerful.

Sometimes you write a story
and it just kinda goes

into the world and it just
fizzles out.

And this, it didn't.

Almost immediately,

there were calls from
the "New York Times,"

from "Time" magazine.

There was a long-form piece
that was written about it.

There was a lot of national
pressure to do something.

President Judy Bonner
released a video today

acknowledging campus sororities
have used race

to make decisions
on new members,

and she is ordering changes.

The University of Alabama
will not tolerate

discrimination of any kind.

The chapter members are ready
to move forward.

The University of Alabama
will support them

in every way possible.

In 2013 is when they started
documenting the racial makeup

of the recruitment process

and then the makeup of the
eventual rush classes.

They released a press release
that, like,

every sorority on campus
had accepted

two or three minority students.

In 2015, Elliott Spillers,

who became the first Black
SGA president in decades,

and he did that, partially,
by flipping some Greek houses

that were very unhappy with the
way that "The Machine"

had been running things.

The issue of race and sororities
at Alabama,

I would like to think is
a thing of the past.

But changes in these
organizations

can be especially difficult.

My name's Makayla Culpepper.
I'm from Pickard, Alabama.

I live, like, in the same house
my whole life.

I'm bi-racial.

I was adopted,

and my mom was in the delivery
room with me when I was born.

Going in to the University of
Alabama,

and you're in all these,
like, group chats

of, like, meeting people that
are gonna be in your class.

The first question the girls
would ask you would be, like,

"Are you rushing?"

'Cause they're telling you
you're gonna meet

so many great friends,

like, you're gonna meet your
bridesmaids.

It just makes everything sound
like if you're in a sorority,

you're just gonna be having
the best college experience.

So it's just like
one of those things.

And I was like, well, get out
of my comfort zone.

I'll meet a lot of people,
that, like,

I would have never met before.

Like, I felt everything was
just gonna be perfect.

Like...
It was not.

I do believe that if I
was White,

we wouldn't have had
the same issues.

The week before rush,
I was so excited.

My rush resume I felt was
pretty detailed.

I had a really high GPA
in high school.

I had all cards, like,
green light, go.

[indistinct]

This hat is from JCPenny.

I was getting, like,
my eyebrows done,

my eyelashes redone,
my extensions redone.

There's certain rules that
we had to follow in rush.

They tell you to stay away from
three things:

boys, Biden, and the Bible.

You have to dress a certain way,
act a certain way.

So you have two options.

I posted TikToks, leading up
to rush.

It was like, "I have this
dress."

Like, what shoes?
I gave them shoe options.

People really like that.

What shoes are we liking better?

These that kinda go up,
like that?

Or do we like these better?

I probably started with
around 600 followers.

This? Blue--[indistinct].
Pockets.

By the end of rush,

I had, like,
250,000 followers,

just from, like,
that week.

I have been keeping up with
this girl's

entire rush experience,

and she got these shoes.

So what did I do?

I got them.

Makayla Culpepper was a
kind of a phenom

that swept Bama rush
several years ago.

Reporter: The hashtag
Bama Rush Roll Tide.

This is trending on
social media

with videos like these,

showing students at the
University of Alabama

getting ready for rush week.

When I first heard about
the Bama Rush TikTok...

Both: Bama Rush Day One,
OOTD.

I remember thinking,
"Oh, my gosh.

Rush is making
national news."

It was a frenzy.
People were talking about it.

I was getting texts from people
that I hadn't heard from

the sorority.

Sorority rush is such a deal
right now.

TikTok started blowing up.

The hashtag Bama Rush.

Okay, so hear me out,
hear me out.

I'm rushing tomorrow.

Good morning, guys.
It's preference round day.

Bama Rush TikTok has given us
a window in a world

that most people
didn't know existed.

It's finally prep day,

and then tomorrow's
the big day.

We are so excited,
aren't we?

You're watching these women,

and it's almost like sitting
front row

to an amazing soap opera,

and you wanna know
how it's gonna end.

It's like anything else
in reality TV.

It's this huge phenomenal,
bright,

dazzling explosion
of colors and exuberance.

But it might be
a little too much.

I did follow Bama Rush
on TikTok.

I remember Makayla being
one of the only...

maybe the only person
of color I saw.

But that wasn't weird

because this has been happening
for decades.

When I first started
the Rush Week,

I was so, so excited.

I was living on campus.

My first time, like,
away from home.

I had a good roommate.

I felt like everything was
just gonna be perfect.

Until I got my first round
of houses back,

and I had so much less
than all my friends.

I only had a fraction
of the houses

that I was supposed
to get back.

The first round, I had,
like, five.

And then the next round,

you have around, like,
six or seven.

And I...already shot down
to three.

And usually you got three
numbers

when you have, like, the last
round, which is pref.

You have one, two, three
options.

I was like, what's going on?

So my friends are already
at their houses.

They had theirs in the morning.
I have mine in the afternoon.

And I'll preface this by saying
I had no houses yesterday.

I felt like,
I'm beeing singled out.

I was so confused.

This stuff isn't adding up.

Like, I've never had more stress
in my life.

I had so much anxiety
about it.

I filmed TikToks this
whole entire time.

I loved interacting with
everyone.

I thought it was so fun.

But they were so concerned
over, like,

what my race was.

And that was so crazy to me.

A girl commented and asked,
what tan are you?

And that's what started
the debate.

I was, like, I just wanna
clarify that I am mixed,

and I've never tried to
deceive you.

I never said that I was White.

I just wanna clarify.
I am mixed.

So everyone trying
to cancel me for that...

and being historic is
kinda dumb.

I'm not sure even why
that matters.

It's like, I'm gonna show you
all my outfits.

I never had anyone ever make
comments about my race.

I got called in for a meeting

with the Panhellenic
Association.

They brought me in
and were like,

"You need to stop
making TikToks."

So, these little shorts
are from Poshmark.

They're very cool,
I'm pretty sure.

This is a little tank.

Everyone else was
still posting,

and I talked to all my friends,
and they're like,

"Oh, we never got
told that."

I'm so confused.

I was like, okay, well, I'm not
gonna be singled out.

I'm just gonna keep
doing it.

So, hey, y'all.

I forgot my hair was
down and pretty.

[indistinct]

Before I could even
get out of bed,

I get a phone call from
my Roi Chi.

She goes, "I'm sorry to
tell you this,

"but you've been dropped from
formal sorority recruitment

at the University of Alabama."

After I got dropped,
I start crying.

I don't even know
what happened.

I'm texting everyone, trying to
get down to...

why I was dropped.

No one gave me
a definite answer.

Literally when I got up at
6:00 in the morning

and found out that I didn't
get a bid

and I wasn't gonna make it,
I was like,

I'm coming to Birmingham.

[indistinct]
I've been banned from posting.

But I'm just gonna go over
a couple things

and then we're done with this
conversation,

and we're moving on, y'all.

The first few months
after I was dropped

were so intense 'cause
they're always,

"Oh, you're the girl that
got dropped."

Like, I was literally, like,
blacklisted.

I think it was just
too much for me.

I think they knew that
I was gonna be dropped

and that they didn't want it
to blow up

that I was gonna be dropped,
so they're telling me to stop

making videos because you're not
gonna be here for long.

And I wanna tell every girl
at Alabama

and any girl at any sorority
right now, happy bid day

and I hope you have fun
during rush.

I remember seeing Makayla
got cut,

which, of course, you know,
my...

Spidey senses was like,
okay, what happened?

Did this really happen again?

It just shows how Black women,
women of color,

have to work twice as hard
to have the same standard

that White women do.

These groups are really trying
to keep women of color

out of their organizations.

And I think, looking at the
stats and the figures

and even the makeup of
the organizations

can tell you that story
pretty clearly.

The fact that Makayla
was dropped from rush,

I didn't really know
what to make of it.

Honestly, I kinda felt like
being bi-racial in 2021,

it seem like that should have
been a selling point.

Racism at this institution
is alive and well.

And who's gonna check that?

It is sickening that this is
still a problem at Alabama,

and there's no end in sight.

In 2023, the University of
Alabama reported that

13% of the women who joined
sororities

identified as an ethnic
minority,

and that's up 4% from 2022.

The data would suggest that
there's still some...

some room for growth there.

When you look at the University
of Alabama

and you see the history of
racism,

the lack of diversity,

it's about maintaining
a power,

and a power means not looking
at ourselves

and not looking at our past.

When you have a system that only
allows White men to thrive,

then you have
a breeding ground

to pit marginalized groups
against one another.

And so all you can do
in that moment

is hold on as tightly
as you possibly can

to any level of proximity
to power.

As these sorority women were
making their decision,

they're understanding
a perceived power

was the fraternities.

It was being slated in
"Machine"-backed SGA elections,

because it was what
is gonna get them

to their jobs after college.

There are a lot of people
in the world

who want to turn their
hands of time backwards

and preserve a time of what
we once were

and how things were run
before everything changed.

We will not sacrifice
our children

to any such type school system,

and you can write that down.

[cheering]

I ended up dropping out of
the University of Alabama.

I was just so uncomfortable
with, like,

everyone staring at me when I
was, like, walking around.

I was like, okay, we're gonna
have to leave.

I do see my friends going
and doing sorority stuff,

and I feel left out,
but it's also, like,

it put me on a fast start to
what I wanna do in life.

Like, I got my real estate
license.

I opened up my own
online boutique,

and I'm glad that I've
moved past it,

and I'm really happy with what
I am in life now.

In the fall of 2013, I had moved
out of the sorority house.

I had horrible experiences.

I had a girl bump into me

and purposely spill her drink
on my shirt and say,

"There's the sister
who betrayed us."

It was just made very clear that
I was no longer welcome there.

But I got a different
sisterhood

from these other women
who decided to speak up,

and those are the people who I
became friends with

for the rest of my
college experience.

I imagine that in 2023 that
there are women

who will be willing
to be do the same.

If there is a girl
who's sitting there

who's not sure if they're asking
the right questions

or taking the right action,

I don't want there to be
a void for her.

I want her to know that
there are people

who have walked in her shoes
and know that

she's doing the right thing.

Captioning provided by
A&E Networks.