An allegation of a sorority at Mississippi State University barring an black student from joining, even though she “was qualified to be in the sorority,” appeared in the Dallas Morning News’s letters to the editor section on Sept. 18. 
Bill Kibler, vice president for Student Affairs, said allegations of racism within the Greek system are rare, but MSU investigates the claims. In regards to the allegation in the Dallas Morning News, Kibler said MSU investigated it to the extent it could.
“First of all, (the author) didn’t identify the time frame. They could be writing as if it were two weeks ago, and it might have been two years ago. They didn’t identify the chapter. They didn’t identify the student or any of that,” he said.
In his 10 years at MSU dealing with allegations, Kibler said MSU discovered students vying for membership in the Greek system were denied because of low grades. 
“We’ve had no allegation that has been found to be correct of any racial discrimination, for instance, in the membership selection process here at Mississippi State,” he said. “We’ve not had that. We’ve had our share of rules violated by our Greek organizations in the 10 years I’ve been here, but none based on racial discrimination.”
Kibler said MSU works side-by-side with Greek national organizations during student misconduct investigations. National organizations must reflect MSU’s nondiscrimination policy, which states MSU “is committed to preventing (discrimination) and stopping (discrimination) whenever it may occur at the University or in its programs.”
“(Greek organizations) have grade standards, but they’re not going to deny a member based on their race alone,” Kibler said.
Due to a federal law that protects student privacy, MSU cannot share one student’s grades with another. Kibler brought up a case in which a student was denied Greek membership because of his or her grades. Advisers to the Greek system know information about which students meet their screening criteria and can deny a student membership on these bases. 
“The adviser to the Greek system would be given a list to say, ‘Out of all the potential new members, we’ve got six that have inadequate grades, and we have four that have a conduct record, so they are currently on probation at Mississippi State,’” he said. “So all the chapter knows is that this person was not allowed to become a member.”
Kibler said challenges arise, but MSU always falls on the side of protecting the confidential records of a student.
“We really can’t control what may be incorrect assumptions that someone who doesn’t actually know what caused that decision to be made,” he said. “That’s different than some of the allegations we’re reading about in the paper.”
According to data from Kibler, five percent of members in historically white fraternities are non-white while four-and-a-half percent of members in historically white sororities are non-white. 
“What I was actually pleased with was the fact that every single chapter showed up on the list of who had non-white members in their organizations,” Kibler said. “The fact that we have five percent, I hope that in 10 years, it’ll be bigger than that. But it’s not just five percent because we have three chapters that have a lot and the rest don’t have any. They are dispersed throughout the entire system.”
Kibler said MSU promotes diversity through the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, which works with diversity issues and raises awareness across campus. 
Jackie Mullen, director of Student Activities, said in an email the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, along with the Greek Leaders Conference Committee, hosts an annual Greek Leaders Conference every year that includes diversity sessions, and all three Greek councils attend regional conferences that highlight topics including diversity within the Greek system.
“Throughout the year, many of our chapters host programs that promote diversity and unity on the campus of MSU,” she said. “During our recruitment training of our recruitment counselors with IFC and Panhellenic, they undergo diversity training.”
Matthew Hughey, former MSU sociology professor and associate professor of sociology at University of Connecticut, said predominately white Greek organizations are a product of white-only exclusion policies that were in many organizations’ constitutions. 
“Greek letter organizations function as networks for the white elite. Members are often pledged into organizations and end up being senators, representatives, judges, mayors,” he said. “It’s literally a networking system that reproduces their higher status and resources.”
Hughey said other organizations like African-American Greek organizations were created after exclusion from white Greek organizations.
Regarding the Greek system, Hughey said people fixate on the notion of segregation, but he said acknowledging togetherness and separation is as important as recognizing equality, justice and resourcing.
“When we look at the Greek letter system, anywhere that you look, you find that white Greek letter organizations often have subsidized housing and high-quality housing at that, if you take for example, the mansions at MSU,” Hughey said.
He said African-American, Latino and Asian Greek organizations lack sufficient membership or a pool of traditional membership to be able to have homes and resources like traditionally white Greek organizations.
“On top of that, the Greek affairs offices that exist often ignore or marginalize non-white fraternities and sororities and simply fail to possess the resources that Asian, black or Latino Greek letter organizations might need or want,” Hughey said.
Eddie Keith, associate dean of students, said he grew up during a time when high schools were completely segregated. When his generation came to college from these environments, he said they created segregated academics.  
During his time at MSU, Keith said he has seen important roles filled by African-American students like Student Association president and homecoming queen, but challenges still exist. 
On his walks across campus, Keith said he sees African-American, white and international students engage in conversation, sit down to drink coffee and have meals together.
“You think, ‘Gee, we’ve come a long way,’” he said. “And then you keep your ears open, and you wander around campus and hear some of the things you hear, and you think, ‘Man, we’ve got a long way to go.’”