“Awesome. Aristocratic. Arrogant.” So reads the slogan of the Northwestern University chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., the first intercollegiate African-American Greek organization. The Alpha Mu chapter’s motto definitely strikes a different tone than the national brotherhood’s commitment to “Manly Deeds, Scholarship and Love for All Mankind.”
Members of Alpha Phi Alpha include African-American luminaries such as Jesse Owens, W.E.B. Dubois and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As Martin Luther King, Jr. Day approaches, it’s worth asking if Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs) are upholding the academic and political goals those leaders embodied.
“I definitely think Martin Luther King would be more than proud of what the organization is doing nationally and locally,” said Royel Johnson, president of Alpha Phi Alpha’s Tau chapter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
The Tau chapter worked with the university to schedule lectures, movies and a day of service to mark the upcoming Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, said Johnson, who is majoring in political science at UIUC. Johnson also planned minority achievement awards, monthly volunteering and a new event last fall aimed at mending ties between minorities on campus.
Life Alpha Phi Alpha brother Gregory Parks, editor of multiple books on African-American fraternities and sororities including Black Greek Letter Organizations in the 21st Century, said he is disappointed by the rarity of such outreach and thinks “most members would consider current BGLOs irrelevant.“
“Even though they have a lot to offer the communities which they serve, I think a large part of the original mission has been lost,” said Parks, who noted a focus on social prominence at the expense of serving and educating the campus.
At Northwestern, the Alpha Mu chapter has planned a candlelight vigil and speaker for the holiday. The fraternity has observed the vigil for decades, said chapter president and SESP senior Brandon Brooks. “We don’t really announce when we do service. There would probably be countless hours of community service on the books. It fulfills tenets, it fulfills our mission,” said Brooks, who is studying learning and organizational change.
The Alpha Mu chapter held its annual Scholarship Ball in the fall and volunteered at various events, though Brooks could not name any outreach his chapter was planning that it had not done in years past. “We’re trying to spread ourselves more, but at the end of the day we understand there are only so many things we can do,” added Brooks.
Part of the emphasis on social events and performances by fraternity step lines comes from a newfound freedom to focus on more than studying, said Professor Clarenda Phillips, who teaches sociology at Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky.
“In the beginning of the twentieth century, African-American students could not afford to be distracted from their studies because it was such a rare opportunity,” said Phillips, a co-editor of African American Fraternities and Sororities: The Legacy and the Vision.
“You can judge what a person values, what a group values by where they spend their money and their effort. If it’s the case that students who join BGLOs spend more time on step shows than studies or community service, then that shows what they value,” said Phillips.
The original version of this article referred to Alpha Phi Alpha chapter at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the “Tao chapter,” rather than the correct “Tau chapter.” Thank you to commenter Brandon Brooks for the correction. North by Northwestern regrets the error.