Via Drudge, I see that the boys of Kappa Alpha at the University of Alabama have gotten into a little bit of hot water for marching past the black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha during AKA's 35th anniversary celebration. Oh, did I mention that the KA boys were dressed in Confederate uniforms and were waving Confederate battle flags? It was all part of KA's "Old South" festivities, which, unfortunately, fell on the same day as AKA's 35th anniversary party. Of course, as the article on the controversy points out, most KA chapters at other schools gave up their "Old South" festivities--or at least gave up the Confederate symbols they used to bring out for them--in deference to those who were offended by those symbols. But not in Tuscaloosa, evidently. Why am I not surprised?
There's a long, ugly history of this sort of thing at the University of Alabama, which has one of the most racially segregated (and racially polarized) Greek systems of any school in the country. (AKA, for instance, once had a cross burned on its front lawn.) It's a history I learned a lot about a few years back when I wrote a story about what happened when a black University of Alabama student tried to join a white sorority. If you're interested, you can read the story here.
--Jason Zengerle