Ole Miss Integrates Fraternity Row In Aftermath of Racial Incident

When arsonists destroyed the all-Black Phi Beta Sigma fraternity this summer, Ole Miss rose up in arms.

Twenty-six years after the University of Mississippi was forced to admit Blacks, students and administration are rallying around the victimized fraternity, raising money and helping it move into a new house along the previously all-white fraternity row.

So far, $16,000 has been collected to renovate the fraternity's new house. The other Greek societies at the university voted to donate $100 to the fund, and an alumnus has anonymously underwritten a $100,000 mortgage for the house. A $6000 reward is being offered by the university for the arrest and prosecution of the arsonist.

Administrators and students say while the arson is evidence that racism remains a problem at Ole Miss, it has helped bring needed attention to the problem. "The attitude on campus toward integration has changed very slowly," said Associate Dean of Students Thomas J. "Rusty" Reardon, who has held the post for 11 years. "Racism is very subtle. This was an opportunity for students to see how ugly and brutal racism really is."

Bernard Cowles, a member of Phi Delta Theta which is adjacent to the new Black fraternity house, agreed. "There is lots of racism. Usually nothing you can see visibly, but you can feel it--my gosh, was it expressed last month."

What seems to have surprised observers is the speed with which the student body rushed to help the Black fraternity. "It was really amazing, the reaction of the campus," said Reardon. "It became a focal point of the university to react to the incident. All the white fraternities turned out and really, really took the initiative, helping them move in and raising money."

Like many other colleges, such as MIT and the University of Virginia, the vast majority of fraternities and sororities at Ole Miss are still all-Black or all-white. The 13-year-old Phi Beta Sigma is the only Black fraternity to have its own house. It became the first Black fraternity on campus when it was founded in 1975. There are now three Black sororities and four Black fraternities.

About 40 percent of Ole Miss students are members of fraternities and sororities.

According to Reardon, the newer fraternities and sororities do not yet have houses because most houses are paid for by the individual chapters and alumni, of which a young fraternity has few.

Reardon said that there are one or two integrated fraternities, but Cowles said he had not heard of them. Most segregation, he said, is voluntary. "There have been no moves to have [integrated fraternities], but no moves not to. Black students don't come through white rush. They are more than welcome to come, but it seems as if most people choose fraternities because of what they have in common with the members.

Cowles said his fraternity would not discriminate against Blacks. "In choosing members we would look at them just like anybody else."

Senior Kelley Gulley, president of the sorority Delta Gamma, said that "there is not a lot of racism on campus...There are are no integrated sororities, but it hasn't been a problem." She added that two Black women had rushed for her sorority this fall, but neither is currently a member.

The arson incident sparked a rush of efforts at improving Black-white relations at the university. This weekend, the school is sponsoring a retreat, "In Terms of Black and White," in which students will discuss racial relations.

Since the Ole Miss student body is only 6.6 percent Black in a state that is 36 percent Black, the Student Government Association is mostly made up of white students. Last year, the first Black was elected to a major leadership post.

"We've operated, unfortunately, in two parallel lines of leadership," one Black, and one white, said Reardon. "Now they are converging and the leaderships are coming together."

"As I read about the problems of racism on [northern] campuses, I realize that because of the long experience we've had with racism here, our history is more amenable to solving problems," he said. "We are not going to run into much that we haven't in the past."