No this is not a scene from the movie Legally Blonde! A sorority recruitment video beckons us into its bleached-blonde, white-skinned universe and presents it as a place full of beauty and void of substance. But now that sorority is distancing itself from the video after an online backlash.
The University of Alabama’s Alpha Phi chapter presumably wanted prospective sorority members to think its members are the coolest, prettiest, most sisterly girls on campus. To get the message across, the sorority created the video below for its upcoming bid day.
The video quickly received a barrage of negative attention, prompting the sorority to take down the video, and make its Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts all private. But before it was taken down, the video was re-posted by others so that this all natural shampoo-commercial-on-steroids could live on.
Alabama’s Associate Vice President for University of Relations Deborah Lane responded to the homogeneous video in a statement on Saturday
This video is not reflective of UA’s expectations for student organizations to be responsible digital citizens. It is important for student organizations to remember what is posted on social media makes a difference, today and tomorrow, on how they are viewed and perceived.
A university press release stated that some 2,400 female students signed up to get into one of Alabama’s sororities. And they said it was their most diverse group yet.
“Of the total number of women who accepted bids, 214 were minorities, a number that increased by nearly 13 percent,” the release states. “And, the number of African American students who received bids increased by 19 percent, to 25.”
Hardly a triumphant day for diversity. But the school seems pretty psyched about it.
What do you think about the video?
