Alpha Phi members speak out about alleged racism in recruitment process

One of three Alpha Phi International Fraternity representatives who assisted in the UC Santa Barbara chapter’s fall recruitment, allegedly discriminated against women of color, according to chapter members. The representative was subsequently removed from her position while the other two remained to assist the chapter as it took control of the recruitment process.

In an interview with the Daily Nexus, Alpha Phi President Alana Nielsen, a fourth-year political science and sociology double major, explained that every year, Alpha Phi International Fraternity, the central governing organization for all Alpha Phi chapters, sends representatives to help the UCSB chapter run its fall recruitment. This year, a volunteer recruitment advisor and two educational leadership consultants (ELCs) aided the chapter. 

“There was a very real difference in experience and authority, and we trusted them,” Nielsen said.

Director of Primary Recruitment and third-year chemistry major Emerson Novosel noted that the volunteer recruitment advisor is a UCSB Alpha Phi alumna and has helped with chapter recruitment for the past two years. 

On Sept. 26, following the first round of recruitment, known as Open House, where potential members (PMs) are introduced to every sorority, Alpha Phi members wrote down how they felt about each PM they met, then gave the papers with their comments and scores to the representatives. At that point, Nielsen said that the representatives told the entire chapter to “go home” while they decided which PMs to invite back for the next round.

According to Nielsen and other members interviewed by the Nexus, they believed at the time that the representatives would only use members’ “scoring” of PMs to decide who to invite back.

On Sept. 27, the next round of recruitment, known as Impact, began and “something clearly felt very different and off,” Nielsen noted.

“There was a large and noticeably diverse group of women who were missing from the pool of potential new members that had returned,” Nielsen said. “Collectively, our members felt this way: that those women did not reflect the women that we had actually scored and wanted to see returned.” 

Nielsen said this was particularly confusing, as members had been told that a “record breaking” number of PMs, roughly 90%, mutually wanted to return to Alpha Phi.

The representatives also decided which members to place in recruitment  groups, known as Bump Groups, that would speak with PMs. Alpha Phi members interviewed by the Nexus said they began noticing that women of color were being left out or placed in fewer rounds compared to white members. 

“All of us started to notice,” Nielsen said. “It was not just one. It was not just a few. It was not just the women of color. It was all of us.”

Alpha Phi member and third-year political science major Sky Achola said she first noticed when her and three other women of color in her “sorority family” weren’t placed in almost any Bump Groups while her white “little,” another member under her mentorship, was.

“I actually personally was in a state of shock for about three days,” Achola said. 

Near the end of the Impact round, Nielsen said she approached one of the ELCs to ask for a chapter-wide meeting regarding members’ concerns, to which she was told “that was not necessary” and to end on a “happy note.”

Following this, Nielsen gathered members, many of whom had been crying upstairs, in the house’s chapter room to confront the representatives. 

“The recruitment team tried to start the conversation on a happy note,” Nielsen said. “The members had reached their limit and it was so clear.” 

At that point, members stood up to tell the representatives how they felt and demanded transparency.

“Girls [were] standing up screaming,” Novosel said. “It [was] like a revolution happening right now. Like standing up, crying, screaming, and I had never felt so empowered.”

After trying to stop the meeting, the Volunteer Recruitment Advisor left the room and said that it was “not an appropriate outlet,” according to Novosel. Achola said that she viewed the advisor’s reaction to the meeting as “a sign of guilt.”

Following the chapter room meeting, Novosel and the other director of recruitment met with the ELCs and determined that the advisor was responsible for selecting PMs to invite back and the creation of Bump Groups. The advisor was removed from her position shortly after the meeting.

“It had [become] so disgustingly clear how it was just manipulation, just blatant manipulation to every part of the process with whatever her hidden agenda is,” Novosel said.

With the advisor gone, the chapter placed itself in charge of recruitment with help from the ELCs. Novosel said that PMs invited back for the last round of recruitment on Oct.3 were “blindly paired” with members based on their interests.

On Oct. 1, chapter members released a collective statement on the anonymous Instagram account “voicesofapucsb.”

“We have chosen to remain in the recruitment process because we believe that our members have the power to create meaningful change from within,” the statement reads. “Stepping away would mean giving up our opportunity to advocate for the sisters and future members of this chapter, it would mean silencing our voices, and setting a precedent for being punished for speaking out for change.

Novosel explained that they chose to not release their statement on the official Alpha Phi Instagram account and keep the phrasing “broad” because they were worried Alpha Phi International would send a cease and desist letter.

Although Novosel acknowledged that recruitment last year was “slightly unfair” because some members had more opportunities to speak with PMs, she believes it was “not to the extent that it was this year.”

“As our entire chapter has come together … we’ve reviewed all of last year and it’s clear that that was very much present last year too,” Novosel said. “Girls of color have finally had the chance to speak out about it as they didn’t last year.”

Nielsen said that chapter executives would have done something to prevent the situation, but their trust in the representatives made them decide to not question the process until later. She said that she does not expect Internationals to be involved with the chapter’s recruitment next year. 

“That’s going to be a relationship that’s going to take a long time to repair,” Nielsen said.

Two representatives with the Alpha Phi International Fraternity Health, Wellness and Accountability Department have since met with Nielsen and attended a chapter meeting on Oct. 5 to discuss the incident. Nielsen said she and the chapter plan to collect members’ statements about the situation and send them to Internationals.

Alpha Phi International Fraternity did not return the Nexus’ multiple requests for comment.

Going forward, the main way for PMs, who may have been racially discriminated against, to join the chapter is through Continuous Open Bidding (C.O.B.), where PMs informally speak with a member to determine if they would fit the chapter. However, Alpha Phi does not know how many C.O.B. spots they will have because it is determined by UCSB Panhellenic, the governing body for campus sororities, based on how many spots in the chapter are left unfilled after recruitment. 

Novosel noted that because the chapter has filled its quota of spots this year, it may not be able to offer C.O.B., but they have collected a list of PMs members “loved” that were not invited back and she hopes to offer spots to as many as possible. Nielsen added that if Alpha Phi is eligible for C.O.B., UCSB Panhellenic will reach out to every PM that did not receive a bid, or an invitation to join a sorority.

Alpha Phi members interviewed acknowledged that sororities and fraternities have extensive histories of racism and exclusion, and this year’s recruitment highlights larger systemic issues. 

“The sorority system started on a system of systemic racism, and to pretend like it didn’t would be like brushing [it] off,” Nielsen said. “We’re still so far from perfect, and our goal in this is to ultimately empower others to look inwards and see how they can change their systems in one way or another.”

According to Nielsen, UCSB Panhellenic wanted Alpha Phi to pull itself out of recruitment following the allegations of racial discrimination. She extended an apology to all PMs that may have been discriminated against and said she is committed to changing how recruitment is done moving forward, but she feels her sorority shouldn’t be punished.

“You hear a sorority name and you hear racism attached to it and you only think the worst of the worst,” Nielsen said. “And of course, you would think, ‘well, punishment needs to be done.’ But if you were to sit down and talk to one of our members and hear exactly what the full story of what happened … I think you would think differently and your mind would change.”

Achola emphasized the pain she and other women of color in the chapter felt throughout recruitment.

“We were extremely hurt by this entire thing. We were discriminated against. We were tokenized. We were used,” Achola said. “I just want people to remember to have grace. Take things one at a time, don’t necessarily just believe rumors. We are trying. We are trying to make a difference.”

A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the Oct. 8 print edition of the Daily Nexus.