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Hello listeners. While colleges

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revered as a beacon of

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integrity and excellence, and a

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place where history often begins,

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sometimes that history is deliberately

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hidden. Each week on campus

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files, we dig into the

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archives to reveal the complicated

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and often overlooked reality of

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life across American colleges and

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universities. From admissions to sports

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to Greek life, Each episode

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of Campus Files

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tells the origin

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story of a

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scandal woven into

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the fabric of the

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institution's legacy.

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These are the stories

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you won't hear on

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the campus tours.

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Enjoy this preview

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and be sure to

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check out Campus Files

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wherever you get your

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podcasts. segregation to Mara

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and segregation forever. The

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University of Alabama is the site

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of one of the most famous

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moments in the history of

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the Civil Rights era. In

1:10

1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace

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defiantly stood in the

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doorway of the University Auditorium.

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He was symbolically trying to

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block black students from

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desegregating the university

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the university. As Governor

1:26

and Chief Magistrate of the State

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of Alabama, I deem it

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to be my solemn obligation in

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duty to stand before you, representing

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the rights and sovereignty of

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this state and its people.

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Despite George Wallace's attempts,

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the black students ultimately

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enrolled and made history. Fast

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forward 50 years, and history was

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set to be made again at

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the University of Alabama, this

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time in the sorority system. because

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at the start of 2013,

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during Abby's senior year, There

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was buzz around campus about

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a standout candidate for sorority

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recruitment. Her name was Kennedy

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and she was black. Abby

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says that Kennedy had everything

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sororities at Alabama typically looked

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for. A 4.3 GPA salutatorian

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of her high school class

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and her grandfather was a

2:18

prominent Alabama judge who even

2:20

served on the University Board

2:22

of Trustees. Everyone's like this

2:25

girl. She is well connected.

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She has these great grades.

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People in Tuscaloosa love her.

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She has a bunch of

2:33

friends in the sororities. The

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student paper, The Crimson White,

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was gearing up to write

2:39

a story about Kennedy's acceptance.

2:41

It was expected to be

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this like celebratory story. Everyone's

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like, this is going to

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be a big deal. She's

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going to be the girl

2:52

that changes things. The Crimson

2:54

White even had a photographer

2:56

ready to capture the moment

2:58

on bid day. The day

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when sororities extend invitations or

3:02

bids to freshmen, bid day

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is a big deal. All

3:06

the families come out and

3:08

everyone's cheering for the girls

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that are running to each

3:13

house and boys and fraternities

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are handing them flowers. It's

3:17

a community social thing to

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be celebrated. But bid day

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2013 didn't bring the anticipated

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celebration. Because Kennedy didn't get

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a bid from a single

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one of the 16 sororities.

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Everyone was just really surprised

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and people were whispering like,

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wow, something definitely happened. Abby

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had since dropped out of

3:38

her sorority Alpha Gamma Delta,

3:40

so she wasn't in the

3:42

loop about what had happened.

3:44

She started reaching out to

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a few old sorority sisters,

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but no one was willing

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to talk to the paper.

3:52

Then she remembered a girl

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in the sorority named Melanie.

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She was one of the

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few... out of state girls

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in our pledge class. She

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was from Texas. You don't

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think of bastion of liberal ideas

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Texas, but she grew up in

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a city. And so she came

4:11

not caring about the social dues

4:13

and don'ts or the proper etiquette

4:16

stuff. And I was like, well,

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if there was someone in that

4:20

house who had something to say

4:22

about it would have probably been

4:24

her. Abby was right. Melanie was

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willing to talk, and she shared

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everything that had gone down in

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Alpha Gamma Delta. She said the

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first round of rush had gone

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as usual. Two days of nonstop

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conversations with freshmen. But then, things

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got strange. The Alpha Gamma sisters

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were supposed to vote on which

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freshmen to invite back for the

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next round. But that's when they

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heard from their alumni that there

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would be no vote. The alumni

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had already decided who would be

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invited who would be invited back.

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As odd as it may seem,

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it's not unusual for sorority alumni,

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often middle-aged women, to have a

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say in which girls get bids.

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But in this case, the alumni

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have decided to eliminate Kennedy without

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the usual discussion and input from

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the current sorority members. Here's Melanie.

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I'm a senior at this point.

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I don't, like, we're very low

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involvement in the rush process. So

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I'm like very not involved but

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I live in the house at

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this time so I'm hanging out

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at the house and there's like

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girls crying and just like really

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upset and this one girl I'm

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close with that's younger was like

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did you hear like you know

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there's like this girl that everyone

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wants this black girl and like

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they're not taking because she's black

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like they're automatically mixing her and

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everyone's like isn't that crazy and

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it's not going to be talked

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about so I'm like getting fired

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up. That evening alumni

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held a meeting with the sorority

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members to discuss the next round

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of rush at first the conversation

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carefully sidestepped the elephant in the

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room. They don't want this to

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be discussed. They just are kind

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of like moving things along and

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they're like okay and we're gonna

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do this and this and you

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know this wraps up a great

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day and I was like are

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we not going to talk about

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the black girl that everyone has

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been talking about in the house

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all day? The room fell silent

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until one of the alumni finally

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spoke up. She claimed that Kennedy

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had received a so-called negative letter

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of recommendation. Meaning that somebody wrote

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a letter saying, you know, this

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girl is not good for your

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sorority. She did something bad. She's

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in bad news, something like that,

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which is just like a lie,

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or she wrote it, or someone

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wrote it because they didn't want

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a black woman in the sorority.

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One by one, women in the

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sorority began advocating for Kennedy. So

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then like all these girls start

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speaking up and like saying all

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these things like you know We

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would love to be the first

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who already have a black woman.

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We would like stand up for

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her You know if fraternities didn't

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want to have parties with us

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because that was always a big

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concern You know we wouldn't want

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to have parties with that fraternity

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anyways, but it just it kept

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going and going and going and

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it was going nowhere and at

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the end of the day like

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the alumni older women were the

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ones that handled the paperwork and

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like send it in so there's

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really nothing we could do. When

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bid day came around, Melanie found

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out that Kennedy had been dropped

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from every other sorority as well.

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She says she wasn't necessarily shocked

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given the culture at Alabama. There's

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just a general feel of like

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the old South. You would drive

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by some of the fraternity houses.

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They have a giant Confederate flag

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hanging in a window. here people

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actually say the n-word in a

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way that isn't like in a

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rap song or something like it

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could be a very scary place

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for a black person and I

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remember bringing a friend from high

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school that was black to visit

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and I was like honestly nervous

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for her to like come into

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the sorority because it was entirely

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white women and black women were

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the women that served food to

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us and it's just like I

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was just worried for how she

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would feel. But there was still

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a part of Melanie that had

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wanted to believe the sorority system

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was above all that. up until

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that moment. I think that most

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people wanted to believe it wasn't

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because they were black that they

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weren't getting in. It was just

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because like they didn't have a

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mother, a great grandmother that went

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there, they didn't have close friends

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that were in the sorority. Like

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there were other reasons that they

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weren't getting in, but this particular

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situation, it was so black and

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white that it was because it

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was the color of her skin,

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because she had every other criteria

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to get in than that, that

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it was like hard to shy

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away from at this point. It

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turned out that what had happened

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in Alpha Gamma Delta wasn't unique.

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Through conversations with women and various

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sororities, Abby and her co-writer learned

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that alumni in several chapters had

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similarly intervened to block Kennedy's admission.

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Some alumni even threatened to pull

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financial support if she were accepted.

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But in a few sororities. It

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was the undergraduate women who opposed

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admitting Kennedy. They worried that fraternities

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would stop socializing with them if

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they welcomed a black woman. Abby

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and her co-writer weren't all that

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surprised by what they were hearing.

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But what did surprise them was

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that sorority members were actually willing

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to talk to the paper. Here's

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Abby. Media training is a part

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of being in a sorority. It's

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very prone upon to talk about...

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what happens on the inside of

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sororities and fraternities and no one

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likes to be a squeak. he

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will. The Crimson White's previous articles

10:12

about segregation in Greek life didn't

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have any inside sources and the

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articles weren't taken seriously as a

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result. So many people had written

10:21

stuff about Greek life, be it,

10:23

the racism, the hazing, all of

10:25

that, but everything was able to

10:28

be kind of chalked up to

10:30

just jealous or like they don't

10:32

know what it's like, but this

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story... had people within the system

10:36

calling it out. To clarify, these

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sorority members were speaking to the

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paper on the condition of anonymity,

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but it was still a historic

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first, and the story was almost

10:47

guaranteed to attract attention as a

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result. Remember I talked to my

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dad who was in a fraternity

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at Alabama. He was worried for

10:56

me, like genuinely worried. I'm pretty

10:58

sure he made a joke about

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someone's gonna come burning across in

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your front yard or something. But

11:05

it was more just like pissing

11:07

people off for messing things with

11:09

how the way things were and

11:11

putting campus in a bad spotlight.

11:14

The story was threatening enough that

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the night before publication, Abby and

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her co-writer received a call from

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a fraternity member. He offered to

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pay them off to suppress the

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story. Name your price, he said.

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That same night, Abby got another

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unexpected message. This time, from Melanie.

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I was keeping her updated on

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when it was going to publish,

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and the night before it published,

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I was like, it's going to

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publish tomorrow, and then she texted

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me back, put my name on

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that shit. Meaning, Melanie was willing

11:47

to go on the record. She

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wanted her name included in the

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article. She was really brave for

11:53

that. on the free Odyssey app

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or wherever you get your podcasts.