0:00

Sissies, we know colleges are home

0:02

to some of America's brightest minds.

0:04

So why do the most absurd

0:06

things happen there? Oh, it's always

0:09

the smart ones who get freaky.

0:11

Especially college men with their malleable

0:13

minds and their rigid... Poodle! Fine!

0:15

Ooh, the times we had in

0:17

the Ken lab. They were like

0:19

new mild test tubes in my

0:21

hands. Gross. You know I once

0:24

convinced a budding nuclear physicist. They

0:26

should do some experiments on me.

0:28

Leave the rats alone. I want

0:30

to be radioactive! Poodle, no one

0:32

cares about you being a radioactive

0:34

lab rat. Hey, that's what they

0:37

called me in college. There goes

0:39

radioactive lab rat. Hey boys, where's

0:41

the skin of box? Okay, but

0:43

we are actually here to share

0:45

a new weekly podcast titled Campus

0:47

Files, where they dive into some

0:49

of the wildest scandals that have

0:52

taken place across American colleges and

0:54

universities. Yes, because few things are

0:56

crazier than college, believe me. From

0:58

rigged admissions to sports scandals to

1:00

Greek life drama, oh, Greek life.

1:02

Focus! Campus Files shares the stories

1:05

you won't hear on the campus

1:07

tours. Check out his preview and

1:09

be sure to listen to and

1:11

follow Campus Files, an Odyssey original

1:13

podcast, available now wherever you get

1:15

your podcast. So I am from

1:18

Alabama and went to University of

1:20

Alabama from 2010 to 2014. This

1:22

is Abby Crane. She's a third

1:24

generation University of Alabama student. Really

1:26

not a whole lot went into

1:28

choosing my school. My dad went

1:30

to Alabama. My dad went to

1:33

Alabama. My dad went to Alabama.

1:35

and my grandfather on my mom's

1:37

side went to Alabama. Abby grew

1:39

up watching Alabama football, which has

1:41

a nearly religious following. Ask anyone

1:43

at Alabama, and they'll tell you

1:46

that football is one of the

1:48

two dominant forces on campus, the

1:50

other being Greek life. Alabama actually

1:52

has the largest Greek system of

1:54

any university in the country, with

1:56

over 12,000 members. To put that

1:58

in perspective, Alabama has more Greek

2:01

members than Notre Dame has students.

2:03

I want to say it's like

2:05

25 to 30% of the total

2:07

student population, which honestly is less than

2:09

you would imagine, but it's just

2:11

so visible. The sorority houses are

2:14

right across the street from the

2:16

stadium. The fraternity houses are the

2:18

first thing you see when you

2:20

drive into Tuscaloosa on campus. They're

2:22

these huge. antebellum-esque houses, like

2:24

the visibility of them kind

2:27

of shows the weight we

2:29

put into it. The fraternity

2:31

and sorority houses look more

2:33

like mansions. Many of them

2:35

have Greek columns, grand staircases,

2:37

and crystal chandeliers. They cost

2:39

millions of dollars to build

2:42

and maintain. It's a literal

2:44

manifestation of the worth we

2:46

put into Greek life. Like

2:48

the social currency of Greek

2:50

life was a really big

2:52

deal. And I remember, as a freshman,

2:54

they'd be like, are you in a

2:57

sorority? What sorority are you in? Like,

2:59

that's immediately what they ask you in.

3:01

Like, there's an assessment someone can make

3:03

from what sorority you're a part of.

3:05

The competition to get into one of

3:08

these sororities is intense. Sorority

3:10

recruitment, also known as rush,

3:12

starts before freshman year even

3:14

begins. I was a senior in

3:17

high school and was actually going

3:19

to these things called pre-rush parties.

3:21

where sororities will invite you to

3:23

these group parties in your hometown.

3:25

They'll memorize names before these parties.

3:28

They'll have a list of attributes

3:30

being like, she was homecoming queen.

3:32

She was a national merit scholars.

3:34

So they do know a good

3:37

bit about like who you are

3:39

if you're coveted by the

3:41

sororities. The recruitment process

3:43

officially begins in early August, right

3:45

at the start of the school

3:48

year. Early August in Alabama

3:50

is the hottest of hot.

3:52

It's like 90% humidity. No

3:54

amount of hair spray can

3:57

tame the frizz. You're dripping

3:59

sweat. last for nine days,

4:01

broken up into several rounds.

4:03

During the first round of

4:05

rush, freshmen visit the sorority

4:08

houses where they're greeted by

4:10

sorority members chanting in the

4:12

doorway. I remember showing up

4:14

for my first house. Everyone

4:16

stood in front of the

4:18

doors, the doors flew open,

4:20

and they started seeing a

4:22

song, like yelling at us

4:24

with these huge smiles and

4:26

this huge hair and the

4:28

head movements and the hand

4:30

movements. Everything was so coordinated

4:33

and exaggerated and girly. Freshman

4:35

are pulled into a flurry

4:37

of conversation with sorority members.

4:39

Lots and lots of small

4:41

talk. You're carried around through

4:43

each house having these conversations

4:45

and then you're filed out

4:47

one by one and they

4:49

say your name as you

4:51

leave. They say goodbye Abby,

4:53

goodbye Marco, whatever. Yeah, so

4:55

you do that like eight

4:58

times a day. It's exhausting,

5:00

but you can't let it

5:02

show because it's all about

5:04

making a good impression. This

5:06

process is so stressful for

5:08

some freshmen that they hire

5:10

consultants. What is a sorority

5:12

consultant, you ask? Here's one

5:14

of them describing her role.

5:16

I help them prepare for

5:18

what they're going to be

5:20

wearing for every single round,

5:22

you know, just styling, like

5:25

accessories, hair, makeup, nails, all

5:27

that kind of good stuff.

5:29

And then I also help

5:31

them with conversation techniques. And

5:33

you know, it's a big

5:35

deal picking up the clothes.

5:37

And like southern style... is

5:39

canonically different than the rest

5:41

of the world. Big poofy

5:43

sleeves, big frills, bright colors,

5:45

over exaggerated silhouettes. You know,

5:47

they're made for TV. They're

5:50

made for social media. It's

5:52

not hard to say. why

5:54

sorority recruitment at Alabama regularly

5:56

captures national attention. There's even

5:58

an entire documentary about it

6:00

called Bama Rush. When people

6:02

are earnest and serious about

6:04

something that you know nothing

6:06

about, it's fun to watch

6:08

and there's drama. Girls are

6:10

crying, not everyone gets what

6:12

they want, there's winners and

6:15

losers, and I think all

6:17

of that makes a perfect.

6:19

kind of reality show of

6:21

rush. Every year videos from

6:23

Alabama rush invariably go viral

6:25

on Tiktok. Rise and Shine,

6:27

today's Saturday, the first day

6:29

of rush. This is my

6:31

outfit for the South. So

6:33

today is the first round

6:35

of like us talking to

6:37

girls. So like today is

6:39

like the real deal which

6:42

is crazy. You've watched any

6:44

of these clips. You might

6:46

have noticed a striking trend.

6:48

In each of the thousands

6:50

of videos, nearly every single

6:52

woman is white. To be

6:54

fair, rush videos from schools

6:56

across the country are also

6:58

predominantly white. But Alabama's numbers

7:00

stand out. When Abby was

7:02

rushing in 2010, black women

7:04

were still essentially barred from

7:07

the 16 traditional Greek letter

7:09

organizations. In fact, in the

7:11

more than a hundred years

7:13

that sororities had existed at

7:15

Alabama, only one identifiably black

7:17

woman had ever been accepted.

7:19

The only other woman was

7:21

half black woman was half

7:23

black. The only other woman

7:25

was half black But her

7:27

ethnicity wasn't known until after

7:29

she was admitted. I'm pretty

7:31

sure I remember noticing it

7:34

was an all-white process, but

7:36

I had never learned to

7:38

question that yet. I went

7:40

to school at a predominantly

7:42

white high school in a

7:44

pretty segregated city, so that

7:46

was not something I was

7:48

paying attention to. That changed

7:50

after Abby joined the student

7:52

paper her freshman year. We

7:54

had a pretty diverse... group,

7:56

our editor-in-chief was black and

7:59

Once she started paying attention,

8:01

people were writing about disparities

8:03

in the South, that, you

8:05

know, as a white girl,

8:07

I hadn't been paying attention

8:09

to until it was kind

8:11

of in my face. Once

8:13

she started paying attention, it

8:15

was hard to miss. Throughout

8:17

Abby's freshman, sophomore, and junior

8:19

years, all 16 sororities remained

8:21

entirely segregated. But then, at

8:24

the start of her senior

8:26

year, Whippers began circulating. That

8:28

change might finally be on

8:30

the horizon. Cisies, we know

8:32

colleges are home to some

8:34

of America's brightest minds. So

8:36

why do the most absurd

8:38

things happen there? Oh, it's

8:40

always the smart ones who

8:42

get freaky. Especially college men

8:44

with their malleable minds and

8:46

their rigid... Mine! Mine! Oh,

8:48

the times we had in

8:51

the Ken lab. They were

8:53

like new mild test tubes

8:55

in my hands. Gross. You

8:57

know, I once convinced a

8:59

budding nuclear physicist that he

9:01

should do some experiments on

9:03

me. Leave the rats alone.

9:05

I want to be radioactive.

9:07

Poodle. No one cares about

9:09

you being a radioactive lab

9:11

rat. Hey, boys, where's the

9:13

skin of box? Okay, but

9:16

we are actually here to

9:18

share a new weekly podcast

9:20

titled Campus Files, where they

9:22

dive into some of the

9:24

wildest scandals that have taken

9:26

place across American colleges and

9:28

universities. Yes, because few things

9:30

are crazier than college, believe

9:32

me. From rigged admissions to

9:34

sports scandals to Greek life

9:36

drama, oh, Greek life. Focus!

9:38

Campus Files shares the stories

9:41

you won't hear on the

9:43

campus tours. Check out his

9:45

preview and be sure to

9:47

listen to and follow Campus

9:49

Files, an Odyssey original podcast,

9:51

available now wherever you get

9:53

your podcast. So I am

9:55

from Alabama and went to

9:57

University of Alabama. from 2010

9:59

to 2014. This is Abby

10:01

Crane. She's a third generation

10:03

university of Alabama student. Really

10:05

not a whole lot went

10:08

into choosing my school. My

10:10

dad went to Alabama and

10:12

my grandfather on my mom's

10:14

side went to Alabama. Abby

10:16

grew up watching Alabama football,

10:18

which has a nearly religious

10:20

following. Ask anyone at Alabama

10:22

and they'll tell you that

10:24

football is one of the

10:26

two dominant forces on campus,

10:28

the other being Greek life.

10:30

Alabama actually has the largest

10:33

Greek system of any university

10:35

in the country, with over

10:37

12,000 members. To put that

10:39

in perspective, Alabama has more

10:41

Greek members than Notre Dame

10:43

has students. I want to

10:45

say it's like 25 to

10:47

30% of the total student

10:49

population, which... Honestly is less

10:51

than you would imagine, but

10:53

it's just so visible. The

10:55

sorority houses are right across

10:57

the street from the stadium.

11:00

The fraternity houses are the

11:02

first thing you see when

11:04

you drive into Tuscaloosa on

11:06

campus. They're these huge antebellum-esque

11:08

houses, like the visibility of

11:10

them kind of shows the

11:12

weightly put into it. The

11:14

fraternity and sorority houses look

11:16

more like mansions. Many of

11:18

them have Greek columns, grand

11:20

staircases, and crystal chandeliers. They

11:22

cost millions of dollars to

11:25

build and maintain. It's a

11:27

literal manifestation of the worth

11:29

we put into Greek life.

11:31

Like the social currency of

11:33

Greek life was a really

11:35

big deal. And I remember

11:37

as a freshman, they'd be

11:39

like, are you in a

11:41

sorority? What sorority are you

11:43

in? Like that's immediately what

11:45

they ask you in. Like

11:47

there's an assessment someone can

11:50

make from which sorority you're

11:52

a part of. The competition

11:54

to get into one of

11:56

these sororities is intense. Sorority

11:58

recruitment, also known as rush,

12:00

starts before freshman year even

12:02

begins. I was a senior

12:04

in high school and was

12:06

actually going to these things

12:08

called pre-rush parties where sororities

12:10

will invite you to these

12:12

group parties in your hometown.

12:14

They'll memorize names before these

12:17

parties. They'll have a list

12:19

of attributes being like, she

12:21

was homecoming queen. She was

12:23

a national merit scholars. So

12:25

they do know a good

12:27

bit about like who you

12:29

are if you're coveted by

12:31

the sororities. Early August in

12:33

Alabama is the hottest of

12:35

hot. It's like 90% humidity.

12:37

No amount of hair spray

12:39

can tame the frizz. You're

12:42

dripping sweat. Rush lasts for

12:44

nine days, broken up into

12:46

several rounds. During the first

12:48

round of rush, freshmen visit

12:50

the sorority houses where they're

12:52

greeted by sorority members chanting

12:54

in the doorway. I

13:00

remember showing up for my

13:02

first house. Everyone stood in

13:04

front of the doors. The

13:06

doors flew open and they

13:08

started seeing the song, like

13:10

yelling at us with these

13:12

huge smiles and this huge

13:15

hair and the head movements

13:17

and the hand movements. Everything

13:19

was so coordinated and exaggerated

13:21

and girly. Freshman are pulled

13:23

into a flurry of conversation

13:25

with sorority members. Lots and

13:27

lots of small talk. You're

13:29

carried around through each house

13:31

having these conversations and then

13:33

you're filed out one by

13:35

one and they say your

13:37

name as you leave. They

13:40

say goodbye Abby, goodbye Marco,

13:42

whatever. Yeah, so you do

13:44

that like eight times a

13:46

day. It's exhausting, but you

13:48

can't let it show because

13:50

it's all about making a

13:52

good impression. This process is

13:54

so stressful for some freshmen.

13:56

that they hire consultants. What

13:58

is a sorority consultant, you

14:00

ask? Here's one of them

14:03

describing her role. I help

14:05

them prepare for what they're

14:07

going to be wearing for

14:09

every single round, you know,

14:11

just styling, like accessories, hair,

14:13

makeup, nails, all that kind

14:15

of good stuff. And then

14:17

I also help them a

14:19

conversation techniques. And, you know,

14:21

it's a big deal picking

14:23

up the clothes. And like

14:25

southern style is canonically different

14:28

than the rest of the

14:30

world. big poofy sleeves, big

14:32

frills, bright colors, over exaggerated

14:34

silhouettes. You know, they're made

14:36

for TV, they're made for

14:38

social media. It's not hard

14:40

to see why sorority recruitment

14:42

at Alabama regularly captures national

14:44

attention. There's even an entire

14:46

documentary about it, called Bama

14:48

Rush. When people are earnest

14:51

and serious about something that

14:53

you know nothing about, it's

14:55

fun to watch. And there's

14:57

drama. Girls are crying, not

14:59

everyone gets what they want,

15:01

there's winners and losers, and

15:03

I think all of that

15:05

makes a perfect kind of

15:07

reality show of Rush. Every

15:09

year, videos from Alabama Rush

15:11

invariably go viral on Tik

15:13

Talk. Rise and Shine, today's

15:16

Saturday, the first day of

15:18

Rush. This is my outfit

15:20

for really cute today is

15:22

the first round of like

15:24

us talking to girls. So

15:26

like today is like the

15:28

real deal, which is crazy.

15:30

If you've watched any of

15:32

these clips, you might have

15:34

noticed a striking trend. In

15:36

each of the thousands of

15:39

videos, nearly every single woman

15:41

is white. To be fair,

15:43

rush videos from schools across

15:45

the country are also predominantly

15:47

white. But Alabama's numbers stand

15:49

out. When Abby was rushing

15:51

in 2010, Black women were

15:53

still essentially barred from the

15:55

16 traditional Greek letter organizations.

15:57

In fact, in the more

15:59

than a hundred years that

16:01

sororities had existed, at Alabama,

16:04

only one identifiable black woman

16:06

had ever been accepted. The

16:08

only other woman was half

16:10

black, but her ethnicity wasn't

16:12

known until after she was

16:14

admitted. I'm pretty sure I

16:16

remember noticing it was an

16:18

all-white process, but I had

16:20

never learned to question that

16:22

yet. I went to school

16:24

at a predominantly white high

16:27

school in a pretty segregated

16:29

city, so that was not

16:31

something I was paying attention

16:33

to. That changed after Abby

16:35

joined the student paper her

16:37

freshman year We had a

16:39

pretty diverse group our editor-in-chief

16:41

was black and You know

16:43

people were writing about race

16:45

people were writing about Disparities

16:47

in the South that you

16:49

know as a white girl

16:52

I hadn't been paying attention

16:54

to until it was kind

16:56

of in my face Once

16:58

she started paying attention it

17:00

was hard to miss Throughout

17:02

Abby's freshman, sophomore, and junior

17:04

years, all 16 sororities remained

17:06

entirely segregated. But then, at

17:08

the start of her senior

17:10

year, whispers began circulating, that

17:12

change might finally be on

17:15

the horizon.