Why Did They Leave!

There is a thorough understanding that it seems there were many contributions to why the Divine 9 fraternities and sororities have to some degree disappeared from campus without a trace. Some of these reasons include the lack of African American presence at the campus, No record of them on any school websites, and also how many of the fraternities were getting into trouble with the administration which we personally believe put a strain on the relationship between them. In general, the African-American Presence on this campus is in general relatively small compared to other groups at UOP. From the 3 years that I’ve (J’son Lumpkins)  been attending UOP, I generally don’t see or are able to interact with many of the same ethnic group as me, and there would be many contributions to why the African American population is relatively low at UOP. Could be because of the location of the University of the Pacific and it being in one of the more dangerous cities in the U.S, could be the lack of a football program at the campus, it could also be how out of touch the school is within their community, or it could be the way the school is overall organized and ran, even the lack of Black Greek life could also contribute to the low numbers. But even within the African American population on campus, there seems to never really be a huge interest to rush/pledge in a fraternity. From the few conversations that I’ve had, they mostly seem to want to just do their thing and enjoy their college experience in their own way. But maybe if there was a presence of black Greek life on campus, maybe a lot of those same people who say they aren’t interested might be more likely to give Greek life a chance. 

    Another contribution to why Black Greek Life evidently died out could be because the school also doesn't seem to really recognize the contribution that black students and organizations (like BSU) made. That also includes Black Fraternities and Sororities. There’s actually a primary source that was published called Dear President Eibeck, this source really just highlights the grievances of the Black Alumni and how they feel ignored when it comes to their contributions to the history and culture of The University of the Pacific. They feel that the school doesn’t really engage with the Black community in Stockton and because of that, the black community doesn’t view UOP as an ally, but more as an opposition. Which overall would contribute to why Black Greek Life wouldn’t be on campus. 

    Surprisingly even though many of the Black Fraternity and sororities were established on this campus, they aren’t mentioned on the school website that talks about the fraternity and sororities. The website brings up just about every organization that’s been established on this campus, but for some reason, there’s not a section on the website that talks about black Greek life. They bring up socials, professionals, and even the community service fraternity. But not one mentions/or has a page dedicated to black Greek organizations. And for Black Greek organizations that are trying to establish themselves, I believe having a section dedicated to those organizations could overall prove very useful for said organizations trying to reach an audience, especially for the ones that are trying to establish a presence on campus. 

    Finally, an important thing to highlight on why Black Greek Life is so absent from the University of the Pacific are the results of past incidents that overall left a negative impact on Black Greek Life. One of those highlights is the incident that happened with APA where they hosted an unscheduled dance that was hosted by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Unfortunately, the overall result of this event did turn out for the worse. In the end, there were seven arrests that were made because high schoolers were able to sneak into the event even though they weren’t allowed on the campus and also because they weren’t invited. Because of this incident, many people (including administration) wanted to have not only APA pay for anything that transpired (like damages and extra security) but also have their privileges revoked when it comes to using/booking anything associated with the university (like venues, ballrooms, and just rooms in general). In conclusion, there are many reasons why Black Greek Life hasn’t been as prevalent as it was in the ’70s, ’80s, or ’90s, it could be because of the lack of presence on campus, or the exclusion of a football program, could also be the general community feels neglected or even the black alumni don’t feel recognized and therefore don’t want to put in that effort of coming out anymore. Could even be because of all the negative trials and tribulations many of the Divine 9 organizations had to go through when it came to treatment from the University of the Pacific Administration. There are so many that could give the best clue for why Black Greek life is the way it is now, but hopefully, in the future, there will be a place for these prestigious Divine 9 organizations to be able to thrive and contribute to UOP, just like all the other organizations that exist on this campus.

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