Sorority sisters in New Mexico are under fire for allegedly making racist remarks during a welcome event for new members, according to reports says the New York Post. The University of New Mexico chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma is under investigation following complaints that members mocked an African-American speaker Sept. 17 at a Greek life summit, news station KOAT reported.
“This situation, it is not an isolated situation,” Black Student Union Vice President Dannelle Kirven told the station. The sorority girls were allegedly heard making comments such as “Black people, get away from me” and “Black people, stop wearing grills,” according to the report. Student Nieajua Gonzalez said she overheard the remarks and confronted the sorority sisters, one of whom apologized saying that she didn’t mean to be offensive, the Daily Lobo (school newspaper) reported. “I said ‘I don’t care how you meant it, there’s no right way to say it’,” Gonzalez told the newspaper. The Black Student Union said it plans to meet with university officials to push for sensitivity training for the sorority.
“I think that they need to put more emphasis on an unconscious bias training for their members,” Kirven told KOAT. “They need to educate their members on how to interact with people of color.” Kappa Kappa Gamma’s national branch released a statement saying it was aware of the alleged incident. “KKG values diversity and inclusion among our membership, and we encourage our members to promote and demonstrate an understanding of these values, both on the college campus and in the world community,” the statement said.
