TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A sorority at the University of Alabama has taken down a recruitment video after receiving a lot of criticism.
Alabama’s Alpha Phi sorority deleted the video, which had garnered 500,000 views on YouTube, along with all of its social media pages.
The video was first criticized in a post on AL.com, which says:
“It’s a parade of white girls and blonde hair dye, coordinated clothing, bikinis and daisy dukes, glitter and kisses, bouncing bodies, euphoric hand-holding and hugging, gratuitous booty shots, and matching aviator sunglasses. It’s all so racially and aesthetically homogeneous and forced, so hyper-feminine, so reductive and objectifying, so Stepford Wives: College Edition. It’s all so…unempowering.”
Some support the video, saying it was meant to be lighthearted and not taken that seriously. It is common for sororities to make videos prior to recruitment showcasing the women in the chapter having fun.
The controversy has not had any negative effects on the school’s recruitment.
The University of Alabama reportedly added 2,261 women to its National Panhellenic Council sorority system, which may be the largest group of new members in the country. However, a spokesperson for the university told AL.com that 214 of those women are minorities.