environmental clean ups to town hall discussions, and having an active hand in local charities and projects, it would seem that NPHC stands as equals to their counterpart councils. They have proved to be a real council, with real organizations, having real impact on the campus and community. But NPHC Secretary and Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc, member, Jalisa Truss, expressed that the campus may feel otherwise. “People don’t consider NPHC to be a council. We are on the same level. We’re doing real work and we’re really trying to make this campus better for - not just black people - but all people.” Little is known about the “stepping and dancing” Greeks at the College, and this level of ignorance only mirrors the issue of lack in housing. “Birds of a feather flock together” then rings true when all black Greek organizations are marginalized and placed under one roof. Many would suggest simply purchasing a house to solve the housing disparity. While an easy solution, several factors prevent the NPHC from going forth with this. First, there are not a large number of black students on campus, let alone within the black Greek system. According to Taylor, Panhellenic and IFC have more members at the College and therefore have more funds backing their organizations. This means that these particular councils will always have the privilege and opportunity to have a house, and chances are, will never have it taken away. At a school with nearly eight percent blacks, this is not the case for the NPHC. Many of the students cannot afford to live in pricey 17th century homes downtown. To expect students from lower economic backgrounds to establish a house is not logical. For a minority group to fund their own housing, Taylor projected that loans would have to be taken out, tuition would have to be increased or money would have to be taken from their already small chapter accounts. But as much as a trivial issue housing may seem, the controversy sheds light on other issues surrounding Greek Life traditions, and even bigger issues of diversity on the College campus. On campus, mixing of different backgrounds, is rare. As history would show, few blacks have attempted to join historically white Greek groups, and vice versa - for an underlying, unspoken sense of taboo swirls when races interact. Informal segregation has remained the norm on campuses far beyond the deep South. And the norm at most campuses is to ignore the issue. Colleges have conclusive data on many activities like athletics or fields of study, but they claim that Greek Life statistics are unknown. Essentially, lack of housing translates into the lack of black identity on the college campus.
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July 10, 2015: The Confederate Flag is removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds. And then there’s President McConnell. President McConnell, who assumed his current position amidst bold protesting from minority and majority students alike in regard to his history with Confederate memorabilia and reenactments. President McConnell, who publicly supported Governor Nikki Haley’s decision to remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol, while simultaneously stating that “the people of South Carolina are entitled to their complete history, the parts that give us pride as well as sadness.” President McConnell, who, upon taking office, has supposedly made it his mission to improve diversity on campus. President McConnell, who issued a public statement addressing diversity on campus during last February’s Black History Month, which called the College a “melting pot of various ideas and people” as well as “a diverse place.” As of March 2016, the College of Charleston Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Information Management reports that the College ranks in the bottom three South Carolinian colleges and universities in terms of underrepresented minority students with a mere 16.7 percent. 7.2 percent of that number are African Americans, the next highest percentage being hispanic students with 4.3. According to Dr. John O. Bello-Ogunu, Associate Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer in the Office of Institutional Diversity, the College is “not at a level we should be proud of” in terms of diversity, but “a level that is still a measurable success in respect to the last couple of years.” “It is unfortunately difficult to appreciate the level of success that has been achieved because the magnitude of the diversity and inclusion problem on our campus is huge,” Ogunu said. Ogunu admitted that McConnell’s stance on diversity since assuming his position as President has been observatory rather than interventionary. A little over a year ago, McConnell created a “Diversity Review Committee” made up of members of the faculty, staff and Board of Trustees. Since then, he has been waiting for the committee to “take a look at where we are with regards to diversity and to make recommendations to him as to their findings and where we should be headed,” Ogunu said. Ogunu had no information as to when the committee would be able to provide McConnell with a comprehensive analysis, but was told by the president himself that as soon as the committee presents its work, he will be able to provide “an institutional direction” as to where he wants the College to go as far as diversity is concerned. Until the yard