Why is the World So Obsessed With Bama Rush?
If you have been on social media in the past few weeks, you’ve probably heard about sorority rush at the University of Alabama, known online as #BamaRush. If you’re unfamiliar with the Greek system, rush is the sorority recruitment process. At Alabama, this process consists of four rounds. This year, the incoming freshman and hopeful future sorority members took to TikTok every day to share their OOTDs (outfits of the day) and other insight about the process. Groups of girls will take turns showing off their outfits and naming where each piece is from. After a while, the videos all start to look the same, but something about watching them flaunt their Steve Madden shoes and Kendra Scott necklaces really seemed to capture the attention of millions of viewers on TikTok.
BamaRush videos first became popular by making it on the TikTok “For You” page, where the app shows you popular videos from users you might not follow. The videos quickly gained popularity amongst viewers and began to spread around TikTok and eventually through all of social media. But it’s not just the daily outfit videos that have gotten so much attention. The truly captivating part of it all was seeing videos of the actual rush process. In these one-minute videos, we see crowds of young girls, the majority of them being white, skinny, and blonde, participating in cult-like activities such as all dressing in the same color and performing a series of chants created by the sorority members.
The obsession with these videos became so widespread that TikTok users began to make spreadsheets to keep up with the prospective new members and tried to predict where each person would end up. Regardless of whether you are part of the multitude of viewers that got sucked into BamaRush TikTok, the big question on all of our minds is: why is the world so obsessed with this seemingly pointless trend?
Perhaps the world finds it amusing to watch these college girls wake up at the crack of dawn to straighten their hair, spend hours on their makeup, and put on expensive outfits that they have been planning for months. Or, maybe it’s the bidding drama that is drawing people in. Out of 2,500 girls who are rushing, only 2,300 received bids, and the world watched closely as these prospective members competed for a spot in their “dream” sororities.
The internet was outraged to see some of their favorite members devastated after not getting bids. Nineteen year old Makayla, who was a popular fan-favorite, did not get a bid at any sorority, causing outrage amongst her followers. The sororities that dropped Makayla claimed that they had seen a video of her participating in underage drinking, but she maintains that there was never any evidence of the video and that it was a false accusation. After this incident, many fans began to speculate whether or not Makayla being dropped from the sororities was racially motivated, as she was one of the few women of color to be seen on BamaRush TikTok. There has been no evidence or confirmation of this; however, it is a fact that some Alabama sororities did not allow people of color to join until 2013. In addition to this statistic, it is also important to note that 77% of girls who join sororities nationwide are white, and mostly come from higher income families.
You might be wondering why you should care about a TikTok trend that has no connection to your life whatsoever. I was wondering the same thing at first, but the more I looked into it, the more I realized that this TikTok trend was drawing attention to the exact issue with sororities and fraternities. It began to spark conversations about people of color's experiences surrounding Greek Life that have been long overdue. We may resent BamaRush TikTok for wasting our time, or we may love it for the daily entertainment it's provided, but regardless of what we think of the trend, we need to carry on these conversations about diversity and inclusion within sororities and fraternities long after rush is over.
By Sophia Sanders