TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Sept. 15 (UPI) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson said people should picket sororities at the University of Alabama, which have been accused of barring black students from pledging.
The school's student newspaper, the Crimson White, published a story Wednesday that two black students had been barred from pledging primarily white sororities on campus.
Speaking to the newspaper, Jackson said the public outrage over the allegations could be compared to the civil rights movement that swept the state and nation 50 years ago.
"Gender or racial segregation is abhorrent to an intelligent, civilized people," he said. "You might take a sorority and start picketing there."
Jackson said that keeping the issue at the center of public consciousness could help push a change in the university's sorority system. He said it could convince a sorority sister to leave her chapter should she find she doesn't agree with its racial makeup, AL.com reported.
Jackson said it's important to have racially diverse sororities and fraternities on campus because it exposes members to a culturally diverse world.
"When they leave here, they're not going into an all-white world," Jackson said.
