From Alabama's governor to a U.S. attorney, state and other leaders say they want to move past failed efforts and find a way to permanently end racial segregation in the University of Alabama's Greek system. But for now they're treading lightly in forcing change on sorority row. Racial segregation in the system was thrust into the spotlight this month when the student newspaper quoted a member of an all-white sorority who said alumnae blocked undergraduates from accepting a qualified prospective member because she was black. A member of another all-white sorority said she moved out of her house after it failed to add a black woman as a member. After days of controversy and a campus march, University President Judy Bonner on Friday said four blacks and two other minority students had accepted invitations to join some of the 18 white sororities at Alabama, and she expects the number to increase during the academic year. Gov. Robert Bentley called the news a "positive first step," but it may be too early to tell whether changes will be lasting. Because past efforts at integration failed to resolve the situation permanently, some alumni and faculty members have suggested that Greek organizations be ejected from their homes — many worth millions of dollars — on the state-owned land at the university to force compliance. Federal law prohibits discrimination in housing and education, and proponents of such a move say the mansions on Magnolia Drive, University Boulevard and other campus corridors are glorified student housing units with white columns and manicured landscaping. "They could throw them right out," said Kenneth Mullinax, an Alpha Tau Omega alumnus and part of a group of former campus leaders who funded a recent newspaper ad urging more campus diversity. But the solution might not be that simple. John Myers, a Philadelphia attorney who represents colleges and universities, said ejection from the houses would only make Greek organizations even harder to oversee. "The ability to effect change in those places would be much less if they were off campus," said Myers, of the law firm of Montgomery, McCracken.

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