As those who have worked with me will tell you, I tend to focus on odd details that others might ignore. In the lengthy profile of Steve Morrison in The State today, this anecdote from his college days jumped out at me:

But campus civil rights protests were among the most memorable of his college experiences.

At Michigan, the student-led Black Action Movement’s 1970 boycott shut down the campus for eight days.

Morrison, president of the Interfraternity Council, helped convince most of the campus fraternities to participate in the boycott.

In the end, the school’s administration agreed to increase African-American enrollment and to hire more minorities on faculty and staff.

He persuaded the Greeks to support a boycott led by something called the Black Action Movement? Now, that’s impressive. Maybe fraternities up North are way, way different from down South, but I’m still impressed.

Or maybe, having been an Independent in college, and having never even thought about joining a fraternity, perhaps I do them injustice. Maybe they just seethe with activism and social consciousness…