When the text message arrived on my cellular phone, I instantly knew what was about to happen.

“Here they come,” the unidentified source had said. How they were able to pinpoint mylocation, I’m not certain.

They had established an elaborate network among themselves- nearly 100 members on the campus alone- in which they parked theirvehicles at strategic locations on the Alcorn State University campus and communicated via cellular phone.

I had attempted to circumvent them by taking dirt roads. I hurried down the stairs of the Industrial Technology building, which houses the Department of Mass Communication,in order to avoid any confrontation.

I had been informed by a campus police officer earlier in the day that, despite theharassment, if the young ladies did attack me and I retaliated, I would be arrested.

My hands were tied. I wanted to avoid confrontation at all costs. I was, however, too late.

By the time I reached the lobby, the pink-and-green sea was upon me. Two members ofthe Gamma Phi Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.stood in the lobby, but werepreoccupied by a gentleman to whom they were voicing their disdain about my March 7 article on Black College Wire about their chapter allegedly engaging in underground hazing activities. I hurried past,only to find that seven or eight other sorors were awaiting me.

They began to loudly taunt me, trying to goad me into an altercation, asking if I was”happy now.”

I reached my vehicle and thanked God that it was still in one piece. Now I only prayedthat it would start and I could escape the brooding pack of sorority girls spouting their venomous barbs at me.

Three more girls started walking toward me from behind my vehicle.

Excellent. Here comes more fun.

One, Felisha Robinson, the vice-basileus of the chapter,led the pack, telling the others,”We should beat his ass right now!”

Great. Just peachy. Exactly what I need to top off what has already been the best day ever.

Now I’m going to have to get ready to go to jail because these young ladies are deluded into believing they can physically defeat a 23-year-old man. Wow.By this time, they weresurrounding my car. I fumbled in my pocket for the keys and turned them in the door lock.

I got in, still praying that the car would start and I could escape the latest chapter in the nightmare that had become, as the university promises, my “unique and enriching experience.”

Thankfully, the car started.I began to back up as the members continued to yell slurs at me, narrowly avoiding hitting one of the young ladies with my rear bumper as she stood defiantly in my way. I drove off, hoping this would be the end of a day gone horribly awry. Sadly, it was not.

Like a ravenous wolf pack Five of them, including Robinson and the basileus of thechapter, Jennifer Graham, had taken me to a remote location and left me, forcing me to walk back to campus.

Robinson had coerced me into her car by telling me, in her sweetest voice, that we were simply going to the library to discuss the allegations.

As soon as the doors closed,Robinson pressed the power lock and, driving about 80 miles per hour, whizzed off.

Once we reached our destination,I was berated for covering the story.

What, had I broken some cardinal rule? Some unspoken bond among black Greeks to never discuss what goes on in the seedy underbelly of black Greek affairs? Obviously, I didn’t receive that memo.

“You’re just being messy.”

“You will never be successful as a journalist.”

Riiiiight. I became a journalist to make friends. And besides, when did you becomeWalter Cronkite?

“This story will never run. I can guarantee that.”

And then, as quickly as it began, they left me. I walked back to campus alone. Just great. Great. Great. Great.

About two weeks passed and a peaceful calm fell over the “Academic Resort,” the termfor the campus coined by a former president. The peace remained until March 7. The story had officially been posted.The harassment resumed.

The girls followed me wherever I went on campus,traveling like a ravenous pack of wolves, salivating at the very thought of catching me, inquiring as to where I lived.

Earlier in the day, I had been called into a meeting with Shundera Perteet, the adviserfor the Gamma Phi chapter and an administrator for the university, and Cheryl Kariuki, the executive aide to the universitypresident. Perteet told me that I had created a lot of problems for the chapter. I informed her that the “problems” were created by those who felt the need to exert their power over prospective members of hersorority, not by me.

“No,” she said. “You created the problems.”

Perteet pressed me to reveal the source quoted in the article,to which I replied that by law, I was not obligated to do so.

Kariuki telephoned Juanita Sims-Doty, the regional director for the sorority. I askedSims-Doty if, in order to ensure clarity of information for all parties involved, I could tape record the conversation. Sims-Doty declined, and so I, in turn,told Sims-Doty that I would not discuss the article with her or disclose who my sources were,and terminated the call.

Kariuki assured me that the stalking and haranguing would stop.

Still, the harassment continued.

In the Twilight Zone I watched from afar as Felisha Robinson, Jennifer Graham and an unidentified member of the sorority filed a falsified police report after I had reportedthem for harassing me at the Industrial Technology Building.

I received a call on my cell phone informing me that the 10 young ladies were combingthe campus inquiring about my whereabouts.

Three young ladies pulled up and parked in front of me.Hentz, a fellow mass communication major and member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, rolled down the car window andglared at me with a scowl full of rage-induced hatred.

I was appalled by what the usually amicable young lady had become.

“He’s over here at the administration building,” she said into her cell phone. “I’m sitting right in front of him.”

Someone send these girls over to Afghanistan. They’ll find Bin Laden in no time flat.

Don’t shoot the messenger I am a proud Alcornite and a proud member of the AfricanAmerican Greek community via my membership in the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.

I have taken solemn oaths to protect both entities; however,as a journalist, I have come to understand that sometimes, in order to protect those things that we love most, we must expose some inconvenient truths.

It is unfortunate, however, that many members of the African American Greek community,as well as the historically blackcollege and university system,believe in sweeping nuisances such as administrative malfeasance, organized censorship,underground hazing activities,deplorable physical conditions,overt and covert harassment and overall student displeasure under the proverbial rug.

• J. Samuel Cook-Black College Wire