Stephannie Bailey, the executive director of Alpha Gamma Delta, said in an e-mail that the organization was “actively investigating” the situation for violations of its antidiscrimination policy.

Deborah M. Lane, a spokeswoman for the university administration, which has been criticized in the past for not doing enough about segregation within the Greek system, said that the university has been working with the organizations “to remove any barriers that prevent young women” from “making the choices they want to make.” She also said that these groups “determine their own membership selection processes and expect their members to follow their procedures during recruitment.”

Gov. Robert Bentley, who earned his undergraduate degree at Alabama, referred to the controversy on Thursday, saying to a television news reporter that universities could put pressure on the Greek system to integrate. He said that his wife, also an Alabama graduate, blamed the alumnae. “Personally, I think they need to change their attitude,” the governor said.

Ms. Gotz did not return a message seeking comment.

The news about the young woman, who was among several black women to go through this year’s recruitment process unsuccessfully, had been whispered around the Tuscaloosa campus in recent weeks. Students said they were unsurprised, even 50 years after Gov. George Wallace’s stand for segregation in the schoolhouse door and the university’s careful efforts to improve its reputation.

Black students have occasionally tried to join the traditionally white sororities, but these attempts have mostly gone nowhere. No black woman has made it through the recruitment process since 2003.