Most people think that attending a liberal arts school labels you as a "hippie" or a "hipster," requires you to eat only vegan food and only hangout in coffee shops, and talk about your photography and indie bands that no one knows about. In reality, that can't be further from the truth. Right? I think that's called a stereotype.
Let's back track just a minute. Take the next two minutes and think about Greek life. What does it mean to you? When you hear the name fraternities and sororities, what do you think of?
Did you think about parties? Hazing? Blonde girls in pearls and guys in polos? Or did you think about philanthropy? Community service? Brotherhood/sisterhood? Scholarship?
Most people would have picked the first choice. That's the stereotype Greeks wear regardless of who they are or what they've done. It's much harder to grow a positive reputation when you get things like "Wait, we actually have Greek life here?" or "LOL Greek life here is a joke." But what you don't see is an incredible amount of hard work and love that goes into this system.
When you compare the liberal arts student stereotypes to the stereotypes about Greek life, they're polar opposites. So it makes it even harder for a small percentage of Greeks to compare to an overly dominant liberal art student population.
Did you know Greek life as a whole raised more money than any other student organization on the campus of UNT? Did you also know that they put in the most hours for community service? Each year every organization in Greek life volunteers for The Big Event, Make a Difference Day, and they have even adapted Eaglethon (previously known as Dance Marathon that supports the Children's Miracle network) as part of their Greek week activities. Even IFC Fraternity Pi Kappa Phi raised money for a girl who was paralyzed to buy her walkers so she could walk across the stage at graduation. How awesome is that?
Last semester, a Kappa Delta at The University of North Texas passed away. Instead of just their chapter being dismayed in mourning, the entire Greek community was in mourning. People who wore different letters had their hearts broken by the loss of their own. That's brotherhood/sisterhood. All of Greek life pitched in and paid the funeral costs.
But Greeks don't get remembered for that do they? They get stereotyped, just like liberal arts students who aren't Greek. It's doesn't make sense for college students entering into adulthood to stereotype and discriminate.
So now what? As (almost) adults, we should think of better ways to love each other instead of hating groups of people based on who we think they are. Why can't Greeks be accepting of liberal arts students and support them and their lifestyle? What about liberal arts students? Why can't liberal arts students be accepting and encouraging of Greek life? After all, Greek life does so much for their campus.
Instead of having a divided campus where both sides are not in favor of each other, unite as one student body and be proud of your school. Be proud of your organizations. Be proud of your letters. But mostly be proud to have the ability to be receiving a degree, because not everyone gets to have that opportunity.