Today, no Greek organization is safe from the scrutiny of the media and anyone outside of Greek life. The media paints a picture where all Greek life revolves around hazing and partying. Luckily, I am here to dispel common negative thoughts about sororities and fraternities.
1. All Greeks are dumb.
This misconception is absolutely false. In fact, Greeks tend to have higher grade point averages (GPA) because there is a standard of high academics set to Greeks. According to the USA Today article, “Examining Benefits of Greek Life,” 85 percent of fortune 500 executives are part of Greek life. Us Greeks want to be able to stay involved and hold our organizations and members to their highest potential.
2. All Greeks care about is partying.
Hey, I’m not going to lie, we want to enjoy yourselves, we are in college after all. However, partying isn’t our number one priority. Within our organizations, we have philanthropies we want to raise money for, service events to help the community, time we want to spend with our brothers and sisters. Not to mention, outside our organizations we have classes, work and families and friends we make time for. When we have the time to have fun, we do, but that is if we can fit parties into our already busy schedules.
3. All Greek members join their organizations just to network.
If I joined my organization just to network, I would not be as in love with it as I am now. The amount of commitment Greeks put in towards aspects of their sorority or fraternity would not be worth it just to join to network. The skills, friends and professional development gained through being Greek is a perk; when we can go to a brother or sister for a recommendation to a job. Remember, Greeks statistically have the highest GPA's on college campuses and we earn our positions in organizations and in professional careers.
4. All organizations haze their members.
Okay, let us talk about the pink elephant in the room, hazing. Do organizations haze for their members to join? Although media does not lie and neither do court cases with the subject matter of hazing, not all organizations haze. New laws and regulations nationally and within universities' bylaws are preventing hazing more and more. Education on the effects hazing has on individuals are making the “traditions” (referring to hazing) of past members is becoming less important. Pledging processes are not meant to break a person down to bring them back up. Most processes are in place to learn about the history of the organizations and what they stand for.
5. All Greeks are rich.
Are all Greeks rich? No! Some people have money and some people do not. It is really as simple as that.
6. All Greeks, especially sorority girls, are in shape, physically.
This is almost funny. As far as misconceptions about Greeks go, this is probably the most untrue and ridiculous. Whether a sorority member looks like a model or is curvaceous or a fraternity member looks like David Beckham or has his own curves is up to them. No one has to look a certain way to be in a Greek organization, everyone is welcome and everyone is beautiful and handsome. Greeks encourage individuality not conformity.
7. No one in their Greek organization likes each other.
Let’s get real, my friends, can everyone really like everyone? No. I will say, if you ask any brother or sister about the members in their organization, they will not stutter when they say they will drop anything for anyone, whether they dislike them or not, to help them. Even if some members do not like each other they do have a mutual respect for one another.
8. All Greek members pay for friends.
The dues paid toward the sorority or fraternity is not for the friends made. The dues are paid for national, Pan-Hellenic, local and other fees. We also pay for apparel for different events; we pay for workshops about further Greek education, insurance, university or school charter responsibilities, higher budgets for philanthropy and service events and the list just goes on and on. As Greeks, we pay for a lot of things, but friends are surely not one of them.
9. All Greeks do is go to other Greek events so they won't get fined.
Trust me, none of us want to get fined for not going to an event. In my experience, events are not organized to be so boring where no one wants to go. Members of sororities and fraternities in programming positions plan events where everyone, Greeks and non-Greeks, want to come out and enjoy while still raising awareness for charitable organizations.
10. All Greeks only hang out with members of Greek life or in their perspective organization.
Sure, many of our friends are from our sorority or fraternity, but all of us have lives outside of our organization. We all have family and friends we made before joining. None of us discriminate. If a friend is not Greek, it doesn't matter; we love everyone!
Bringing these misconceptions about Greek life to light is important because there has been a stigma about what Greek life really is. I can’t speak for everyone, but in my experience, I would not be the person I am today if I did not join my sorority. I gained confidence, friends, professional skills, jobs and memories to last a life time that no amount of money can ever cover.
