Not too long ago I came across the article “12 Reasons I didn’t Go Greek” written by a student at my university. I’m not going to lie, it hurt. Having someone talk so negatively about the Greek community is extremely upsetting, and I want to set the record straight. We are not who most people think we are, and I will tell you why.
According to the article, the writer referred to Greek life as being “racially segregated, discriminatory, emotionally unsatisfying, all about partying, backstabbing, and fake friendships,” as well as a number of other stereotypical accusations. Because of this, I want to apologize on behalf of the Greek community.
I went through recruitment during the very first semester I was at college and I have never known what it’s like to not be a part of a Greek organization. It’s difficult for me to see this experience from a non-Greek perspective but I can see why some people would think these things of the Greek community.
Today it seems like the only circulating news on this topic in the media is that Greek Life equals hazing, partying, and being attractive. The media would never tell you that every year over 10 million hours are volunteered by Greek members to thousands of different organizations and you would never hear that we donate over $7 million annually to hundreds of philanthropies. These things don’t make headlines.
The media portrays Greek members as uneducated college students who only care about our status within our social groups. We are seen as spoiled and wealthy young adults who don’t work for our education or care about our community. We are accused of being materialistic, rude, selfish, sluts, tools, alcoholics, etc. You name it, I’ve heard it.
Believe it or not, I used to think that Greek life was all of these things and more. I based my views of Greek life on accounts like TFM, TSM, and Old Row. I was extremely skeptical and definitely not the “typical” sorority girl at all. But even still, I was curious; so I decided to go through recruitment.
After five extremely long days of talking to what seemed like hundreds of girls, I found that this community was filled with people who are genuine, smart, driven, athletic, passionate and goal-oriented. These women are philanthropists, leaders, and activists within the community. They were nothing like the people I expected to meet, and I couldn’t have been more relieved.
I was a little overwhelmed at first. Within a few short months, I had created friendships that I couldn’t imagine living without. They pushed me to take on leadership roles (in and out of my sorority) that I never would had the confidence to attempt before. These girls gave me the support that I needed to become the best possible version of myself.
So in response to the negative stereotypes; yes, I will admit that out of our nine-million national Greek members, we, unfortunately, have some that are poor representations of who we are as a whole. And for that, I apologize. I apologize for any negative interaction you may have had or any negative stereotype you may have associated with Greek life. I apologize for the members who may have joined their organizations for the wrong reasons and have left you with a terrible interpretation of our Greek community.
If you take anything from this article, please let it be this. In order to be a Greek member, you do not have to conform your ideas or beliefs. You do not have to drink. You do not have to be a specific religion. Nor do you have to be a specific sexual orientation or skin color. Lastly, you do not have to be Greek to be successful. Being a part of the Greek community doesn’t make us any better than anybody else, it just makes us better than we used to be.
