As I am sure you have heard many times, college is a time to branch out. It is a time to explore ideas and take opportunities not offered in high school. It is also a time to make new friends-- just a whole bunch of new friends. Because that is another thing college is, besides a place to learn, it is a new environment filled with tons of smart, random people from around the United States and the world. This is where they plop down a handful of bright eyed, bushy tailed seventeen and eighteen year old men and women and tell them to go make new friends (or "network").
Maybe that was a little exaggerated, but when you get down to basics, that is what college is. One big ol' social experiment. Some on campus embrace this and dive deep into the strict social bubble that is the "Lafayette experience;" the partying, the drinking, the blending in of sorts. Others are more comfortable on the outside looking in, a worthwhile alternative.
With the semester just starting up here, every part of campus is abuzz over fall fraternity and sorority rush. Without fail, one way or another, Greek Life becomes a part of everyone's day. Dozens of sorority girls a day pass you by, sporting their letters. Nervous newcomers boast all white. Giant Greek flags hang all over Farinon. It is like a mini festival that engulfs campus and that only a select few and elite engage in.
As a female, I get several emails (in all caps) urging me to rush into a sorority. I also get to walk pass lines of ladies in white nervously awaiting access into one of the houses. I get to ask myself if it is worth all the new friends I would lose. And as a colored female, I get to come to terms with the fact that my chances are slashed in half- I lack the funds and have an excess of melanin.
I grapple with myself. Of course, everyone wants in on the Lafayette experience. Shell out the money, and the fun and friends basically come to you. I want that, right? Maybe. It is what everyone tells me I should want. The formals, the friends, the prestige. The high life, on a new social rung, with people who do not look like me. That is the dream.
And if I do not want to rush, then what? Not much from what I am told. Without access to Greek life via a sorority, about half of the social scene at Lafayette becomes off limits. It is a do or die situation to some. I thought it was funny how people would tell us to branch out, while at the same time urging us to section ourselves off. And I always wondered what it took to be seen worthy of sorority status, and who exactly decided it.
With exclusivity being a power bigger than myself, I will not know that Lafayette experience, so I made my own. Today, I sit outside the Lafayette bubble gazing in, content. It gives me a clearer view of the world and the people in it. It is a position I do not mind at all.
all the best,
