Recently, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln specifically, Greek life has been taking a pretty hard hit. Being Greek Week on campus, sororities and fraternities are celebrating by throwing on-campus events, doing charity work, and have multiple spirit events for the students and faculty that everyone in the greek community participates in.

However, in the midst of celebrating Greek life, recent articles written by our school's newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan, have made allegations that bring a negative impression towards greek life on campus.

So, I have decided to take a positive outlook on Greek life by shedding light on all of the positive and great things that impact the students involved, each campus, as well as communities as a whole.

Being involved in a sorority myself, I am a huge advocate for how impactful the Greek system truly is. However, I am not writing to promote my Greek experience, but rather enlighten those who are unaware of all the great things that these communities do.

Philanthropies.

This is by far the most impactful thing that each greek community is involved in. Each sorority and fraternity raise money through multiple events each year and donate all of the money to a cause that each house supports. Here are some of the causes that these houses support:

Alpha Chi Omega Sorority: Ending Domestic Violence

Alpha Phi Sorority: Women's Cardiac Care

Alpha Xi Delta Sorority: Autism Speaks

Delta Delta Delta Sorority: St. Jude Children's Hospital

Delta Tau Delta Fraternity: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

Phi Delta Theta Fraternity: ALS Foundation

Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women: Read Lead Achieve

Sigma Chi Fraternity: Huntsmen Cancer Institute

Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity: Big Brothers Big Sisters of America

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity: Make a Wish Foundation

By no means is this a limit of the chapters on our campus, or on any campus. There are many more chapters, over 120 fraternities and sororities nationally, that each has their own foundation or charity that they sponsor.

Each chapter holds multiple events in a year (about 1-2 a semester) that raise money solely dedicated to supporting their philanthropy. These events can range from food and supply drives, serving food, intramural sports tournaments, or simply asking for money from local people.

I am not going to list how much each chapter raises during their events, but the impact that these chapters have on their foundations is insane. For example, the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority raised more than $600,000 last year for the Reading is Fundamental Foundation.

Many of these chapters also support multiple foundations on the side, along with the foundation they support nationally. Here in Lincoln, Beta Theta Pi fraternity volunteered and raised money for the Lincoln Lighthouse, which is an after-school program for at-risk youth. The Greek community has a huge impact nationally and locally, without any requirements from universities.

Academics.

Academics are the reason why anyone attends a university from the start. Greek life is not meant to be a distraction, which is a common misconception, but rather an assistant to member's academic careers.

Personally, I feel that being involved in my sorority is a lot more beneficial to my academics. I am able to connect with women who have taken classes in my major for help and advice, have access to helpful notes, and create study groups. Many chapters also have study hours, which encourages men and women to study more and work harder for praise in their chapters.

Many chapters also provide tutors at no cost, so if a student is struggling, they have access to help. Looking at Nebraska's student GPA, Greek life has a higher GPA as compared to students who are not involved in Greek life. (Available on Nebraska's website if you're curious).

Overall, my sorority pushes me to perform better academically, which is motivation I might have been lacking if I was not involved.

Involvement.

Other than being involved in their own philanthropies, members of the Greek community are involved in a lot more on campus, in things that are not required by their chapter. Dance Marathon is a fundraising event which raises money every year for families who are impacted by the Children's Hospital.

Students dance for 12-24 hours, raising money and playing games while they do so. Although this is an event unaffiliated with the Greek community, many Greek houses participate in more ways than one.

At Nebraska, each Greek house signs up and sponsors a family, of which they make a banner for and hang out with for the entire day. Each Greek house then raises money for that family, along with the hospital itself.

Another event is the Big Event, which is a day dedicated to volunteering in their community. So many Greek members participate in this event, that it has become apart of Greek week.

Many Greek members are also leaders of volunteer groups who organize each volunteer event. Members of the Greek community also lead and organize events such as Out of The Darkness Walk and March for Life. Many Greek students are the ones who bring these events to their campus and organize the event.

Now I am not saying that you need to be a part of Greek life in order to get a high GPA, volunteer, or be involved on campus--- I know plenty of people unaffiliated with Greek life who are way more involved than I am.

All I am saying is that the Greek communities aren't about partying, or 'paying for friends'. So please, stop believing the stereotype that society has placed on the Greek communities because we are apart of something much bigger than ourselves.