Just like every mother says, "don't judge a book by its cover"; the same goes for stereotypes. Don't judge a person based on their stereotypes. So today I am here to put an end to the negative stereotypes against Greek life.
Of course there are a few organizations every now and again that fall under the stereotypes and are exactly like the movies, but typically we are far from it. It's not all about the parties and drinking. Instead we go out into our community on a daily basis and help with anything that we can. We were even created on a basis of helping others, and that will never change! Unfortunately, because of all of the bad stereotypes given to Greek life, some schools don't allow Greek housing, or even Greek life at all. The communities surrounding colleges are so convinced we will demolish everything and create a ruckus. I am a "sorority girl," and I can honestly say that I don't even like going out every night, and I actually really care about my grades!
We also are not all about hazing and changing ourselves to fit in! First off, hazing is actually very much against what we are and by doing so, we could be kicked off campus. Most chapters and college campuses have a zero-tolerance hazing policy, and if you get caught breaking it you can get into a huge amount of trouble. It just isn't worth it in the end anyway! And for the idea of changing ourselves, why would you be something that you're not? Each sorority and fraternity is looking for sisters/brothers that will work well with each other, not for clones of the sisters/brothers already initiated. We want you to be yourself and have your own personality. On top of that, we also are not all alike! That's what I love the most about being in Greek life! We all come from different backgrounds and have lived different lives; there is a wide range of diversity that we can all learn from.
Greek life is a way to make connections and meet some wonderful friends that you will have for the rest of your life, and it is not about social purposes or being a part of a selective elite class. We don't just go Greek to look cool; we do it for the support, connections, and desire to help our communities.
If we were all blind you wouldn't be able to tell a Greek from a non-Greek. We are all the same. We stuff our face with pizza and wear sweatpants too. The only thing that differentiates us from non-Greeks is the fact that we support philanthropies nonstop that we are all super crazy excited to help out, we have thousands of brothers and sisters, and we will always work toward making it well known that Greek life is much more than the movies!
