Recently in the Lehigh University newspaper, The Brown and White, one Lehigh student interviewed other Lehigh students about their opinion on Greek Life with some depicting Greek life as "welcoming community" while others characterizing certain aspects of the system as "deeply and morally disturbing." From my experience, the "welcoming community" that the administration and members of the Greek life like to sell everybody is a bunch of garbage. My experience with Greek life has exposed the Greek system as a way of empowering males to feel a superiority complex, resulting in more aggressive and combative behavior towards other Lehigh students.
As a non-Greek affiliated male on Lehigh's campus, I have often had violent encounters at off-campus Greek houses that prove the Greek culture is in no way "welcoming." For example, two years ago I was at an off-campus fraternity house with my roommate, school friends, and friends from home. There were two guys and about six girls — I am regrettably obliged to share this information because your ratio is of the utmost importance to Greek life. When we were at the party we discovered that some guys were jealous that the girls were giving us more attention than the guys in the fraternity. As every non-Greek affiliated person has experienced, a person in the house went up to my friend and asked him, "Who do you know in the house?" Then he asked again, this time putting his hand on his throat and pinning him up against the wall. Even though I was within 10 feet of my roommate it was hard to discern what was happening until a crowd formed around the two. By the time I came closer the situation was already diffused. Nevertheless, we were forced to leave immediately.
Related: 6 Things I Learned By NOT Joining A Sorority
Another time during my sophomore year, I was at a party when a guy drunkenly approached me and managed to slur out the sentence "Did you touch that girl inappropriately." I said confusedly "No, I didn't touch her inappropriately." The guy proceeded to call a random girl over and then asked her while pointing to me "Did this guy touch you inappropriately?" The girl looked me up and down, looked at her friend, and then smiled before she said, "Yea, he did." Then the guy said, "Alright you have to go." I was pissed. I told him, "Look if you want to kick me out that is one thing, you can ask me to leave and I'll leave but don't say I touched her inappropriately when you and I both know I did no such thing." Of course when I told him, man to man, he understood — but it was a different case when he had his friends watching.
On my 21st birthday, before heading to the bars, I went with a couple of friends to an off-campus house, which I hardly ever do because of past experiences, but my brother was up for my birthday and I wanted him to have a taste of the Greek culture. This time, we came in with three guys and six girls. As soon as we walked in, a guy approached me, dug his hand in my chest, and directly said, "No, you have to leave." I said, "Alright that's fine then I am taking all of the girls with me." He said, "I don't care — take all of your ugly girls with you."
Response: Lehigh's Greek Life Is More Than You See
These brief stories highlight the fact that Greek life has done nothing to "enrich" my college experience. The only people who are being "enriched" are the people who feel the power to try and bully other people because they know they have 30 guys who have their back in case of a problem. The Greek system for someone like me has been nothing but a constant cause of discomfort and uneasiness. I can never go to an off-campus house hosted by a fraternity and feel "welcomed," even when I know a majority of the people in the house. The reason why is because it only takes one person to give you a problem, which always has the potential to lead to a fight.
Greek members like to sing the song that they do so many charities and have a great "support system," which is probably true, but this does not take away from the exclusive/combative community that it has created on Lehigh's campus. If the Greek system wanted to be a welcoming community, then they would host events with cultural clubs or outreach to other groups on campus other than the "hottest" sorority. For example, how many fraternities and sororities were involved with the Indian Student Association Diwali? If you want my respect as a "welcoming" community, then getting more involved with different groups on campus is a start.
