We’ve all done it: logged onto GreekRank.com, typed in "University of Michigan," found our own sorority/fraternity and then read the comments underneath that tell us exactly how we are perceived on campus, where we stand, what we look like and how hard we rage or don’t rage at mixers. It’s only natural to want to know what other people are saying about you and your entire organization. Representation goes a long way in Greek life, after all.
What is not natural, however, is girls ranking their top houses during rush based off of Greek Rank. It is not natural for a frat to deny a mixer with a sorority strictly based off how they are ranked on this website. And it most certainly is not justified for girls to go and bash an entire sorority in the comments just because they may not like one girl in it. Greek Rank is detrimental to us as a community. But it’s not just this; this website is only one aspect of the problem that is making us compete against one another as opposed to uniting us.
Greek politics, or the tier system, contradicts everything that we stand for as organizations on campus. What was meant to bring individuals together has instead pitted us against one another, seeing who can have the most attractive girls in their new pledge class or how many fraternities ask them to be pre-game partners.
We attend a school where frat boys play games like “guess what sorority she’s in” based solely off of what a girl looks like. It’s wrong that girls feel they are punished for choosing a home for themselves that is not considered “top tier.” Looking down on others because they chose a different path than you is not why you joined a sorority. Just because the Greek letters you wear on your sweatshirt are different from mine, doesn’t mean you’re better. And more importantly, who you mix with does not determine your worth.
Come graduation, when we all must leave behind our days of attending things like Tequila Tuesday and participating in Greek Week, employers won’t care that you went on ski trip with a top tier fraternity/sorority or that your house has a five star ranking on Greek Rank.
Don’t get me wrong. Having pride in your sorority and repping the letters individual to you and your sisters is something that made me want to join Greek life in the first place. There’s something about the exclusivity of being in a sorority unique to your sisterhood that really stands true to the phrase “the house chooses you.” There’s nothing wrong with thinking your house is the best. I would hope that’s the case if you joined it.
But thinking your house is the best at the expense of others on campus - or in turn feeling inadequate when compared to others - is not what Greek life stands for. There are over 5,400 students here at Michigan in Greek life, all with the potential to make a difference. I say we focus more on making connections with each other and changing the Greek life stigma rather than self-ranking ourselves the hottest on a website that features articles chronicling Kim Kardashian’s crying face.
