When you decide to go Greek, there are several things that come to mind during rush ... you think about the girls you meet, the symbols, and the philanthropy of the various houses. And then you think of the tier system. If you are familiar with Greek life, then this concept is not new to you, but if you were anything like me when I rushed, then you probably have absolutely no idea that there is even a tier system.
Recruitment will become overwhelming with various people trying to teach you about every sorority, and where you “should” rush and where you “shouldn’t” rush. It quickly becomes something about trying to get into the best house, rather than looking for the house that you feel most comfortable in.
If you are reading this and aren’t Greek and are still confused about what the “tier system” is, allow me to break it down for you: The tier system is a non-official placement of importance that every sorority and fraternity has on campus. It is usually based mostly on reputation and who can party more — and has absolutely NO real base of value.
It is a system that doesn’t have many pros to it, but many cons. It separates Greek life into tiers, stating who is “better” than others. Naturally, this is a TERRIBLE thing, and here are some reasons why this NEEDS to stop:
1. The tiers aren’t classified by actual important things.
“Top tier” isn’t classified by who raises the most money for a philanthropy, who is the most involved on campus, or who is the nicest. Whoever is on “top” is usually classified mostly by the overall reputation that the organization has. This makes the whole thing solely based on superficial characteristics, which can go wrong really quickly. As Greeks, we should be inspiring people to hold strong values, just like the strong values that our organizations have inspired us to live and breathe by.
These values are not based on reputation; they are based on morals. If we keep telling people that you are at the “top” just because you look good, then what values are we really reflecting? It says that if you aren’t in this or that organization then it doesn’t matter what your personality or values are — you are just not good looking enough. If we actually "rated" organizations by things of value — GPA, honors awards, most service hours, etc. — then it would make sense ... but who cares about who has the hottest pledge class or who has been on campus the longest?
2. It divides us as Greeks and we are supposed to be a community.
Having a system where you classify each organization into different levels naturally creates a division between each of them. This does not allow people to interact with each other and become a real community. IT SHOULD NOT MATTER WHAT YOUR LETTERS ARE! At the end of the day, your organization doesn’t define you — you define your sorority or fraternity. This unnecessary competition to try to get to the “top” can stop us from reaching our full potential as Greeks.
3. Most people really just don’t care.
Even though there are a good amount of people that live by this system, the truth is that most people really just don’t care for i t... they just get dragged into the whole mess, but truthfully, they just wish it would stop.
4. Once you graduate NO ONE CARES.
Yes, being Greek does look great on your résumé when applying for jobs, but your potential employer is not going to care if you were in XYZ organization or not. The chances are that they have NO idea of the names of any sorority or fraternity, and they all just sound the same to them. So all that time you spent in college trying to be “the best” was just shot down the drain in the real world. Shocker.
I have friends in every organization no matter what. I love every single organization, and I don’t make decisions based on the “ranking”. I think that if we all did the same and stopped this we could reach our full potential as a community. So, please... Reconsider what you're saying when you verbally rank a person by the "tier" of their organization by NOT SAYING ANYTHING AT ALL.
