“The Tri-delts? Oh, they’re the crazy ones.”
“Kappa? Goodluck having any fun there, all they do is study.”
“G-phi? I heard they haze like no other.”
Sound familiar? The only aspect these gossip statements have in common is that they are all wrong! This leads me to the big question: how can we generalize the reputation of each sorority by assuming that they are all the same nationwide? We can’t.
Gossip will never be stopped, but shouldn’t it at least be semi-accurate? Every sorority has a different group of girls, a different atmosphere, and a different attitude on every campus in America. A certain sorority may be the talk of the town with their off the wall parties on one campus, but it’s perfectly normal for the same sorority to be more subdued at a campus on the other side of the nation.
The generalization all starts with pre-programmed assumptions, which usually start in high school. When the recently graduated seniors return with their stories of coffee infused all-nighters, sweat drenched football games, and beer-filled Solo cups, the stories spread. Those that went through sorority rush and recruitment bring back tales of who is the top sorority on campus and all the stereotypes that go along with it. Once these tales are told, the stereotypes begin.
It's safe to say that high-schoolers will eat up any juicy college story they hear, within limits I'm sure. Once the dirty deets about last fall's insane Zeta tailgate gets loose, all of a sudden every Zeta in the U.S. is under that scrutiny, not just the campus responsible. That's not very fair, or even logical. That's like telling a friend that this one girl, who happens to have red hair, likes chickpeas on her salad, and now your friend believes that every red haired girl likes chickpeas on her salad.
One can only legitimately describe a sorority if they identify what campus the chapter is from and if they have actually been apart of, or really experienced, this specific sorority. Take that gossip and simply specify the who, what, where, why, and how. Who: what chapter? What: what happened? Why: why it happened based on the who. How: how do you know about it? Girls love nothing more then a little added detail to spice up the already red hot story. It will electrify the story and also bring truth to it to avoid generalization.
High school students
might spread these generalizations, but the recently inducted college students plant the seeds. We only have ourselves to blame, people. It will all come back around to us when a person starts talking generalized smack about our own sorority right in front of us and we will have to step in to set the record straight. Until then, lets stop the generic chickpea gossip and start specifying what really is in the salad we're talking about.
