Anonymous wrote:You people do realize that binge drinking and date rapes occur in people who aren't in greek life correct?

I was in a sorority for 2 years. It was very casual at my school because no one was allowed to live in their houses. It was basically a way to make friends your freshman year (although I'm only still friends with one girl from my sorority) and to have places to go/things to do.

I got out my junior year because I became involved in a lot more activities and didn't have time to keep up with all of them. My best friends were either not in my sorority, or they were but they were also involved in another activity of mine. It just wasn't worth it to keep membership up.

I feel like some people like to hate on Greek life for the stereotype of it. It varies from school to school. Down south, yes they take it more seriously. But you go to a school like mine where the Greeks don't live in their houses and it is a pretty laid back environment and far from exclusionary.

So anyone who wanted to could join? Everyone who rushed was invited to join?

There was an article in the NYT a while back about a service you could hire for your college bound daughter called rushbiddies. They will help your daughter prep for the stress of getting into a sorority. I want the exact opposite for my dc. They work hard enough to get to college, now they have to prep to join a social group? That is so wrong.

I cringe when someone mentions their "fraternity brother". What is wrong with just saying "my friend". The whole concept of the Greek system is outdated for independent thinkers. And now with the cost of college so high, parents really want to know what they are paying for and how their kids will spend 4 years. $60,000 a year for a low class mentality of a frat boy or sorority girl? No thanks.

Anonymous wrote:The thought of my "friends" stripping my naked, parading me in front of people and public shaming me didn't appeal to me as a 18 year old. But, I guess I was more mature then most college students.

My partner's eating club hazing included: stripped to underwear in a coed crowd, getting passed down a flight of stairs in underwear, sex charades while half dressed, and being locked in a room with some other people until they drank a keg of beer. My kid may end up doing stuff like that, but it's all behavior that I would strongly discourage (and certainly not pay the fees, the expense of frats and clubs in another issue that hasn't been raised so far).

Never met a frat-boy I liked. No thanks.

The thought of my "friends" stripping my naked, parading me in front of people and public shaming me didn't appeal to me as a 18 year old. But, I guess I was more mature then most college students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Greek life was the best part of college for me. It was the 80s at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) and I have maintained close relationships with my sorority sisters. My daughter pledged last semester and we will attend national conventions together starting next spring. I am very active on the graduate/national level. My husband is active in his fraternity. I highly recommend Greek life for undergraduates and graduates.

I also attended an HBCU, the hazing that went on was horrible. That is why I did not pledge and would not encourage my child to pledge. He needs to be a GDI.

A couple of the AKA's I know have the absolute worst hazing stories that I have personally heard.

Anonymous wrote:Greek life was the best part of college for me. It was the 80s at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU) and I have maintained close relationships with my sorority sisters. My daughter pledged last semester and we will attend national conventions together starting next spring. I am very active on the graduate/national level. My husband is active in his fraternity. I highly recommend Greek life for undergraduates and graduates.

I also attended an HBCU, the hazing that went on was horrible. That is why I did not pledge and would not encourage my child to pledge. He needs to be a GDI.

Next time you are on YouTube look up Rushed-A Northwestern Sorority Documentary.

Pledged:The Secret Life of Sororities by Alexandra Robbins is a good read and investigates what sororities are like and how they impact young woman.

I went to umcp and found it to be very exclusionary. I rushed and got cut from a few sororities based on a five minute conversation. How could they possibly decide to not include me based on that? It's very exclusionary and shallow in my opinion.

It very much depends on the approach at each campus. I think Greek life is healthier when you don't rush freshman year (so you have more time to make other friends) and when you don't have to live in the house. Also, it's tough when the school is in such a small town that there's not much else to do on weekends besides go to frat parties.

I hope to explain these differences to my kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally hate Greek life because of the binge drinking and date raping, but I've never actually commented about it on DCUM before now.

Same here. why would you imagine there is only one vocal person on this topic? I imagine there are more "non-Greek" people in the world than "Greek". but maybe that is just my limited worldview!

Same here. Not a fan of the institutionalization of cliques in general.

Anonymous wrote:You people do realize that binge drinking and date rapes occur in people who aren't in greek life correct?

I was in a sorority for 2 years. It was very casual at my school because no one was allowed to live in their houses. It was basically a way to make friends your freshman year (although I'm only still friends with one girl from my sorority) and to have places to go/things to do.

I got out my junior year because I became involved in a lot more activities and didn't have time to keep up with all of them. My best friends were either not in my sorority, or they were but they were also involved in another activity of mine. It just wasn't worth it to keep membership up.

I feel like some people like to hate on Greek life for the stereotype of it. It varies from school to school. Down south, yes they take it more seriously. But you go to a school like mine where the Greeks don't live in their houses and it is a pretty laid back environment and far from exclusionary.

What is the point then, if not to exclude others?

Huge generalizations about the Greek experience.

I went to a state school that didn't have much cohesive spirit. Not a big sports powerhouse or anything like that.

I rushed my sophomore year after realizing that most of the campus leaders were Greek across all activities. President of the student body was greek. Editor of the school paper was greek. Many of the residence hall assistants were greek. The kids who were most active and invested in the school seemed, for the most part, to be part of the greek system. For me it was a good networking opportunity rather than being one of the masses of un-engaged students.

Rush Week, at least for sororities, wasn't all full of keg parties and hazing. They were nice affairs, followed by a pledge period that really had no hazing at all. And, of my freshman year friends who joined other sororities, I only heard of one house that had any sort of minimal hazing.

Parties with alcohol for the next few years? Of course, among greeks and independents alike.

Greek life has gotten a hugely bad name, but it is not uniformly bad or evil or about buying friends.