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Blog Entry: #104

Should I Join Greek Life in College?
Fraternities and Sororities from Alpha to Zeta
by Joe DePalma

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To Join Greek Life in college or
not to Join Greek Life in college: that is the question.
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Deciding whether or not to join a fraternity or sorority is one of the biggest decisions you must make regarding your college social life. This one decision offers two drastically different paths you can take throughout your college journey from orientation to graduation. Once chosen, your college path of Greek life or no Greek life will make a sharp turn away from the other path and never merge together again until graduation day. That is why you must choose your college path wisely in order to lay the foundation for your ideal college experience.

The first step students must take to make an educated decision about whether or not to join a Greek organization is to “rush” a few of them. Rushing a fraternity or sorority means that a student hangs out and interacts with current members of a Greek organization during “rush events,” such as mixers (gatherings where a fraternity has a party or event with a sorority and vise versa), meet and greet pizza bashes with every member of the organization, and recreational activities like flag football or coed softball.

The rushing process usually takes between two weeks and a month to complete. At that time, every student must make their decision to either “pledge” (go through a rigorous test of physical endurance, intelligence, loyalty, trust, and mental perseverance for several weeks) the fraternity or sorority he or she liked the best during the rush process or walk away and forget about Greek life entirely.

However, even if a student has made up their mind to pledge their favorite fraternity or sorority, the final say in whether or not they will be allowed to do so is always left up to the organization. Individual fraternities and sororities have complete control over who they want in their honorable ranks. The process Greek organizations use to allow a student who rushed their fraternity or sorority to now continue and pledge for a membership is called awarding a “bid.”

Giving a bid to a student who rushed a certain Greek organization is simply their way of saying, “We think you're cool and would like for you to be in our fraternity or sorority if you can make it through the pledging process.” However, bids are not guaranteed to every student who rushes a fraternity or sorority. That is why it is very important for every student to interact with as many members of the society as possible during the rushing process. The bottom line is that fraternities and sororities want new members just as much as students want to become new members. All you have to do to win your bid is be cool, conversational, and show off the abilities you will bring to the organization.

However, if you are awarded a bid, that does not mean you have to accept it and jump right into the pledging process. Once you are awarded a bid, it is in your best interest to do some final research to ensure that the organization you are thinking about pledging is the absolute right one for you. The last thing you want to do is join the wrong college Greek organization. It may seem like they are all similar, but they all have their own individual characteristics. For example, some Greek organizations have more parties than others, some focus more on academics, and some are very hard on their pledges while others are less strict. Do your research to make sure you find the best Greek organization for you.

The reason why every student must be absolutely positive they are pledging the best organization for them is because once they become a brother or sister in a Greek organization, there is no turning back. Joining a fraternity or sorority is not like finding college employment where you can bounce around from job to job until you find one that you don't hate. Campus Greeks take their organizations very seriously and demand that every new member does the same.

After researching the entire college Greek system, some frustrated students often ask, “Why would anybody want to put up with all the rules, regulations, and grueling procedures that accompany fraternities and sororities?” That common question has many answers, but the recurring theme in most of them is that all the parties, mixers, event sponsoring, formal dances, and campus activities revolve around Greeks. In fact, if you are not directly involved with a fraternity or sorority, you probably won't even find out about most of the activities going on around campus until days after the event has taken place.

Once the social power of Greek organizations is fully understood, some disheartened students question the fact that brothers and sisters are forced to pay money (dues) to be considered a member of their fraternity or sorority. Many students go as far as to say that being in a Greek organization is nothing more than buying friends. That misconception is continually fueled due to the fact that Greek life isn't cheap. Some students in fraternities and sororities pay a lot of money every semester to be considered an active member, but they realize that all the money they pay is simply an investment in fun and friendship.

The money that college Greeks pay in dues covers the costs of all the parties, “frat” house bills, national charter costs, private semi-formals, rush events, custom clothing with Greek letters, trips, parade floats, contest/competition fees, and all other general expenses. Whether you join a Greek organization or not, you are going to spend money on having fun, so in a way, Greek life is simply an organized way of doing it.

* Pledging Rituals Within Fraternities & Sororities *

Experts say that one of the deepest levels of human bonding takes place in situations in which a group of people works together to overcome great adversity against a common source, such as in a conflict or battle. Thankfully, there are not many battles breaking out on college campuses that would cause students to bond together. That is why Greek organizations group all of their pledges together into a pledge class and simulate that kind of adversity through pledging rituals, which sometimes lead to varied degrees of hazing (hazing is when pledging rituals are taken too far and become potentially dangerous).

Technically, any type of hazing is illegal, but so is driving a car 1 M.P.H. over the designated speed limit, andit happens all the time. In campus reality, most Greek organizations only get in trouble for hazing when they go way over the hazing speed limit. That is why if you want to “GO GREEK,” you must be willing to swallow some pride and go with the "push-ups in the rain" type tasks along with the rest of your pledge class while keeping an eye open for situations of real danger.

Hazing a pledge class generally varies from doing exercises outside in the middle of the night to reciting fraternity or sorority history while standing blindfolded wearing only your underwear in a cold basement and holding one hand high above a lit candle while your other hand is buried in a bucket of cockroaches. The secret is to break down the tasks that you are being requested to perform and really define the danger in each of them. In this case, will standing in a cold basement in your underpants hurt you? Will being blindfolded cause you harm? Does holding your hand high above a candle burn? Does holding a cockroach hurt? The answer to all of these is more than likely no for most college students. It is just that doing them all at the same time heightens the effects of each. But really it is more sensationalized than anything else. This is the basis behind the pledging process. Plus, the individuals who are running the pledging rituals are usually not very nice to the pledges, but that is only to give the pledge class a common enemy to rally themselves against.

Sadly, there are times in which pledging rituals are taken too far and clearly become dangerous. This is when all students must remember to trust their instincts and to not be too scared to speak up. It is better to walk away from a dangerous situation and talk about it later than to just go along with it and hope for the best. From an outsider's point of view, pledging rituals may seem stupid and juvenile, but if they are done correctly, these rituals can unite a pledge class in a way that nothing else can. That is why pledging rituals will never go away. The students who go through them are the ones who continue to support them year after year. Newly inducted Greek life brothers and sisters realize that if there were no pledging rituals, anybody could join their fraternity or sorority, which would turn it into nothing more than an everyday campus club.

Becoming a brother or sister in a fraternity or sorority is a great honor that should be cherished and respected. Some students tragically eliminate Greek life as a possibility for themselves because they believe every ridiculous, second-hand story they hear about exorbitant dues, “cult-like” rituals, and abusive pledging tasks. I urge all students to rush a Greek organization at least once in their college career. If you do not enjoy the rushing events, then you will know Greek life is not for you, and you won't pledge. If you are awarded a bid and begin the pledging process but discover it is not for you, explain your feelings to the organization and then simply stop showing up for pledging activities.

Make no mistake: walking away from an unsavory Greek organization during the pledging process is NOT quitting. If anything, the main reason why most students drop out of pledging for a Greek organization is not due to their lack of determination; it is because the brothers or sisters were not completely honest about their organization during the rush process. I cannot emphasize enough the difference between a college career as a Greek versus a college career as a non-Greek. Of course, the pros and cons of each are many, but they are vastly diverse—almost to the point of being two completely different college experiences. Whether you decide to join a Greek organization or not, just the thought of becoming a frat brother or sorority sister should crank up the excitement level of your college life. Whichever path you choose, and however high you want your college life excitement level to be, there is no right or wrong choice in joining a Greek organization or not. However “rushing” a fraternity or sorority to find out more about them—now that's a must!

* Should I Join Greek Life In College? - ACTION STEPS *

Step 1) List two Greek organizations that you want to know more about.

1)_______________________________________________________

2)_______________________________________________________

Step 2) List when and how you will take the steps to obtain the information you need about these Greek organizations.

1)
When: ___________________________________________________

How: ____________________________________________________

2)
When: ___________________________________________________

How: ____________________________________________________

Step 3) After you obtain the information about each organization, decide which one you like better, and list your main personal contact, when you are going to hang out or visit the organization, and why you like that organization the best.

Main Personal Contact:
_________________________________________________________

When will I hang out or visit that organization next?
_________________________________________________________

Why do I like this organization the best?
_________________________________________________________

***** You must at least do this much in reference to joining or not joining Greek life in college. After these three steps, the rest is up to you, but you must at least look this far into the process before deciding to join or not to join Greek life in college.

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