But really. There’s such a thing as the “fraternity to finance” pipeline that allegedly places certain frat members into financial positions in the Big Apple — that might be harder for any regular college graduate to obtain. No surprise there, since one of the main long-term reasons members rush is for the networking opportunities Greek life affords. ... Read more

Hundreds of men have moved on from collegiate Greek life into the glitzy and powerful ranks of society. It’s no surprise that many of the actors, billionaire CEOs, politicians and Grammy-winning musicians you know as famed celebrities are also Greek alumni. ... Read more

Suspensions, hazing, movie deals. It's been a crazy week in Greek life around the country. Here are the biggest fraternity and sorority headlines. DA To Announce Results From Penn State Investigation  Results into the death of a Beta Theta Pi fraternity pledge are scheduled to be live-streamed on Monday, November 13th.... Read more

For the animal lover, going away to college and leaving our furry family members behind can be hard. Often times, the question is asked “Can my sorority or fraternity house have a house pet?” Caring for any animal needs to be taken on as a serious responsibility. Several types of pets have their pros and cons. Here are some of the most popular house pets, along with some pros and cons to consider for each.... Read more

You have made one of the biggest decisions of your life to go to college. Congratulations! However, that’s not the only decision that you’ll have to make when it comes to college life. Another important decision that you’ll probably make is the decision to go Greek in college. Greek life has lots of benefits to offer to its members – opportunities to build a network, social/community activities to participate in, a strong brotherhood bond to maintain, and many more!  However, one of the biggest challenges college guys face at the beginning of their Greek life is choosing the right fraternity for themselves.... Read more

Thirty pledges. A filthy basement. Injuries. Condiments. That's what law enforcement found when they responded to a Wisconsin fraternity this past week, and it's the kind of story that makes even the most committed Greek life defender go quiet for a second. I'm not a committed Greek life defender - I joined a fraternity sophomore year after spending my first year firmly in the GDI camp - so I'm not going to sit here and spin this into something it isn't. What happened at that house was hazing. Full stop. And the fact that frat leaders were actually arrested over it means this one isn't going away quietly. ... Read more

Every fraternity recruitment pitch includes some version of the same line: join us, and you'll have brothers for life who will open doors for you. It sounds good. It's also, depending on who you ask and which house you're talking about, either completely true or total mythology. I've spent the last couple years watching my male counterparts from various chapters either cash in on those connections or realize the network was mostly vibes and a LinkedIn request from a guy who never learned their name. ... Read more

I've walked through a lot of houses. Fraternity houses, obviously - that's my world - but also plenty of sorority chapter houses over the years, usually for study halls, mixers, or just dropping someone off after a late-night campus event. And every single time, I walk away thinking the same thing: the way sorority housing works is genuinely fascinating, and almost nobody outside of Panhellenic actually understands how it functions day to day. ... Read more

So a university decided it was finally going to get serious about Greek life. Crackdowns, new rules, oversight committees - the whole package. And now CNN is checking in to see how it's going. Spoiler: it's complicated. It's always complicated. Anyone who's spent five minutes inside a fraternity or sorority house could've told them that before the ink dried on whatever policy memo kicked this thing off. ... Read more

Every summer, incoming freshmen and transfer students start Googling things like "how to prepare for rush" and come back with the same recycled advice: research chapters, practice talking about yourself, dress well. And honestly, some of that is fine. But a lot of what gets passed around as recruitment prep is either useless filler or actively counterproductive. I went through recruitment as a sophomore - which meant I had a full year of watching people do this wrong before I did it myself - and even then I made some dumb calls about where to put my energy. ... Read more

Cornell just banned fraternity parties at annex properties, and if you read that sentence and thought "okay, that sounds reasonable," you're missing the bigger story. The ban came through a Student Fraternity and Sorority Life representative who delivered the news directly to Greek life leadership. Not a vote. Not a committee process. A representative telling chapter leaders what the new rules are. That's the part that should make every inter-council officer sit up straight. ... Read more

Cornell's president just put Greek life on notice in a way that's hard to dismiss. According to CBS News, Cornell's president said Greek life should end permanently if it can't be proven safe. Not suspended. Not restructured. Permanently ended. That's not a threat you make to sound tough at a press conference - that's a statement of actual intent, and every Greek organization on that campus should be taking it seriously. ... Read more

Nobody hands you a manual when you go Greek. You get a bid card, maybe a handshake, and then you're just kind of expected to figure out the rest by watching and occasionally embarrassing yourself. I did plenty of both. And looking back from the other side of graduation, there's a pretty long list of things I wish someone had just said out loud during my first semester instead of letting me learn them the hard way. ... Read more

Every fall, Panhellenic councils across the country run the same expensive, exhausting, highly regulated circus called formal recruitment. Thousands of potential new members rotating through chapter houses in coordinated outfits, chapters rehearsing their talking points, advisors sweating over quota math. And every spring - or whenever formal ends with chapters still under quota - informal recruitment quietly does what formal couldn't. I've worked both sides of this from a council seat. They are not the same thing, and pretending they are is how chapters end up confused about which one actually serves them. ... Read more

Greek life runs on the idea that the people doing the selecting are actually trying to find the right fit - that when a chapter invites someone back, it's because something real clicked. That's the story we tell ourselves, and a lot of the time, I believe it. But when a chapter is accused of systematically cutting women of color from recruitment because of their race, that story falls apart. And that's exactly what's being alleged at UCSB's Alpha Phi chapter right now. ... Read more