While most Panhellenic councils spend September arguing about recruitment compliance violations and whether a chapter's Instagram post technically counts as informal recruitment, the Divine Nine organizations are out here running food drives, hosting voter registration tables, and putting members through scholarship reviews. Every semester. Without pause. I've sat through enough IFC and Panhellenic governance meetings to know that for a lot of chapters, community service is a box you check before formal. For Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and the rest of the National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations, it's apparently just... Tuesday. ... Read more

Every guy in a fraternity has heard some version of this pitch: join us, and you'll have brothers for life - brothers who will hire you, refer you, open doors for you. It sounds almost too good to be true. And honestly? Sometimes it is. But sometimes it genuinely isn't, and the difference matters a lot more than anyone in recruitment will admit. ... Read more

Nobody told me sophomore year was gonna hit like that. I had three philanthropy events, two formals, a brotherhood retreat, and intramural playoffs packed into about six weeks - and somehow I was still supposed to figure out whether I wanted to declare Economics or Communications. My advisor looked at me like I had two heads when I explained why I'd missed her office hours. She didn't get it. But if you're in a chapter right now, you do. ... Read more

Nobody told me pledge semester would hit my transcript like a freight train. Between chapter meetings three nights a week, new member education, philanthropy events, and just trying to figure out who everyone was - I watched my GPA slip in a way I hadn't expected. And I wasn't some slacker. I'd gotten good grades in high school. Greek life just has a way of filling every hour you thought you had. ... Read more

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

Greeks help others. Every chapter across the nation works hard to hold events to raise awareness and resources for their selected causes. These occasions also offer an opportunity for Greeks from different houses to come together to support each other’s efforts to make the world a better place. Here are some of the best philanthropy events of September 2016 from across the country.... Read more

There are a lot of great fraternity philanthropies. They all have worthy causes that aid brothers in living their noble creeds. Some philanthropic efforts, although, have recently been going above and beyond. Here’s a list of the top 5 fraternity philanthropies of 2015.... Read more

While there are plenty of excellent colleges without much of a Greek Life, it’s important to acknowledge the positive influence that having a strong Greek Life presence on campus offers students. From the percentage of undergraduate students involved in Greek Life to the number of chapters on each campus, the following schools have risen above the rest. Checkout the following list of colleges across the country that offer the best Greek Life experiences by the numbers:... 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

The Wall Street Journal ran a piece this week that a lot of people in Greek life governance have been quietly dreading. A rape case at Cornell. A university that had recently softened its stance toward fraternities. And a story that asks, out loud, whether colleges made a mistake by pulling back from the harder line on Greek organizations. If you've sat on a Panhellenic council or watched an IFC try to self-govern, you already know where this is headed. ... Read more

Nobody told me that the GPA you earn in your first semester follows you around like a shadow for the next four years. I mean, people say stuff like "work hard" and "don't fall behind" during orientation week, but that's not the same thing as actually understanding what a 2.6 in your first semester costs you two years later. I found out the hard way, and then I found out again when I joined a chapter as a sophomore and watched the same thing play out for a bunch of new members who had no idea what they were walking into. ... Read more

Recruitment chairs are great at a lot of things. Giving you a realistic budget breakdown before you sign your bid card is not one of them. I found out what my fraternity actually cost me around three weeks into pledging, when I opened my member portal for the first time and sat with my jaw on the floor staring at a number I had not mentally prepared for. Nobody lied to me exactly. They just... didn't volunteer the full picture. ... Read more

There's an opinion piece running in USA Today right now about Cornell University and a student identified only as Jane Doe, and it's the kind of article that should make every Greek life member uncomfortable - not because it's unfair, but because it isn't. The argument is straightforward: Cornell failed her, and Greek life needs to change from within. I'm not here to pick apart the editorial. I'm here to say that the from within part is where most chapters are quietly failing, and they don't even realize it. ... Read more

Every recruitment chair I've ever worked with on council has some version of the same complaint going into formal: actives go on autopilot. You spend months training your chapter on values-based recruitment, you write the talking points, you do the mock conversations in chapter meeting, and then the moment a potential new member walks through the door, someone asks where she's from and what she's studying and whether she's looked at any clubs yet. Same rotation. Every round. Every house. ... Read more