Emory University has been working through what to do with its Greek life presence on campus, and a piece in The Emory Wheel makes an argument I think more people need to hear: physically relocating Greek organizations away from campus doesn't make them safer. It just makes them harder to watch. If you've spent any time in a chapter house, you probably already know why that's a problem.
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When Alpha Tau Omega at Emory got hit with sanctions for alcohol and hazing violations, I didn't feel surprised. And I don't think most people paying attention to Greek life news did either. That's the part that should actually bother us.
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Next to Instagram, Tumblr is fabulous. You can get lost, scrolling for hours over beach landscapes, long-haired girl crushes, and tailgate style. If you’re a sorority, you know this, and you’ll have curated your Tumblr page to follow suit. ...
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Sororities are great at many things: hosting campus wide events, coming up with new and interesting t shirt ideas, and of course blowing glitter at cameras. However, the one thing that sororities do best is expand. They do this through recruitment, snapping up eager new freshman, promising and often delivering an amazing and friend-filled college experience. However, sororities also expand in other, more daring ways—one of which is colonizing new chapters. Here are 7 new chapters of 2016 who are poised to do great things....
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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:...
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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....
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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