The Washington Supreme Court just upheld a ruling that holds Washington State University liable for the hazing death of a freshman. Not the fraternity alone. The university itself. If you're involved in Greek life anywhere in this country, that distinction matters more than most people are giving it credit for.
...
Read more
George Washington University just brought Greek Week back after a four-year pause, and everyone's treating it like a feel-good story. And sure, it is. But if you've ever sat on a Panhellenic council and actually had to coordinate something like this across multiple chapters, across IFC and Panhellenic and NPHC, you know the headline is about ten percent of what actually happened here.
...
Read more
Another fraternity suspension, another news cycle. That's how it usually goes, right? The story breaks, people get outraged, a statement gets issued, and then it fades. But when I saw that an NYU fraternity got suspended over allegations of sexual assault and hazing, I didn't just scroll past it - I actually stopped. Because I've been on both sides of the Greek life fence, and stories like this one are exactly why I almost didn't join in the first place.
...
Read more
There's a headline making the rounds from Student Life at Washington University in St. Louis, and it's framing fraternity expansion as some kind of red flag - a sign that the Abolish Greek Life movement is losing ground and that's somehow alarming. I've read it a few times now. And I get what the writers are going for. But I think they're reading the situation backwards.
...
Read more
Before I joined a fraternity, I tailgated exactly twice in college - once for a homecoming game I barely cared about, and once because my roommate dragged me out at 9am on a Saturday. Both times I stood around feeling slightly out of place, like I'd wandered into someone else's tradition. Then I joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon the spring of my sophomore year, and honestly, the tailgate experience became a completely different thing. Not just because of the chapter, but because I finally had context for why these traditions exist and what makes some of them genuinely legendary.<
...
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
I pledged in fall 2021, which means I was basically a lab rat for whatever Greek life became after COVID scrambled everything. No one had a playbook. Alumni kept saying things like "back in my day" and describing traditions we literally could not do anymore. Chapter presidents were making stuff up as they went. And honestly? Some of what got invented in that chaos turned out to be better than what came before.
...
Read more
Every recruitment cycle, I watched the same thing happen from my seat on Panhellenic council. PNMs would walk into the first round of events wearing outfits so coordinated, so clearly researched, so obviously assembled for the specific purpose of impressing sorority women - and the effect was the opposite of what they intended. The members clocked it immediately. It reads as desperate, even when it isn't. And that perception, fair or not, follows you through the rest of the week.
...
Read more
There's a piece over at the Charlotte Ledger about life lessons from sorority rush, and honestly, it landed differently than I expected. I went in thinking it'd be the usual outsider take - polished smiles, coordinated outfits, the whole spectacle. But the core of what it's getting at is something I recognize from the fraternity side too: rush isn't just recruiting. It's the first serious test of who you are and what you actually value.
...
Read more
Nobody sat me down during Greek Week and said, "Hey, the guys in Sigma Alpha Epsilon are gonna be your professional lifeline in four years." It didn't work like that. It was slower, weirder, and honestly more useful than anything a career center workshop ever gave me.
...
Read more
