The Story

It's All Greek to Me

Aug. 8, 2008 | By Jake Robert Nelson, DSJ Opinions Editor

I suffer from mild Hellenophobia - a fear of Greeks, albeit an irrational one. Now, I don’t fear those feta-crumbling, baklava-baking, big-fat-wedding-throwing, Jesse Katsopolis Greeks.

It’s the unit-dwelling, keg-standing, collar-popping, dance-party-throwing, John Belushi Greeks that scare me.

With over a quarter of our undergraduate student body in Greek organizations - 27 percent of women and 25 percent of men in spring 2008 - I can hardly walk around campus without constantly recoiling in fear.

Where does this fear come from?

Is it the fraternity unit dance parties to which my freshman hall flocked en masse during the first few weeks of school - the parties at which I had to simultaneously demonstrate my perennial awkwardness on the dance floor and my inability to shake the 100-degree August heat?

Maybe.

Is it that one guy in every club I join who feels the need to embody the stereotype of a frat boy to a T (or rather, to a polo) - the guy who simultaneously uses words like “vacay” and “legit” and shows his prowess for imbibing superabundant amounts of alcohol?

Probably not.

If anything, I think the reason for my neurosis is both a lack of knowledge and a lack of willingness to learn.

But with a love of the College comes an appreciation for all that its Greek life can bring.

Greek life started at the College - and in the United States - with the Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1776, the first collegiate organization to give itself a Greek-letter name. While PBK was and is a society geared more towards academics and spirited debate, it paved the way for the arrival of the College’s many social Greek groups.

Way back in 1853, when Millard Fillmore was president and potato chips were invented, Theta Delta Chi was founded on our campus, making it the oldest frat that’s still around today. In 1921, shortly after the College went co-ed, Chi Omega was founded, which made it the first sorority on campus.

And more and more Greek groups have been established at the College (three in the last three years).

So why do people join? And why don’t people join?

Perhaps the biggest reason to rush (that’s Greek for “to think seriously about joining”) a Greek group is the instant group of on-campus friends you will acquire. You’ll start out with your family (your big, your big-big, your huge, your super-huge, etc.), and before long, men will have an average of 37.47 and women an average of 69.33 brand new friends!

Another great pull to Greek organizations is the impressive networks of alumni. Members of Delta Chi can call Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher brothers, while members of Alpha Kappa Alpha can call Toni Morrison and Star Jones sisters. While the likelihood that you’ll stumble upon a famous brother or sister is slim, it is more probable that your Greek status could help you find a job after graduation.

And the fact that all but three U.S. presidents and three-fourths of the U.S. Congress have been brothers or sisters certainly may be a pull for the future politicians among us.

Community service, while probably not the biggest selling point for most pledges, is also an inherent benefit of going Greek, especially at the College. Each fraternity and sorority has a specific charity for which it does philanthropic work.

Greek service at the College isn’t just soup kitchens and tutoring the blind. Both Greek and non-Greek students look forward to campus-wide events hosted by various sororities and fraternities, like Kappa Delta’s Campus Golf or Gamma Phi Beta’s Moonball, which involve lots of “pre-gaming,” hanging out with friends and feeling good about helping out a charity while having fun.

For women at the College, the option of living in one of the poshly decorated houses in Sorority Court can also be a draw. Men don’t have the same luck, with the poorly placed units offering few of those same comforts.

There are many other reasons for men and women to resist the urge to go Greek.

Parties in the fraternity units (the same parties at which I awkwardly danced) are open to all students, and those in the fraternity are left with cleanup duty, while the rest of us can stumble back to our dorms, basking in the afterglow of festivity.

Likewise, many students are turned off by the prospects of steep dues and initiation rituals. While hazing (which includes branding, burying and forced shield-carrying) is strictly prohibited at the College, it is my educated guess that it still goes on to some extent, probably more in fraternities that sororities.

One guy on my hall had to carry a paddle around with him and made almost daily runs to the fraternity house at odd hours of the night. While this is much better than the “pelting” or “confinement” that must happen at some schools, it is still unacceptable.

Just like any other club or activity, another drawback is the amount of time consumed by fraternities and sororities, especially during the pledging process. This can have an adverse effect on grades, though this honestly depends on individual students.

For students interested in Greek life, but not in the partying aspect, there are several other Greek-letter groups that provide some of the same benefits often with a less intense time commitment and a lower price tag, like Alpha Phi Omega (for service, co-ed) or Nu Kappa Epsilon (for music, women only).

When it comes down to it, the decision to go Greek or not is a personal choice. Any interested students should check out the Meet the Greeks event during orientation and individual groups’ open houses. The Fall 2008 schedule for sorority recruitment lays out specifics. The Council for Fraternity Affairs has not yet posted its schedule, but more information will be available upon students’ arrival at the College.

I'm not a Greek. In fact, I'm still somewhat afraid of them. But I will always love baklava.



Jake Robert Nelson is DSJ Opinions Editor and a regular opinions contributor. His opinions do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.



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