Changes in Greek Life and my Experience

Today, I would like to talk about an organization very important to me that I have been a part of since the beginning of my freshman year: my sorority. Now, I know that sororities, fraternities and greek life as a whole has a bad reputation at times. This bad reputation and the changes it has made to greek life is exactly what I would like to talk about.

My sorority itself hasn’t gone through any drastic changes in my last three years of membership. We are still our own RSO, we haven’t been on probation or had any negative media coverage, which is something that I am very grateful for as a member and a former executive board member. That isn’t always the case though, and often times most members of a greek organization will endure a probation period, negative media coverage, and consequently some changes to the organization because of such actions.

More often, fraternities are the ones getting the negative media coverage in terms of misuse of alcohol and hazing practices, which come with very harsh consequences. However, sororities often endure scrutiny for these actions as well as being conceived as superficial and filled with fake, paid friendships. Regardless of the light the media is trying to shed on greek organizations, in my experience it is always the negative. This negative, dark light is what has changed greek life as a whole, and a light that will continue to do so until greek organizations completely disappear, or so I believe.

Growing up, I watched the news a lot with my parents. Getting ready for school my parents would always have the news on, the same goes for before and after dinner. To my recollection, I can’t remember one time hearing greek letters or hearing about greek organizations on the news, positively or negatively. I honestly had no idea what a sorority or fraternity was until I was probably halfway through high school. Flash forward to 2016, and that’s all a completely different story. Greek life, fraternities in particular, is constantly scrutinized for certain practices in the media. This media coverage has casted a very dark, negative shadow on greek life and the organizations as a whole.

As I mentioned previously, during my membership of my sorority I haven’t witnessed any drastic changes, but that doesn’t mean that this media coverage across the country hasn’t shaped my organization. We are constantly reminded by our organization leaders to be conscious of what we put on social media and the consequences that could come if we don’t obey the ideals because we aren’t just representing ourselves; we are representing our sorority and greek life as a whole.

I can’t imagine this same strictness was in place ten years ago, possibly even five years ago. Being a part of a greek organization feels like a constant struggle so legitimize ourselves, because the media doesn’t care and won’t broadcast about all the money organizations make for their communities and philanthropies through the years.

Now, I’m not trying to say that greek life and all of its organizations are perfect, and I do think that those organizations straying away from the ideals of their organizations should be punished. What I am trying to say, however, is that the actions of one organization, or one person, should set the image for the thousands of others a part of greek organizations. Regardless, the growing media coverage greek life has drawn in the past five years has definitely changed greek life and its organizations as a whole.

In some ways, there are some transaction costs to being in greek life. In many ways, this can draw connections to one another. I actually met and shadowed a woman at my internship this summer who turned out to be a member of my sorority of the same chapter. In other ways, being a member of a greek organization could be a gamble. Think about if you were a member of an organization that has negative media coverage recently when you are applying to jobs, especially if you were in a position of authority in that organization. It would most certainly be a setback in the process.

Overall, I have had a great experience being a member of my greek organization, but I can see that changes that my sorority has gone through to adapt to the media coverage and social stigmas that come with greek life. In a way, this media coverage may be a good thing for greek life because it’ll make the organizations honest and safe, and if they aren’t, I don’t think the media will let them get away with it.