Sorority Life
A few days ago, Lou sent me a link to this article in the New York Times about a chapter of Delta Zeta in Indiana that was the center of quite a controversy. According to the article, 23 members of the sorority were determined by national officers to be “insufficiently committed” and were asked to leave the sorority house. The problem? The 23 members consisted of every member who was overweight as well as any non-Caucasian. The remaining 12 members were reported to be slender and “popular with fraternity men”.
I have a lot of thoughts on this. In college, I joined a sorority my freshman year. Originally I was against the idea, but my mom urged me to try it out and so I did. This turned out to be one of the better decisions of my college career. The many girls I met during those four years I am still friends with today, and I am positive that they will still be my friends for years to come. However, I feel the sorority system does not exactly promote inclusion and respect between each house, much less girls outside of the Greek system. Why is it this way? Well, for years being in a sorority meant an “elite” status on campus. Girls in sororities were considered better than girls outside of them. Today I think the perception is a bit different - girls in sororities are no longer “better” than non-Greek girls, they are just secluded into their own little category. Because of this change, the pressure for each house on a campus to be better than the others has increased. No longer can the houses rely on the general student population to worship every move they make, now the individual chapters must work their way up the popularity ladder among their own Greek system. This is a counter-productive attitude. Instead of banding together as a larger group to promote change and philanthropy, they seperate themselves and make each task that much harder to accomplish.
Delta Zeta’s image at DePauw University as the “socially awkward” sorority was beginning to hurt their chapter size. They received several warnings from their national officers that numbers must increase or their chapter could close. During my time at Texas Tech, one sorority was closed due to the same problem. It is really an awful thing - to lose something you have worked hard for, only because your numbers don’t meet someone else’s standards. I’m betting that if anyone spent time with the girls at Delta Zeta and really learned about their organization and its members, they would no longer consider them socially awkward and really consider some of them as potential good friends. But when you are 18-20 years old in a brand new situation, you often fall into the trap of wanting to be accepted by the masses, so you go along with this perception and spread the problem.
So while I fault Delta Zeta’s National officers for promoting a sterotypical sorority girl and for treating current members like crap, I also fault the Greek system in general for not coming to the aid of one of their counterparts. What if the other sorority chapters at DePauw had offered to help? What if they held an information day outside of the usual recruitment period that showcased the good points of all sororities on campus, then mentioned the chapters who were currently seeking to add new members? Sure people will form their own negative conclusions about a chapter that is low on numbers, but a continually positive Greek system will only help every chapter on campus. Other local chapters could have also considered joining Delta Zeta with their philanthropy events so that bigger and better results could happen for their communities. The charity ends up with a bigger donation of time, talents or donations, and Delta Zeta ends up with a great event that can be used to promote their chapter to potential new members in the future. Tell me who could lose in this situation?
In the end I could go on and on about this article and the Greek system. Instead I choose to leave you with this small suggestion - if you are considering going through recruitment, I urge you to give it a try. You have nothing to lose by going around to different houses, meeting different girls and learning about their organizations. You may learn that you are not destined to be in a social sorority - perhaps you would prefer a service organization or political group. But you may also learn that there is a Greek home for you and hopefully you will be given the opportunity to join that group. However, once you are in the system, remember that you are still an individual. Form your own opinions and voice them when necessary. Use your actions to promote a more inclusive organization that supports a positive Greek system - and do your best to prevent that “survival of the fittest” mentality.
March 1st, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Great post Keni! Chances are if I had chosen to be part of a sorority in college, I would have felt most comfortable with the “socially awkward” women. What Delta Zeta did in Indiana was not only discrimination; they also alienated potential recruits for years to come. What about all those girls who think about becoming Greek, but worry they won’t fit in because they aren’t “popular with fraternity boys”? Seeing smart, normal-sized, non-blonde women probably would have made them feel like they belonged. You absolutely hit the mark… Delta Zeta hurt their own image, as well as the image of the entire Greek system.