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Health & Fitness

Uncovering Greek Life: Pop Culture May Have It Right This Time

College Greek life isn't necessarily all bad, but can we really say that it's all good?

Remember season three of Veronica Mars in which Kristin Bell goes undercover to expose rumors of rape by fraternity brothers? How about Alexandra Robbins’ book “Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities,” the product of a yearlong investigation of sorority life? Though I am skeptical to believe every word I hear and read from these sources (given that the former is fictional), I have to wonder how much of the National Pan-Hellenic Council is dedicated to the community service and leadership its mission promises. The last time I checked, this does not sound like philanthropic work.

Let’s take a moment to look at the statistics. I never have heard anyone attempt to defend the argument that Greek life on U.S. college campuses represents a small group, but in case anyone ever tries it I’d like to point to the 9 million students who take part in the bidding, pledging, initiating, Derby Day-ing and so on. Nor is the spread of Greek life a recent trend; the fact that frat boys compose the majority of our federal government goes to show that the tradition spans generations.

But in many cases it is far from a safe tradition; people can dispute the stigma that pop culture has given the Greek lifestyle, but non-fiction shows that there comes with the standard frat party a danger to students who go too far. Sure, hazing is against the law and sometimes a 20 year-old girl may have an eating disorder for her own personal reasons, but the connection is certainly there.

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Then comes my biggest issue: perhaps it is because I do not attend a school with a Greek system, but the minimal amount of community service performed by these alleged service chapters is odd to me. Greek members donate over 10 million hours of volunteer service each year, and I don’t doubt that this makes a difference in the world. But, and I say this at full risk of being chastised as an outsider to the system, 9 million people ought to be able to do a bit more, right? If you ask your average Greek member what he or she did last weekend, are you more likely to hear “I worked at a soup kitchen” or “I don’t remember”? Pop culture at least convinces us of the latter.

But I bite my tongue just a little, because – especially as a transfer student – I am aware that making new friends and connections in college is not easy. What could possibly make the transition easier? I’m going to take a guess and say a sisterhood or brotherhood that expands beyond your dorm hall and onto a national level might be comforting. So to those who argue that Greek life is an instant social network I say touché, but I add with some hope that maybe there is a call to reshape Greek life around the idea of charitable service.  

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