Greek life has always received a bad reputation for hazing and partying, which makes many people debate the pros and cons of joining a sorority or fraternity when they go to college.
Greek life is a big part of most college campuses now-a-days. There are more than 730 accredited schools across the United
Recently, due to increasing deaths and injuries from hazing, some colleges have shut down their Greek life to further evaluate the system. Those colleges include Florida State University, University of Michigan, Texas State University, Ohio State University, Penn State, Louisiana State University, and Indiana University.
It is hard for large schools in the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 10, or Big 12 to regulate their sororities and fraternities because 30 to 40 percent of the school populations are involved in Greek Life.
This is the case for the University of Georgia, an SEC school in Athens, Georgia, where 7,756 students, roughly 26% of the school’s undergrad population are involved in Greek life. There are 26 interfraternity council orgs., 19 Pan-Hellenic council orgs., 7 nationals Pan-Hellenic council orgs., and 12 multicultural Greek council orgs.
In the past few years, there have been multiple cases of hazing and racial discrimination in UGA’s Greek life.
In March 2019, four UGA students were expelled from their fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon, after a video was released were racial slurs were used. Following an investigation into the actions of the students, the TKE national chapter suspended the fraternity at UGA.
In March 2017, the Theta Chi chapter at UGA was placed on an interim suspension for unspecified reasons. When they were eventually taken off of suspension, allegations of extreme hazing were made by a former fraternity member that resulted in another suspension of the chapter in April 2019 until January 2020.
In October 2019, the Delta Delta Delta, a Pan-Hellenic sorority chapter at UGA, was placed on probation for risk-management problems involving alcohol and hazing of their most recent pledge class.
Because of these recent events, many people including UGA students, parents, alumni, etc. have been upset and scared about Greek life on campus.
The UGA chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) led a march in an effort to bring awareness to the institutional problems of racial inequalities throughout the UGA campus in April 2019. Many students in Greek life were upset about the march and discouraged from participating by leaders in their organizations. This peaceful protest was not against UGA or Greek life, but a way to draw attention to the racial discrimination on campus.
Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at UGA, had their first black pledge in Spring of 2019 since the fraternity was founded in 1908. This is proof that there has been racial discrimination on campus, whether intentional or not, now that the NAACP has brought awareness to this issue, more organizations can be held accountable for their actions.
Tori Orr, a junior Marketing and International Business major, joined Gamma Phi Beta sorority when she began college. While she enjoyed her time in the sorority, the financial obligations and social demands forced her to drop after her second year.
Orr is especially concerned about some of the fraternities and sororities on campus that have been caught hazing members.
“I think it’s really unfortunate that some Greek life organizations enforce hazing or partake in racial discrimination. The whole concept of joining a sorority is to be a part of something bigger than yourself and to find a “home away from home”, no one should feel left out of that,” explains Orr.
However, as with anything, there are two sides to every story. The question on a lot of people’s minds are the pros and cons of Greek life. Yes, Greek life has a bad reputation and can result in horrible circumstances. But also, for a lot of students, it’s the best part of college. Joining an organization can mean having lifelong friendships, network connections, philanthropic events, leadership opportunities, etc.
Greek Life can be very important for out-of-state students who know absolutely no one, this is the case for Mary Flanagan, a California native who came to Georgia for college.
After realizing how many of her peers were planning on going through recruitment, Flanagan decided to try it too in hopes of meeting new people.
Recruitment can be a scary, overwhelming experience for freshman. Thousands of girls straight out of high school come early to college to participate in recruitment. This consists of a week of early morning and late nights, trying to find the perfect house for them. Many girls go in expecting to get their top house, only to end up not making the cut and potentially not joining a house at all.
Surprisingly, Flanagan had a great experience and “loved going through recruitment; it was tiring and overwhelming, but I really felt like I got to experience something unique and different and from there, I found people I really got along with. I think recruitment in the south is a different experience too, so it was cool seeing a different kind of culture.”
She joined Alpha Chi Omega and after two years she still loves her sorority because it has provided her with friendships and experiences she’ll never forget.
One of the most important and meaningful parts of joining a Greek life organization, is the philanthropic work that is required of every fraternity and sorority. Along with their own philanthropies, many Greek life students are prominent participates in Miracle, Hero, and Relay for Life events.
UGA Miracle is a student-run philanthropic organization that benefits Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and is the official philanthropy for Greek life at UGA. In 2019, they raised $1,261,077.18 for their philanthropy. This makes the seventh year that UGA Miracle has achieved a seven-figure fundraising total and $8 million overall total since 1955.