For context: I was interviewing at a large, public university for a position in student services. The institution has been in the news at that time concerning the presence of Greek life and the opinion of young professionals starting their career in higher education. To summarize, I was asked "Knowing what you do about this university, other universities in the country, how would you approach Greek life from an administrator's perspective?". The position I was interviewing for had no relation to Greek life, but the interviewer brought up a great point I hadn't put a lot of consideration into. Many donors were Greek in college. Would I then, cut those donors off? How much of our entire institutional gifts are from people who have connections with Greek life?
However, I am torn. Every week, I feel like a breaking news story pops up on Facebook, Twitter or the evening news with stories like this, or this (even in my own backyard), and of course we cannot forget the racist song and video that surfaced last spring that was being sung by an entire fraternity (Note: this video is used for reference and scholarly purposes, this does suggests offensive language).
Why even bother with Greek life? According to Nicole Glass of USA Today, 85 percent of Forbes 500 executives were once involved with Greek life. Students involved in Greek life perform better in academics, leadership positions and thrive in social events. These successes that were summarized are enough to assume there are a healthy amount of donations coming from former Greek life members (Glass, 2012). Success in career and landing executive positions usually means more expendable income and more appreciation of the education that was received.
The amount of donations that come from Greek donors is different between every university. This means that each university will need to make a circumstantial decision on how to better Greek life on a campus or evaluate if Greek life is still going to be welcomed on campus. I believe there needs to be a revolution in Greek life, it's unfortunate that we tolerate immoral behavior because of a dollar sign promise. You may be saying "Kohl, don't the positives of Greek life outweigh the negatives?" and to that I believe it might, but I believe in maintaining the integrity of an institution and the learning experience before anything else. I don't have any solutions on how we can overhaul Greek life for a more positive experience on a campus, how we stop the incidents listed above (believe me, I could have listed a lot more incidents just from 2015, but I believe Blogger would eventually limit me on characters) but I think it's at least time to indulge in this conversation.
Glass, N. Examining the benefits of Greek Life. (2012). Retrieve: http://college.usatoday.com/2012 /05/08/examining-the-benefits-of-greek-life/
CNN. (March 9, 2015). New video surfaces of racist fraternity song. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ4ZfTW5jbc&feature=youtu.be
The amount of stories that are on the internet about the issues Greek Life has caused on college campuses takes away of all the postive stories there are to share. Greek Life all across the nation have done things or helped people become better than who they were before they arrived on a college campus. According to the most recent National Panelenic Council 2013-2014 annual report, sorority women across the nation raised $5.7 million for philanthropies and reported nearly 1 million hours of community service in the last academic year alone (USA Today College, 2014). As impressive as that is fraternity men raised $20.7 million for philanthropies and completed 3.8 million hours of community service (USA Today, 2014). "Greek life is, by the nature of its foundation, a positive and enriching institution. Fraternities and sororities engage in these positive actions every single day. Yet, because the media’s primary focus is to cover hard news, the benefits of Greek life are often blurred by the rare, negative occurrences that happen" (USA Today, 2014). Some other positives Greek Life gives to college students are it helps with students initial transition to college, provides unique opportunities for working with peers, offers social-cultural opportunities, fosters lasting friendships and fraternal spirit, provides opportunities for professional growth and leadership development, develops a feeling of mutual interest and responsibility, bother personally and professionally, and helps to instill a healthy professional spirit among the members and the other students in the campus, department, or school (Auburn University). The hardest thing to realize is so many people would much rather point out and talk about the negative aspects or issues that happen within Greek life on college campuses. However, they forget to see the positives that Greek Life brings to college students that are incolved in Greek Life on their respective college campuses.
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Musulin, K., (2014, Dec 17). Voices: The positive, underreported aspects of greek life. USA Today College. Retrieved from http://college.usatoday.com/2014/12/17/opinion-the-positive-underreported-benefits-of-greek-life/.
Advantages of greek life on college campuses. Retrieved from https://cws.auburn.edu/studentaffairs/greekLife/ConMan_Uploads/files/Advantages%20of%20Greek%20Life%20on%20College%20Campuses.pdf.
The statistics you lay out do suggest that Greek Life does have a positive on the people who choose to take part. However, these statistics suggest that Greek Life betters the individuals' life, not necessarily meaning that it makes them a better person. Also, most people remember the rape and assault of the young girl on the Virginia University campus, but are Greeks to blame for the suggested rape culture that many believe exists within Greek Life? This video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J4vznprdYMw discusses a study done on one college campus that suggests that men in Fraternities are three times more likely to sexually assualt, but not necessarily rape, someone than a college man who does not take part in Greek Life. However, the host brings up good points regarding the legitimacy and faults with the study and the theory of Greek Life breeding sexually motivated criminals. The problem is that Greek Life does provide many participants with opportunities throughout their life that college graduates without Greek family does not. However, the few members of Fraternities that do take part in the horrible acts that are heard in the news does suggest that some members are more likely to break the law as well. The situation needs more research to actaully have a legitamate argument regarding banning Greek Life, which is an iconic part of college campuses across the US.
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The misguided crusade against campus Greek life. (2015, March 2). Retrieved November 16, 2015, from https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J4vznprdYMw