Being a girl involved in Greek life you have most likely heard one of the following at least once, and it’s time to put these crazy and annoying connotations to rest.
1. You pay for your friends
No, we do not pay for our friends. We pay for our meals that our sorority provides, our housing that our sorority provides, our dated, our formal, our crush party, and overall our membership in the organization. We also pay for the name that ties us to connections once we graduate from college. But, the friends that we make are just an added bonus.
2. What’s your GPA…like a 2.0?
No, because if I had a 2.0 I wouldn’t be able to be in Greek life, or stay in Greek life. We have expectations, and if we don’t follow those expectations we get things taken away from us- like the ability to take a little or attend formal!
3. Is all you do is drink and party?It’s college; yes we do like to enjoy ourselves, just like everyone else. But, that is not all we do. We have philanthropy events, chapter expectations, we do volunteer work, we have weekly meetings, intramural sports, sisterhood events, class, homework, tests and the list goes on and on. And majority of girls in Greek life are required to be involved in another club or organization outside of our chapter, so no we do not only drink and party. But, can I ask you what you do in your spare time?
Majority of chapters are different and have many different things about them. Yes, we share common interests, but I wouldn’t say we’re all the same. We all have different majors, interests, styles, and we are all different people.
5. OMG did you guys get hazed? What’d they make you do?
No. I went to meetings each week with my pledge class, and we did exercises to bond and get closer. There was no wooden paddle, and I didn’t have to recite the Greek alphabet backwards…just learned about my chapter and made some friends.
6. You’re all like anorexic and don’t eat
Please tell me you’re kidding… each house gets Bagel Place bagels delivered to their house every morning. Enough said.
7. I heard you guys do a lot of drugs
Drugs are everywhere. And can be done or taken by whomever, they don’t discriminate. So saying that because a girl is in Greek life she does drugs is a very uneducated thing to say.
8. I heard you guys make your way around every fraternity
Untrue. We do make a lot of friendships and relationships with fraternity boys because we socialize with them a lot, but that does not make us easy or any less of a lady than girls not in Greek life. An affiliation does not make you a slut.
9. You’re all rich
Money and joining an organization are not connected. I go to the same school as you and pay the same tuition as you, just because I paid for the membership to an organization does not mean I’m rolling in money. I still eat Ramen noodles, and pay in quarters and singles at the bar.
10. You don’t even care about community service or the philanthropy you promote
WOAH… you did not just go there. That’s why we promote it all over social media, support each other’s chapters in these events, and actually raise a ton of money for these philanthropies. If you think otherwise go check the amount of awareness we spread and cash we’ve donated. Idiots.
So next time you’re going to judge a girl in Greek life, remember that there’s more to us than you think.