Summary: Fraternity Interviews

Here are some statistics. Overall, there are over 9 million Greek members nationally. Out of the nation’s 50 largest corporations, 43 of them are headed by fraternity men. 76 percent of all Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity, less than 2 percent of an average college student’s expenses go toward fraternity dues. (U.S. Office of Education). Over seven million dollars is raised each year by Greek organizations nationally. The Greek systems are the largest network of volunteers in the Unites States, with members and alumni donating over 10 million hours of volunteer services each year. There are 123 fraternities and sororities nationwide. About 750,000 undergraduate students in 12,000 chapters, make up more than 800 campuses in the United States and Canada (U.S. Office of

In today’s society, going to college has become the norm. Freshly graduated students escape high school to become a freshman again. By August students start filing into packed cars to leave for college and try to find their place in this world. Out of the millions of students that attend each year, a percentage of them will rush a fraternity or sorority for the chance of sister or brotherhood. To some it is a sign of superior status, and others it not the right fit. Greek life is known from everything to volunteering for the community to the wild parties that somehow do not get busted by the cops every weekend. In the nation, Kimberly Brandy on Marie Claire states there are 5,975 fraternities governed by the North American Interfraternity Conference and 3,127 sororities governed by the National Panhellenic Conference. At Kansas State alone, about one in five students are a part of the greek community. K-State is also known for its diversity. We take pride in this fact here at Kansas State, but as a whole, the nation is having troubles combining these prides. It is in the combination of

Between family legacies, traditions, and an abundance of college themed movies, books, and television shows, it would be difficult to find a prospective college student who is not familiar with the idea of “Greek life.” For the purpose of this essay, “Greek life” refers to the system employed by many colleges and universities to establish and maintain fraternities and sororities (primarily dominated by caucasian and economically advantages students). It is important to note the existence of fraternities and organizations outside of this stereotypical “Greek” realm, such as coeducational honor and service based fraternities, though even these are not fully exempt from detrimental practices. Fraternities and sororities are often looked down upon with a negative light for a number of reasons, some of which include dangerous hazing habits and unsavory social scenes. While there certainly are undeniable benefits and negatives within these systems, the biggest effect they have is on gender. “Greek life” in college is unhealthy due to its impact on post-college gender expectations by promoting party culture, encouraging misogyny through ingrained tradition, and indoctrinating women into subservience at an impressionable age.

With this research I plan to go back to the roots of why sororities use Greek language in their discourse community and how it helps them form a sisterhood that is shared only amongst the community. Sororities and fraternities are becoming more prevalent in universities all across the nation. Today, there are over 9 million members of the Greek communities and the number is continuously growing each year (“Greek Life Statistics”). “The terms ‘fraternity’ and ‘sorority’ describe groups of men and women who join together to offer fellowship, academic support, leadership training, participation in campus activities, service to the community and University, and preparation for future careers” (“What is Greek Life?”). People that in are the Greek community all have at least one thing in common. Whether they just want to be apart of a sisterhood/brotherhood or deeper things like they all share a common belief or goal. “Sororities have five basic benefits: sisterhood, scholarship, leadership, philanthropy (charitable causes/community service), and socializing” (“About Sororities”). These benefits are included in the values and beliefs of a sorority as a discourse community. Greeks all speak a “language” that they learn in the process of becoming part of their fraternity/sorority(recruitment process). Agendas, e-mails, and text messages are all forms of a genre. A genre is anything that is written down and shared in the discourse community. Face to face interaction is a way to advertise for events and also another way to advertise for events is through

When one first thinks of Greek life or a sorority the only thing that comes to mind is the social aspect. Most people don’t think of sororities as social institutions that envelop their own culture, with mannerisms, languages and customs that are unique to each individual organization. However, these institutions promote a common set of values that enable members to become connected in a way that has a more profound meaning than just social interaction. Greek organizations are good examples of how institutions can affect and be affected by social status and roles within the collegiate community. They are also a prime example of how race, class and gender can affect a social setting in both positive and negative manners.

During the interview, I focused on questions to pertained to what the fraternity has done for them. An impactful quote I got during the interview that described what the fraternity has done for one of my brothers was, “Guys that normally wouldn’t be together, coming together and actually doing fun stuff. The fraternity has made me really jump out of my comfort zone and become a different person than I was before” (Anonymous).

I have been reflecting this week what being a part of a sorority means to me, which got me interested in find sources based on the negative aspects of greek life. The first source comes from the political cartoon genre that was written by a student and published in their university’s newspaper. The cartoon has the caption “Deciphering Rush Week Slogans” and depicts a young female student walking through a lawn filled with recruitment signs. The other source is a blog post from HerCampus titled “7 Things Sorority Girls Won’t Tell You About Being in a Sorority”. This article goes through a list of things that members will not discuss with the younger girls during recruitment which includes things such as you wont be best friends with everyone

Introduction: The purpose of this focus group is to identify why members of fraternities and sororities, groups that contain elements of a primary, intimate, and task group, continue membership after their organization enters into the storming phase during a particular task or group development. In order to achieve this, I will need to ask individual sorority and fraternity chapters about their intragroup conflict, membership perceptions, and why they choose to stay in an organization that they may disagree with. Each year, fraternity and sorority chapters receive new members, and every year the dynamics of their collectivist, primary, intimate, task group change. While their values do not change, the personality of the group does, causing members to feel out of place. In the stage of conflict, the members gossip, have cognitive dissonance, and question authority, all

Greek Life Portrayal: Sororities are constantly competing against each other for the most pledges. In order to get new girls and have a successful chapter, you have to look hot and have boys interested in you.

Pursuing the dream of obtaining membership into the First Intercollegiate Greek Fraternity for African Americans, Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. is one of very few ultimate goals in my life. An organization that was founded to stimulate the ambitions of its members and prepare them for great usefulness within the community has since become one of the most well respected organizations in America. Over one hundred years later, the pivotal movement in 1906 has spread to over the entire country in different collegiate chapters and cities across America and the impact has been tremendous. Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. was vaguely introduced to me as a child but it did not take effect until I started school at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Pursuing the dream of obtaining membership into the First Intercollegiate Greek Fraternity for African Americans, Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc. is one of very few ultimate goals in my life. An organization that was founded to stimulate the ambitions of its members and prepare them for great usefulness within the community has since become one of the most well respected organizations in America. Over one hundred years later, the pivotal movement in 1906 has spread to over the entire country in different collegiate chapters and cities across America and the impact has been tremendous. To some individuals, I was considered very lucky to be reared in the upbringing I experienced. But in my eyes it was a double edged sword.

In “Examining the Benefits of Greek Life.” Nicole Glass explains why she believes that Greek life is a great opportunity for students in public universities. Nicole gives multiple examples of famous people in history that were in sororities. Nicole explains that the Greek life system gives students opportunity to make friends that will be with for life, have fun at parties, and learn leadership skills that students will use for the rest of their lives. The author points out that the sororities/ fraternities have a very bad name in the press, but the hazing is very rare throughout the Greek system.

What previous knowledge I had about sororities was based of the experience of my older sister, who went through the recruitment process twice to find her home in Kappa Delta at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The advice my sister gave was each school is different when it came to Greek life, but the experience would be the same it would leave me experiencing so many different feelings from exhaustion to painfully awkward conversations. I wanted to see for myself if this process was for me, to see if I could see myself as being a “sorority girl.”

In today’s society, fraternities and sororities have been known to have major impressions on students who attend college. In some cases, Greek organizations and their standings at universities aid in determining ones choice for higher education. For example, some schools are known for sports, others are known for their Black Greek Letter Organizations. When it comes to fraternities and sororities in general, the topic could seem somewhat controversial due to mixed emotions and beliefs. While attending an HBCU (Historically Black College and University) the accusations of Greeks running the yard became vividly true. The topic of research to be discussed is objectification, power and the perception of African Americans affiliated with sororities and fraternities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Some of our group members are not interested in joining a sorority, which gave ethnocentric bias. Since a few of us want nothing to do with this lifestyle, our ability to stay completely objective and not include our own personal views was challenging. Conversely, some of our group members were interested in joining SDT, which also lead to bias. Due to the different opinions on Greek life, we believe both biases were able to counteract each other and help us remain as objective as possible. Our informants were mostly from the same pledge class, meaning they pledged the same semester. This could have influenced our research due to a similarity in age, viewpoint, and experience in the sorority so far. Different observations would have been drawn