Greek Life Can Be Great, But Its Not To Die For
By Morgan Drobny
December 4th, 2019
When the term "Greek Life" comes to people's minds, they usually think of groups of young college students doing community service and building lifelong friendships. But there's more that lies beneath the surface.
In some cases, being a member of Greek life can involve peer pressure, consuming large amounts of alcohol and may lead to hazing.
When did Greek Life Begin?
The first fraternity was Phi Beta Kappa at the College of William and Mary in the early 1700’s. There are now over 650 college campuses that include Greek Life . There are also over 9 million fraternity members in the United States.
Why Do People Join?
These are the questions High Point University student Rachel Malatesta had prior to joining Greek life.
HIGH POINT N.C.-- Malatesta grew up in Milwaukee WI. and was eager to join Greek life so she could have a home away from home. Sorority Recruitment wasn't her favorite memory of college because the process lacked substance and felt contrived.
“Conversations were very forced and the girls were fake and not really listening when I was trying to get the girls to know me.”
After a long week of recruitment where Malatesta was consumed with stress and exhaustion, she received a bid to Sigma Sigma Sigma and is now happy with the outcome.
Picture of Rachel Malatesta at Tri Sigma Conference
RICHMOND V.A.-- Charlie Bernhart is a senior at the University of Richmond. Bernhart emphasizes how Greek life is popular at Richmond for students who are non-athletes and want a group of guys to eat meals together, study and attend social events with.
Joining a fraternity was appealing for Bernhart because of “the social reasons such as formals, out of town trips and partying on the weekends.”
Greek Life and Drinking Go Hand And Hand
Bernhart emphasizes how “drinking is a huge role in Greek life at the university.” He describes it as “young fraternity brothers watching football while playing drinking games after a long week at school and let loose.”
He describes an instance where he noticed older sorority girls drinking 5 or 6 drinks at a bar. He then noticed new freshman members trying to drink the same, may be more as the older girls, not to mention they were most likely underage.
Hazing Can Be Lethal
Sadly, some students are so eager to join that they will succumb to peer pressure and drink excessively or fall victim to hazing, which could be life-threatening. Since 2005, there has been more than 77 fraternity-related deaths in the United States.
PULLMAN W.A--The most recent incident occurred at Washington State University as Alpha Tau Omega member Samuel Martinez died on November 16th, 2019 due to “an unfortunate alcohol overdose" Pullman police officer Jake Opegenorth explained.
Some members from the Alpha Tau Omega National Fraternity are coming to support the ones mourning and to help the WSU Alpha Tau Omega chapter move forward.
One of WSU students, Lauren Selland, mentions how the event occurred during Alpha Tau Omega's Big Little Reveal. For sororities, this is typically a dry event but for this particular fraternity, alcohol was allowed. This was inevitably the reason for the tragic deaths.
Selland mentions “while the incident that happened is not fully open to the public, an interpretation was that the drinking was taken far across the line. If anything the sadness it has brought WSU has brought us closer as a community and has made everyone more aware of our friends and family.”
Overall Greek life can be a great way to bring a group of students from different backgrounds together. However it is critical that all members of a fraternity treat each other with respect and that colleges enforce safety standards and anti hazing rules, so that Greek Life does not become a risk to individual lives again!
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