Fraternities have their problems — but let's not forget about the good work that they do
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There has been much debate about the legitimacy of Greek collegiate organizations in the last decade.
Various news reports have highlighted the concerning nature of these secret societies, who prioritize the collective good over the individual, and in their pursuit of doing so, sweep sexual assault, excessive alcohol consumption, and hazing under the rug.
Of that, the result is serious physical and emotional abuse enacted upon students who are barely legal adults.
This conversation has been reopened recently, after the February incident at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Pennsylvania State University.
February witnessed the death of Tim Piazza, a 19-year-old fraternity member who suffered a traumatic brain injury caused by several serious falls down his fraternity's basement stairs while intoxicated. His brothers, instead of calling 911 and taking the appropriate measures to help him, allegedly left him on a couch for multiple hours before taking the situation seriously. The next day he succumbed to his injuries. Multiple members of the fraternity have been charged with manslaughter.
Cases like these need to be reported. We need to hold these institutions accountable for what they have done, and shape a future of transparency, which warns their successors of what fate will await them if they act carelessly. Most of these members will get away with their reckless behaviours, but some will not. These will end up in newspaper articles or court hearings; their lives forever changed.
However, just as we must report about the grave, we must also report about the good. We need to set a better example for future generations to follow. We need to show that there is more to university social life and fraternity culture than partying, alcohol abuse, and sex.
For although fraternity culture as a whole is unhealthy, there are individual chapters within their communities that are extraordinary, but go uncelebrated. The underreporting of positive Greek achievements creates a strange propaganda where the public wants to hear about negative events because they appear more entertaining.
It also provides a warped perspective of what’s okay and what isn’t for the young men and women going through recruitment every year.
At the beginning of my sophomore year I witnessed a new class of freshmen girls and boys come in ––bright eyed and bushy tailed, as they all do. But this year, not being one myself, and having a certain degree of removal from Greek life, I noticed something concerning. It wasn’t that our chapters were encouraging these girls and boys to drink, or telling them to engage in certain behaviors, but it was them, who brought their own preconceptions about Greek life.
Nobody made these young men and women drink to excess. They did it themselves, despite our warnings. When we held back their hair while they vomited, handing them sips of water, and listening to their apologies of us having to take care of them, we sighed and told them that it was okay, we were here for them, and that we too made mistakes when we first got to university.
Playing devils advocate, you might say that the United States’ high drinking age and the students previous lack of exposure to these substances is what causes them to drink to such an excess when they first join university, but I believe this to be a very one dimensional understanding of the psyche of a college freshman.
The truth is, we’re continously bombarded with images and stories about college students, especially Greek students, who engage in high risk behaviours. We have internalized it over the years and take it for granted as normal.
Yet, there’s also a lot of unspoken good, sisters and brothers who challenge one another academically and intellectually and who support each other through difficult times. These are just the individual examples within houses. On a larger scale, there are entire chapters who act as unwavering beacons of light in their community, that set examples for future generations of students to follow.
Arguably, every Greek community has one. At the University of Washington, it’s the Alpha Chapter of Washington’s Phi Delta Theta. In 2017 they raised $28,000 dollars for philanthropies helping the visually impaired, and $9,500 for both diabetes research and a local organization supporting youth in foster care. On top of this, they had 53 active members on the Dean’s List, with a cumulative GPA of 3.5. Their chapter is also Green Dot certified, and participates in a multitude of programs aimed at bettering their chapter and their individuals.
We certainly need to hold chapters accountable who are engaging in unacceptable behaviours in order to bring justice to victims of that environment, such as Tim Piazza. However, we also need to highlight those individuals who are doing good for society, and who are training men to be empathetic and driven leaders.
Yes, Greek life is an incredibly unhealthy environment and there are far too many institutions that have been corrupted with almost a century worth of questionable moral ethics, alcohol and drug abuse, and hypermasculine stereotypes.
Yet arguably, being a part of something larger than themselves has helped individuals in some chapters grow as human beings. In this case too, what you see and what you are surrounded by shapes who you become and the behaviour you exhibit. If we provide chapters with the training and resources they need, we can create the kind of organizations we want our children to be a part of.
After all, give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
Reach writer Joy Geerkens at geerkj@uw.edu and follow her on Twitter.
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