Obviously, there is a negative stigma towards sororities and especially, fraternities. Year after year, there is a fraternity that is being shut down on some campus due to hazing allegations or excessive alcohol and drug use. Unfortunately, we all tend to generalize, leading many people to believe that young men and women that join fraternities and sororities have come to college to simply major in drinking.
If you were to google fraternities, more than likely you would see a stream of articles aimed at them. A few years back, Jimmy Tatro became a Youtube sensation by parodying the "frat life." In my opinion, the videos were crafty and funny, but they did further the negative stigma towards Greek life. In one of his videos, he created a scenario where they were making selections for people to be in his fraternity. The deciding factor for a person to get in was based on their chill to pull ratio. Yes it may have been funny, but the selection process doesn't quite go that way. In the movies "Neighbors" and "22 Jump Street," you see the same frat boy stereotypes play out.
Being in a large fraternity at the University of Alabama, I see Greek life through a different lens than Hollywood and social media does. Honestly, I've never really seen Jimmy Tatro's version of a "frat boy." Yes, there are and always will be that handful of guys that take it too far and gets entirely way too caught up in all of the partying.
Now on the contrary, there is a substantial amount of people who do not join a Greek organization to get caught up in the party scene. Many of these people get highly involved with school. While serving in the student government this past year, I noticed that the majority of the students within SGA were a part of a Greek organization. Newly elected SGA President, Lillian Roth is also in a sorority. It's not even just SGA, but other organizations as well. Because of the presence of fraternities and sororities, multiple Greek programming boards have been created. An essential part of these programming boards is community service. Also, many fraternities and sororities are requiring their members to perform community service through Habitat for Humanity and the variety of SGA created charity projects. To speak on my fraternity, our officers are always encouraging members to get involved in any way possible.
On college campuses across the country, sexual assault has been a major issue. An organization that is taking major strides to combat sexual assault across the country is It's On Us. This organization encourages people to take a pledge to "help keep women and men safe from safe from sexual assault" and to "not be a bystander to the problem, but to be a part of the solution." I've noticed that many students in sororities and fraternities have taken this pledge. Many of them have also changed their profile pictures to the It's On Us picture to show their support for the cause.
Another organization that is becoming more prevalent on campus is the B+ Foundation. Its aim is to raise awareness and money for childhood cancer. In February, Sigma Alpha Epsilon hosted a B+ event at their house. The event was open to the public. Over 22 different fraternities and sorrorities attended. Over 2,000 people bought wristbands to attend the party, which raised thousands of dollars for childhood cancer.
Fraternities and sororities are not just places where students can have an opportunity to socialize, but a place where positive impact can be made within and around college campuses.
