Fraternity and Sorority.

What do those two words mean to you? Are they your primary medium which all of your social, financial, and extra-curricular activities funnel through? Are they words that have carried a negative stigma in your mind for years, only to find out they each contain a realm of endless opportunity? Or, are fraternities and sororities something that flat out terrify you?

In the most extreme sense, some see Greek life as a sub-societal cesspool that only the most dim-witted socialites consign themselves to. Now, this perspective seems brash and, at first blush, appears to be a pessimistic take on an apparently rewarding experience. But on the outside of it all, why would you “pledge” yourself to a group of equally-experienced kids that will berate you physically and mentally before you gain their validation?

The notion that this goes on in Greek life doesn’t exactly leave a sweet taste in one’s mouth. As long as fraternities and sororities have existed, their desire to be sought after stemmed from the idea that before you could earn membership, you must endure hardship. This is what separates a Greek life from a club; in a club, your admittance is based merely on your desire to join the group. Fraternities and sororities make you work for the stitched letters on that cool sweatshirt you’ve seen all around campus. Through the process of pledging, prospective members will go ridiculous lengths to please the brothers or sisters, all in an effort to improve their social standing when it’s all over with.

This is where we need to take a step back and realize the motivations of pledges, and why the Greek system is failing them. Every pledge wants the same outcome: to be welcomed by a large group of individuals that share a bond that is deeper than just friendship. This is where the terms brotherhood and sisterhood come in. What does it truly mean to be a brother or sister, in the manner that doesn’t require you to be born of the same mother? These words are meant to describe a bond that grows robustly in conditions that bring all of the members together, in a sort of common effort towards a goal. Through pledging, young men and women are supposed to dedicate themselves to a cause greater than themselves. This noble act brings people closer than they ever can without a challenging, shared experience. But along the way, Greeks have lost sight of what is important.

The act of degrading a group of people so that they may one day experience validation is often referred to as hazing. Herein lies the problem. The methodical, friendship-driven pledge process of old has given way to the efficient but scar-creating process of hazing, and its easy to understand why. Is it simpler to put your all into a group that may not realize the value of your knowledge, or is it easier to tear someone down so that they conform to you by fear? It’s a brutal and primitive technique, but it has clearly shown that it works. The problem is that once a single pledge experiences the unguided wrath of a less-than-mature brother or sister, that bad taste starts to linger a bit longer in a pledge’s mouth. Once that person gains membership, they’ll see their experience as the minimum for another person to enter into the group they identify with. From here, the snowball effect ensues, and voila — you have created a tradition of resentment.

The purpose of a Greek organization is to create a sense of commonality; to create a bond that you can’t create anywhere else. To get back to the real meaning of fraternity and sorority, the Greek world needs to realize that the only way that the culture can change is by changing the pattern of resentment. The pledge has all of the responsibility in the world, and in a way, they are the lifeblood of the chapter. True Greeks raise each other up in the face of hardship, while those who are weak fall victim to the throws of hatred.

So, as a favor to the Greek world at large, be picky. Choose the organization that you truly feel right with, and not the one that will you get you the most numbers or free drinks. You’ll thank yourself, and one day we may live in a world where pledging will be the greatest time that you wish you could do again.