The scene is all too familiar. It's a Saturday night and I’m out with a group of my closest girl friends. We're laughing, talking and having an overall good time.

A stranger strikes up a conversation and then the question pops up.

"Are you in a sorority?" 

"Yes I am." 

"Are all these girls with you in your sorority?"  

I tell him about half the girls I’m out with are not affiliated with Greek life at all. The look of surprise on his face is so fascinating. It gets me thinking about how lucky I am to have non-Greek friends.

Your friends in your respective houses are your brothers and your sisters. 
They're the people you go with to your chapter meetings, brotherhood and sisterhood events, barn dances and formals. However, just like a real family, it can be overwhelming to hang out with the same people all day, every day. I was very lucky, my freshman year, to meet a great group of girls who were not affiliated with Greek life. I can hang out with them with the same ease that I can with my sisters. I don't view them as being without letters, I view them as my friends, just like I view my sisters as my friends. 

What I love about my Greek friends and my non-Greek friends is that we can all hang out together. We study together, go out together and get Insomnia cookies together. My disaffiliated friends are comfortable with the girls in my house and often come over to the house to chill in our rooms and talk about our days. It's amazing that we're all so accepting of one another, and that is an issue that I think a lot of non-Greeks have with those who wear letters. 

Sororities and fraternities are exclusive. We wear specific letters and have specific events meant for Greeks. My non-Greek friends have a wonderful view of my house and a better understanding of Greek life through our conversations. They see how hard we work to build connections, and to raise money and awareness for our philanthropies. My friends even buy tickets to my dinners to show support for my involvement in Greek life. 

While it is super easy to just say, “Hey, I have my set group of friends in my house, I don't need to get more friends,” I would challenge that attitude. Instead of referring to non-Greeks as "GDI's” or "geeds," why not befriend students on this campus who are disaffiliated? You could change a peer's perspective on Greek life as well as gain a best friend for life. My sorority sisters be at my wedding, and so will my disaffiliated sisters..