“It’s not always about the fraternity and sorority Greek letters clashing across campus.”

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Transcript for You Don’t See Behind the Scenes

That was definitely an experience that I never thought I would get in college. I never thought I would be a member of Greek life, but it has blessed me in so many ways and I don’t think that I would still be attending Valpo if it weren’t for the people and the experiences that I’ve had in Greek life.

A person cannot really understand how much service and how much benefit you get from the experience from being in a sisterhood or brotherhood, but the things that people don’t advertise are the seven million dollars that Greeks donated to philanthropy and service in the past year or the benefits that these men and women have in the collegiate experience and the connections that they make with other people when they go into the real world and they’re pursuing these jobs. They don’t understand those values you develop your those four years in your undergraduate collegiate experience that are taught in fraternities and sororities.

I mean it’s often the experiences such as acting as a leader in campus. So many leaders on campus are actually members of Greek organizations and um you don’t see that behind the scenes because they are wearing a different hat, and it’s not always about the fraternity and sorority Greek letters flashing across campus but we are also the ones, we started the first dance marathon this year. It was attended almost 90 percent of those people attending the event were Greek, and we raised over $10,000 in our very first year. And I think that just goes to show what an amazing experience and what an amazing community the Greek community is because we can come together for a common cause and do good.

I think the biggest challenge about the Greek community is getting past the stereotypes that so many students put on individual campus groups. Well that fraternity does drugs. That sorority sleeps around. That sorority is a bunch of nerds, et cetera, fill in the blank here. And that’s really challenging as a student to overcome because these stereotypes have not necessarily been put in place because of the students who are currently active in those organizations.

Those stereotypes could have been from ten years ago that just stuck around because people just keep repeating them on campus regardless of how hard that fraternity or sorority is working to rid themselves of that stereotype, and I also think it’s a challenge that some of our faculty here is very unsupportive of the Greek community. For example one of my teachers made a passive comment about how oh here’s another Greek event going on, and I don’t know if that’s just because they see it as a waste of time or they don’t truly understand what are values are and what we’re working for, but it is upsetting to hear your professor complain about the Greek community when they probably haven’t taken the time to learn about the Greeks or who is a Greek member.

And if any professor sat down and spoke with me about my involvement on this campus they would learn very quickly that I’m not just in a sorority to party or to buy my friends or to wear these letters. It’s because I’m invested in philanthropic service and I’m invested in sisterhood, and I’m invested in making a change on this campus that’s positive.