Meagan Dugan

Narrative Research Paper

Running Head: Tracing a Narrative in Greek Life

Tracing a Narrative in Greek Life: Stereotypes, Perspectives and Statistics Meagan Dugan University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Fall 2013

Meagan Dugan Introduction: My Personal Experience

Narrative Research Paper

Joining a sorority was one of the best decisions of my entire life. I went Greek because I wanted a family away from home; I was an out of state student who was lost in a new state. I came to college not knowing a single soul and I thought going Greek would help me to branch out and make new friends. Through my sisterhood, I have formed some of the best relationships of my entire life. I have found the future bridesmaids at my wedding, I have found the sisters I never had, and I even gained three amazing guy best friends none of whom I would have met without joining my sorority. Being a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority means I am a part of something so much bigger than myself. I represent an organization, I live by the values, and I strive to be the best version of myself. My favorite quote that is on a super cute t-shirt that we all received which says, A Sigma Kappa is not something you become, it is something you have always been. I know that Sigma Kappa is my home; it was one of the reasons why I continue to go to school in North Carolina when I am from New York City. My sorority has helped me to grow, to embrace who I am and to do more for my communities. I am nothing without Sigma Kappa because my sisters are my support system on which I fall back on and I will always be grateful for. Literature Review: Stereotypes and Perspectives Sororities are organizations in which females join during college where a bond of sisterhood is formed and lasts a lifetime. Greek letter organizations are seen to be leaders on their campuses, they are held under high scrutiny to do well and to provide a positive example to the community. Sororities have many aspects to them including: social, intellectual, spiritual, friendship and service. Every sorority has similar aspects except they vary per sorority. Being a

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Narrative Research Paper

member of Sigma Kappa Sorority, we have four values: Friendship, Service, Personal Growth, and Loyalty. These four values are what are important to its members and are used to positively impact the chapter and the community around them. Sigma Kappa Sorority specifically is a sorority that holds their members accountable to be, Bound by a Promise to the best person you can be (Sigma Kappa Nationals, 2013). Although Greek Life produces leaders on their campuss and statistically have higher GPAs than non Greeks there are many negative connotation to going Greek. There are many stereotypes to Greek Life specifically all sororities do is just party, you are paying for your friends, and that going Greek will create a decrease in your GPA. My audience will be those who stereotype Greek life in a negative light and people who are interested in joining Greek life. Although sororities are stereotyped to only party, they actually create leaders and instill skills into their members to be successful. I have compiled sources that reflect both the negative and positive aspects to Greek life because with the bad is always good except people usually tend to ignore the good. There is good within bad and bad within good it is all about how you perceive it. Being in Sigma Kappa at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I know for a fact that we do not put social events over school. My chapter is always telling sisters, We are here for school; school is yours and our first priority! Aside from scholarship, our values mean the most to us and our nationals has a youtube channel that has a video specifically about your values and how they are important to us as a national sorority, (Sigma Kappa Sorority, 2013). By living through these values every day it helps you grow as a person and to strive to do better and be better. Personal growth especially is something so important to Sigma Kappa because it pushes each and every sister to keep becoming the best version of themself. Friendship and loyalty tend to tie hand and hand because they are two very important aspects in life as well as in careers. You must be able to get

Meagan Dugan

Narrative Research Paper

along with your coworkers and be loyal to the company you work at to be successful in any job you have as well as be successful in your own life in general. Being a part of a sorority teaches females how to be successful: we learn how to recruit people, we learn how to be confident with ourselves, we learn that leadership is important, we learn that giving back to communities in need as well as the one we live in is an amazing way to show appreciation and raise awareness, and we learn a lot about time management since we have to manage our sorority events with school and our social lives. I know of a lot of people who did not know how to do those things by the time that they were twenty years old and still do not into their adult lives. Over my sorority tenure, I learned the drags of recruiting, the depth of involvement and the importance of time management, but I also learned the bonds that last a lifetime, gained a commitment to the community and the feeling of accomplishment (Buell, 2010). Recruitment is a period of time where sororities are taking new members and it is a week of events to get to know the potential new members and decide if they would be an asset to a particular sorority. Sororities are about sisterhood, they are about a bond that these women have with each other. Sorority women join a house that they feel at home with, the kind of women that they see as their bridesmaids one day. It is about the friendships made and about continuing to allow the sorority to grow. Along with the friendships, come the philanthropies and the giving back because there is no better reason to give back but for what your specific sorority stands for. Philanthropy is a cause that is special and specific to each Greek organization and they raise money and awareness about their particular cause. For example, Chi Omega Fraternitys philanthropy is Make a Wish Foundation and they raise awareness about the cause and raise money to support those in need. Philanthropy is something that helps us strive to be better, it is an important cause to our specific organization that we want to raise awareness about so that it

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Narrative Research Paper

can find a cure or just help those in need. I do not know where else I would have learned how to be confident or obtained these traits if it was not for Sigma Kappa.

Although there are positive sides to Greek life, the biggest negative stereotype is partying. Greek life is a great way to improve ones social life and it sometimes becomes the organizations main focus. At the University of Central Florida, Fraternities and sororities are prohibited from holding social, new member education or initiation activities. Fraternities and sororities are encouraged to continue philanthropic efforts, which benefit our campus and our community. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life must specifically approve each event and will work with chapters to do so in a timely fashion (UCF, 2013). Due to sororities and fraternities relying heavily on the social aspects of their organizations, UCF Greek Life office ended up socially suspending them to remind the chapters that they were formed and allowed on campus to be leaders and to do good within the community as well as raise awareness for the causes of their organizations. It is important for them to get their priorities in check because their organizations were not founded on the basis of parties. Universities handle situations in regards to more serious matters but day to day sorority and fraternity situations are handled by national headquarters. Each organization has its own system that they establish between national headquarters and chapters to communicate and in the worse case because of an emergency. For example, Sigma Kappa has a beeper system where you have to call a number to let them know about the harm of any sisters of Sigma Kappa. Each university and nationals handles things different and vary per school, state, and organization. Alcohol consumption brings the negative stereotypes that are constantly being given to Greeks. In my opinion, what people do not understand about sororities is that it is what you put into it. Politics is a sorority. But life is college. If we get too involved in our sorority, we may

Meagan Dugan

Narrative Research Paper

have a good time, or we may have hissy fits. But if we don't pay attention to college, we flunk (ORourke, 2010). The article that I just quoted is about politics but is compared in relation to a sorority and the quote in my opinion is exactly true about sororities. The problem isnt that drinking and partying lower sorority girls GPAs, its what the sisters put into it. If a sister is more consumed in the social aspect that a sorority can offer and doesnt pay attention in any of her classes and just doesnt care about school then yes she is going to flunk and get bad grades. That is not the sororities fault; individuals should realize that school should be priority but it sometimes gets pushed aside for students that are Greek and non-Greek. Students pay thousands of dollars to attend a university or college and joining Greek life is a phenomenal choice but you cannot join Greek life if you do not get into college and you cannot remain in Greek life if you do not pass. Greek life may have more opportunities to party but that is not the organizations in particulars fault it is the individuals fault for not prioritizing what is important in their life and in order to succeed.

Hazing also comes into play with the negative stereotypes of Greek Life and the consumption of alcohol. Hazing has been considered a ritual, a rite of passage, and a bonding exercise by countless institutions including the military, fraternities, sororities, professional and amateur sports and event workplaces (Hackley, 2012). Hazing has become a part of Greek life which was no intended when Greek organizations were being founded. The founders of each organization would have been appalled at the audacity in which members haze people in order to get in and learn the ritual and secrets. Every sorority has different ritual, ritual consists of traditions or practices that the organization uses for different ceremonies and meetings. Ritual is kept secret and is only known by the members of the sorority (Dugan, 2013). Hazing has become a part of Greek life though; it brings members closer through a bond in which they will

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Narrative Research Paper

remember for the rest of their lives. There are psychological benefits to hazing such as: a drive for connectedness and joining a group with strong bonds (Campo and Sipple, 2003). With the benefits comes the many defaults to hazing hazing can lead to depression, alcoholism, and peer pressure. Being hazed can vary from psychological torture to physical torture, from having men circle your fat while you are on a moving washing machine to being forced to chug a beer. As of February 12, 2010, the number of recorded hazing/pledging/rushing-related deaths in fraternities and sororities stands at 96 90 males and 6 females (Allen and Madden, 2010). Sororities tend to haze more psychologically while fraternities tend to haze more physically which is what leads to the more male pledging and hazing related deaths.

No matter the circumstance, if someone is put in an uncomfortable situation where they feel pressured to do something it can be considered hazing. Sororities make their pledges do tedious tasks and expect the entire pledge class to do them. A sorority girl gives her personal account on being hazed, she was locked in rooms while blindfolded, given condescending nicknames and was forced to dance for fraternities (Koman, 2013). Different sororities that haze do different things to their pledges. For example, In 2012, Dartmouth alum Ravital Segal spoke out about her Kappa Kappa Gamma hazing ordeal: She was blindfolded, ordered to drink a 64-oz water bottle of spiked punch and do vodka shots simultaneously, and pushed out of the car. She woke up in the hospital with broken teeth, bruises, and .001 BAC away from a coma. (Segal, 2013) Depending on the severity of hazing for a particular sorority determines the actions that are taken out on the pledges as proven in the very last quote. Hazing is a way for pledges to appreciate their sisters and to respect the sorority that they are joining by doing the tasks given to them. Nine out of ten students who have experienced hazing behavior in college do not consider themselves to have been hazed. (Allan and Madden,

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Narrative Research Paper

2010). Hazing proves loyalty and strength to be able to perform these tasks and when pledges are deemed worthy and trusted they become initiated. Being hazed is seen to be a sign of respect and brings the active members and pledges together. The relationship between hazing and pledges is proven by the saying, All for one and one for all because pledges stick together as well as sororities and fraternities stick together through everything. Once the pledge class can stick together, they will want to have that same mindset towards the entire sorority.

On September 17, 2004, Gordie Bailey was found dead in the Chi Psi house after a night of drinking. Bailey and the other pledges had begun the evening Sept. 16 blindfolded and abandoned in the woods near Gold Hill. Police said the pledges were told to drink large amounts of Ten High whiskey and Carlo Rossi wine in thirty minutes and were told that they were not allowed to leave until the bottles were finished (Gordie Center, 2013). The next morning Bailey was found face down on the floor, and could not be revived. His blood-alcohol level was 0.328 percent, four times the legal limit for driving in Colorado (The Denver Channel, 2004). His brothers wrote mean slurs on his body while he was passed out on the floor and then waited until the next morning when they realized that he was not breathing to even notify authorities. He was eighteen years old and was only in college for three weeks when he passed away due to alcohol related hazing. Hazing affects college students across the nation especially alcohol related hazing that occurs through Greek life. 82% of deaths from hazing involve alcohol. (Allan and Madden, 2010) When it comes down to hazing, alcohol is a main component; it seems to be a very popular means to haze someone because drinking alcohol straight is a punishment within itself.

Meagan Dugan

Narrative Research Paper

Entering the Conversation: My Greek Experience

I personally was not hazed; Sigma Kappa has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to hazing. My chapter jokes saying that everything can be considered hazing even little things that we think are insignificant. For example, we want to call our new members dove babies doves being our animal and babies because they are new members. The technical name for a baby dove is a squab and calling new members squabs is hazing because that is not a nice thing to call someone even if the intentions were right. Every year, Sigma Kappas all across the nation hold an Anti-Hazing Movement called the RespKt Movement. Each chapter has a Public Relations Chair who advertises for this movement all week on hazing prevention and tries to educate people on hazing and the facts behind it. During an interview that I conducted with one of my sisters she said, We do not discriminate against anyone not saying that other sororities do but we care a lot about values and who people are rather than if you have a vineyard (Dugan, 2013). My chapter cares strongly about our values, we do not need to discriminate against women and make them feel weak to ensure that they respect the sorority and our sisterhood. Hazing does not benefit anyone in my opinion, it gives certain members entitlement over new women and it makes the new women dread their pledging process. Is there still hazing? Yes. Is there Binge Drinking? Yes. Is there sexual assault? Yes. But thats not Greek Life (Buell, 2010). Pledging while being hazed can be one of the scariest things of a persons life, never knowing what you are going to do and not knowing if you are good enough. Hazing does happen but it does not make an organization any greater than one that does not haze. Greek life is more than just the drinking and hazing but I feel that people have started to forget that those aspects even exist anymore. The founders of each organization created their particular sorority and fraternity on

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Narrative Research Paper

the basis of values, ritual, and service and the members have lost track of how important ritual is and how lucky we are to be Greek.

Greek Life has its negative aspects just like any other organization. Colleges and universities need to find a solution to these negative stereotypes and actions if they occur to better Greek life. I personally believe that it is possible to improve Greek life especially with a rewards system. This current generation responds well to rewards, tell them that they did something right and they will strive to do more. If we keep punishing Greek Life for their actions all we are going to do is anger them. I think that if a chapter is compliant to the universities rules and the rules of Greek Life, they should be rewarded. Chapters who strive for excellence should get some kind of recognition rather than chapters who only care about the parties. Chapters with the most leaders in organizations outside of their sorority should also be awarded. The rewards system could be more specific depending on how in depth the Greek life director at any certain school wants to get but punishment does not do as well. Yes, in certain circumstances there needs to be punishment to show authority and to prove that these organizations need to realize what they are doing and how it affects the community. Yet, on day to day sorority and fraternity activities it should be rewards based.

In conclusion, Greek life does have aspects that are negative but that should not sum up Greek life as a whole. Stereotypes continue to only focus on the drinking and hazing- which not all organizations do- but there are the morals and values that are instilled in each member that joins a Greek organization. Greek life was founded based on ritual, values, and friendship. Being Greek makes positive impacts on its members; they become strong leaders in the community and especially on their campuses. Greek life is everywhere on campus, anywhere

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Narrative Research Paper

you walk you will see someone in a letter shirt or with a letter bag unless Greek life is not at a particular university. They are noticed and although they are held under high scrutiny by the community because they are Greek, it is a privilege to be in a Greek organization. It is a privilege to wear those letters and learn the secrets that bond people together. Going Greek does not mean you are selling your soul to the devil, joining a cult, or buying your friends. You create bonds that will last the rest of your life, connections that are nation even worldwide, and learn skills that will help you with any career you want to go in.

Meagan Dugan

Narrative Research Paper

References
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