For incoming freshmen, college is often seen as a great opportunity to try new things and have fun. Making new friends, cheering on the school’s sports teams, getting involved with clubs, and studying subjects that actually interest you are some of the many positives that come with the typical college experience. 

  Another popular activity present at many schools too is greek life. Greek life includes fraternities that boys can join, and sororities for the girls. Being in a fraternity and sorority can help students meet new people, try new activities, and can make a big school feel a little smaller. 

  While the idea of Greek life looks flawless on the surface, there are very explicit issues with the organization. These issues can be dangerous and turn deadly, which poses the question of whether Greek life should continue to exist as it is today. 

Alcohol and Drug Abuse 

  There are different sorority and fraternity chapters on each campus, and to get into one new students go through a process called “hazing”. 

  For girls, some subtle examples of hazing can include posting embarrassing pictures or videos online, wearing silly clothing, and more. According to Arkansas State University, examples of violent hazing include kidnapping, partial or full nudity, forced consumption of food or liquids, and more. 

  Fraternities use overconsumption of alcohol and verbal abuse, along with ordering the pledges to do things for the members, as ways of hazing. Hazing, especially with alcohol, has even led to the death of pledges. The University of Maryland provides information on this subject, citing that there has been at least one death per year since 1970 due to hazing-related issues and that 82% of hazing-related deaths have involved the use of alcohol. 

  One example of this was 20 year old Stone Foltz, who attended Bowling Green State University and was pledging for Pi Kappa Alpha. As part of a hazing ritual, Foltz was told to finish an entire bottle of alcohol, which later resulted in him falling unconscious in his apartment and passing away days later. 3 of the fraternity members were sentenced to short jail time (less than 30 days), while 2 others had to serve house arrest. 

Sexual Assault

  Sororities and fraternities often have events together, whether it be parties or formals, but this can sadly result in sexual violence. 

  According to an article on Our Wave, who are  “engineers, designers, and researchers dedicated to empowering survivors of sexual assault”, boys in fraternites are 3 times mroe likely to engage in sexual assult against women than boys not in one. Girls in sororities are at a bigger risk; they are 74% more likely to experience sexual assault than girls not in a sorority. 

  Students new to their sorority or fraternity may feel too scared to speak up if they have been assaulted, especially if they were intoxicated while it happened. In a heartbreaking memoir titled Know My Name by Chanel Miller (you can find my review here), Chanel was assaulted outside of a Stanford Party by Brock Turner. His lawyers tried to make it out to be Chanel’s fault, citing her consumption of alcohol to be the problem. 

  Another terrible way sexual assault and rape can happen is through the use of the “date rape” drug. The odorless and tasteless drug can be slipped into someone’s drink and can cause them to lose consciousness for a long period of time. While the use of date rape drugs are not exclusive to Greek life, the significant numbers of events thrown can give the abuser many occasions to hurt others. 

Discrimination 

  Another prevalent issue within Greek life is the apparent discrimination in many chapters. 70% of Greek life is made up of white students, who are often coming from middle class to wealthy backgrounds. 

  Students in the LGBTQIA+ community may feel isolated too, due to the heavy gender structures. However, there are many inclusive chapters found at most colleges, so being a part of the community should not completely deter a student from getting involved in Greek life based solely off of their sexual or gender orientation. An article from The Crimson White details gay students who came out while in their fraternities. One student, Tyler Platt, expressed that “he has a wonderful relationship with his fraternity built upon understanding and trust and he is extremely proud to be a member of AKL.”

Is it worth it to join?

  The above three dangers do not put Greek life in the best light. Yet, as mentioned in the beginning of this article, there are some positives. 

  For students thinking of pledging, it could be helpful to make a pros and cons list and see if Greek life is right for them.