April 15, 2015

There are many people who hear all about the bad press that Greek life on college campuses has to offer and instantly associate all people as bad seeds.

This instant association has gotten people in trouble for centuries.

This over-generalization prevented women from voting, defended slavery and countless other past tragedies.

I will admit I also had this feeling about Greek life.

In the past, I would hear about all of the hazing and racism spewed by the Greeks and re-justify myself internally about how happy I was to never join a fraternity.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am very happy with where I am in college and am extremely loyal to my good friends I have made in my three years here.

If I had to do college over again, I still would not have joined a fraternity, but I have gained a large amount of respect over the past two semesters for people involved in Greek life and what they do day-to-day.

It all started with a girl in the Tri-Delta sorority at UW-Madison that is now my girlfriend.

I won’t bore you with a sappy love story, but she has really opened up my eyes and allowed me to see all of the good that Greek organizations do.

Each sorority and fraternity compete against each other in many different aspects.

The thing many people typically overlook is the charity organizations that the Greek communities support.

Each sorority or fraternity puts on multiple fund-raisers, sales, sponsors organizations or companies, all for the one charity of their choosing.

For example, my girlfriend’s sorority is putting on the “Tri Delta Trihop” this weekend where they sell tickets for $5 and serve as much pancakes and sausage as a person’s heart desires in the basement of their sorority house.

Events like these are typically roaring successes as each member of the sorority has to sell five tickets. All of the proceeds go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Now I have also been exposed to a few people in these communities that are bad seeds and act in ways that could harm their sorority or fraternity’s image, but don’t get caught overgeneralizing the sorority or fraternity to all feel that way.

It only leads to your misinformed opinion getting you in trouble.

There are many wonderful people that do great things for their organizations and still find time for schoolwork, work, and all the craziness that goes into college.

Instead of standing up against all of the Greek community, punish the bad ones, but reward and applaud the people doing good.

If you open your eyes, there is more good being done than you realize.