While most parents and academic supervisors will say that Greek life is a huge distraction and bad influence for any young college student research shows that students in Greek life have higher grades than those who are not in a sorority or fraternity. Greek life has been around since 1776 which makes the traditions of each individual fraternity or sorority very sacred as well as important to the history of Greek life as a whole. The average stereotypes of Greek life include hazing, excessive drug and alcohol use and pretentious attitudes, especially pertaining to sorority women.  Greek life is a positive aspect of college life, bringing, high expectations and standards to students, a meaningful sense of belonging, as college can be a lonely environment, and setting students up to be successful in the future.

Most people have predetermined stereotypical views of sororities and fraternities which makes changing Greek life’s reputation extremely difficult. Greek life, for sororities especially, is often referred to as “paying for your friends”. The entire sorority recruitment process, used to determine which girls will fit in which environment, often seems very fake as well as condescending towards young females. Why would someone endure this process if the only outcome is a group of friends for which a very high price is being payed? The truth of the matter is that there are many benefits to sororities as well as fraternities that go far beyond friendships. Students in Greek life are involved in philanthropic efforts and leadership roles. These opportunities are right at the fingertips of those involved in Greek life and are easier to access than it would be for those who are not in a Greek letter organization. Fraternity and sorority members completed nearly 4.8 hours of community service according to the National Panhellenic Council annual report from the 2013-2014 school year (Musulin). 

Another reason many people do not agree that Greek life is a positive collegiate organization is the high statistics of drug and alcohol use. In a study conducted in 2007 it was proven that “Greek members drank more alcoholic beverages on a typical drinking day and engaged in heavy episodic drinking more frequently in 30 days compared to non-Greek members” (Scott-Sheldon). Although this statistic does not favor the integrity of Greek life, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Greek life is causing this behavior. As Alan Reifman discusses in his article, “any time participants make their own decisions to partake in an activity, as opposed to being randomly assigned by an experimenter to participate or not participate, there is the issue of self-selection” (Reifman). This means that evidence found when researching Greek versus non-Greek members will always be skewed because those students chose to participate in Greek life. This could indicate that the students who choose to join a sorority or fraternity already have risk-taking behavior. Most people automatically assume that if alcohol and drug use is higher for Greek members, it shows that Greek life causes that behavior when really, most students in Greek life already had this excitement-seeking personality (Reifman). 

Fraternity members, especially, are highly criticized for their behavior. Emma Pierson discusses the traditions of fraternity men being sexist and treating women inferiorly in her article published in the New York Times. Her main argument is around the point that fraternity members only act overconfident due to the scrutiny they’re put under by their brothers. It is custom for younger brothers to attempt to impress their elders in order to be hazed less and to gain the respect they are seeking. However the other side of the argument brings women to the forefront about their willingness to be judged by these men and to associate with them. Social media sites such as Total Frat Move (TFM), publicize many of the negative aspects of Fraternities and often shame women by making derogatory comments under female pictures. One member made jokes on TFM about a female’s “daddy issues”  and emailed Pierson to defend the site by saying,  “We do not have prejudices, regardless of what the satirical comments may lead others to believe. We address social and political issues. We offer prayers for those who need them and we love our girls and will defend them to our dying day” (Pierson). 

Greek life is one of the most harshly regulated collegiate organizations therefore it’s scrutiny is just as harsh and very highly publicized. Although the actions of Greek members are not always perfect or representative of what Greek life stands for, it is no different than the mistakes average college students make every day. The only difference is how public the incidents made by students in Greek life are compared to those who are not held to the highest of standards. News reporters often aim to have the most interesting story which will always be the negative or tragic incidents, therefore, leaving the positive aspects of Greek life overshadowed, and the stereotypes even harder to reverse. As Kristin Musulin discusses in her article of the “positive, underreported aspects of Greek life” the misconduct by a sorority or fraternity member or incidents occurring within Greek life are always “covered by the media because they’re rare. They’re not normal.” (Musulin). Majority of the transgression that takes place in Greek life involves one member of the fraternity or sorority yet those who hear this information automatically associate this one member with all of Greek life and unfortunately this reflects poorly on the entire Greek system. To put this into perspective, it would be the equivalent to a University’s reputation being demolished every time a student got arrested or committed any sort of crime. 

There are many extremely positive outcomes of Greek life including, the money chapters raise to benefit philanthropic causes. “According to the most recent National Panhellenic Council 2013-2014 annual report, sorority women from across the nation raised over $5.7 million for philanthropies…and in the same time frame, fraternity men in The North American Interfraternity Conference raised $20.7 million for philanthropies” (Musulin). Each sorority has its own philanthropy that they support indefinitely. Sororities hold fundraisers, individual chapter events to raise money and Panhellenic events that get other chapters and sororities involved to help raise money as well. Not only are sorority and fraternity members required to participate in these philanthropy events, members are also required to be involved in other campus organizations outside of the sorority. This creates a well-rounded and very involved college student. 

Greek life also requires academic success as well as social standards to be upheld by every member. Members of Greek letter organizations have a specific GPA requirement and if the requirement is not met that member is put on academic probation in which he or she cannot participate in chapter functions yet must still come to meetings and pay their dues. The all Greek average GPA in 2012 was 3.32 while the total undergraduate GPA was 3.20 (Laughlin). The students in Greek organizations strive to perform their best because that is simply how they are taught. Alpha Epsilon Pi’s president at the University of Georgia said, “When you’re surrounded by people who want to do well, you’re going to do well too” (Laughlin). Sorority members also have very strict social media restrictions that require all posts to represent the integrity of the chapter. If a member does not comply with this rule, they will be asked to remove the post and may face further punishments. Greek members are held to very high standards with everything they do and have a system of accountability that ensures these standards are met by every member. Depending on the circumstance or severity of the incident a chapter will handle the situation with different accountability measures. These measures often start with, a standards meeting with the chapter’s president and can be escalated to the National Panhellenic Council determining how to handle the member’s situation (Allena). 

Students who participated in Greek life also have been proven to be extremely successful after their college experience. Although Greek life only makes up 3% of the U.S. population, “48 percent of all U.S. presidents have been Greek; 42 percent of U.S. senators are Greek; 30 percent of U.S. congressmen/women are Greek; 40 percent of all U.S. Supreme Court justices have been Greek; 30 percent of Fortune 500 executives are Greek; 10 percent of all those listed in ""Who's ~Who" are Greek” (Allena and Karp). These statistics show how the leadership and confidence learned in Greek life can drastically impact the future of its members later on in life. The authors also discuss how “unfortunately, all too often these many positives are overshadowed by inappropriate behavior and poor choices made by members of the individual chapters on a campus” (Allen and Karp). The achievements made by these students even after college truly shows how much of a long-lasting impact Greek life has on its members. 

Greek life students can make mistakes yet they should be held accountable for their actions after all, that is what makes Greek life so great. Although it is clear that members in sororities and fraternities are exposed to many opportunities and often are successful during and after college, those students are often risk-seekers which can lead to mistakes and misconduct. However, the positive outcomes outweigh the negative and it would be impossible to report all the beneficial aspects of Greek life due to the immense amount of success that occurs within Greek chapters. Members of Greek life are held to higher standards than those of non-Greek affiliation which represents exactly what Greek life was intended for. Greek members should be recognized for their prestigious efforts but so often those efforts are overshadowed by individual incidents.
