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Is Greek Life beneficial or detrimental to the university?

Editor’s note: We had so many passionate responses to this topic that we had to choose between cutting people out entirely, or taking bits and pieces from each response. We chose the latter. Below are excerpts from many much longer responses from our passionate readers.

Greek Life is beneficial:

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I believe Greek life is incredibly beneficial to Colorado State. Arguably the hardest part of any first-semester freshman’s life is making the transition from high school to college smoothly. Personally going Greek made my transition from high school to college so much easier. I played Sports throughout high school and my teammates were ultimately one of my biggest support outlets that I had. When I got to college as a freshman I could immediately tell that not having teammates around all the time was going to make things more difficult. A lot of the times I didn’t feel like I belonged. As soon I joined a Greek organization all of those feelings went away. I had gotten that support system back.

-Eric Umans

Sororities and Fraternities are both extremely beneficial to the community and society as a whole. They dedicate vast amounts of time and money to nonprofit organizations of their choice and I don’t know how that can be viewed as a stain on the universities reputation. In addition, they serve as a networking platform for students and allow future employers to assess what the candidate values prior to meeting them. The benefits of Fraternities and Sororities should not be forgotten because of the negative connotation they receive from the media.

-Carly Clark

Many people see greek life as a party zone. Expect what they don’t see if how they are changing and or have already changed. Greek life now competes for grades on a college campus. There are GPA minimums. There are standards for any negative actions taken by a member. Expect, people only see/hear the one mistake or action made by a few members. Greek life, to me is a huge addition to a college campus. Speaking from personal experience, greek life has enabled me to meet a very large amount of people! I have a network that is, very literally, on a national scale.

-Dakota Silva

I am a sophomore at CSU and a member of a PanHellenic Sorority. I chose to go through recruitment last year to meet new people and find a “home away from home” at college, because I am an out of state student from the East coast. I joined and became a member of Gamma Phi Beta. After a year of being part of this organization, I can say that I have never been more proud to call the 100 plus women in my chapter my sisters. We have members that are part of ASCSU, writers for The Collegian, Order of Omega (an academic society), CSU sports teams, etc. Not only are our members involved on campus, but they are all outstanding women. I have the kind of sisters that will comfort me after a really hard day, or celebrate with me when something great happens. Greek Life is not centered around partying, socializing, or trying to be “the best”. We are about our philanthropy, our community, and each other. Like many girls in our chapter, I hold our philanthropy very close to my heart.

-Caroline Kozak

As a fellow Greek member I do believe that Greek letter organizations are beneficial to the community and society as a whole. Greek letter organizations are some of the biggest contenders for community outreach and philanthropic events, whether it be raising money for national level causes like Susan G. Koen breast cancer awareness, Autism Speaks, and St. Jude. Or for local non-profits and projects like Larimer County Humane Society, Crossroads Safe House, and CSUnity. Along with participating in philanthropic causes many fraternities and sororities take part in raising awareness and stimulating change in our community for things like standing up against bullying, stopping child abuse, and addressing sexual assault on our campus.

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-Haley Tankersley

Greek life is beneficial for college campuses because being Greek gives its members opportunities for leadership, philanthropic involvement, and social involvement that most regular students will never experience. Fraternities have been one of the strongest American college traditions for hundreds of years for a reason; that is why most great fraternities have strong networks, have rich history, and have produced amazingly successful people.

-Ty Spond

My freshman year at Colorado State, I chose not to go through recruitment because I had no interest in being a part of Greek life. I even wrote a paper for a class about being anti-Greek. However, I quickly realized that I was a small fish in a big pond at CSU. I didn’t feel connected to the school of the community as a whole. I had many friends that were members of chapters on campus and I realized that they were having a much different freshman year experience than I was having. By the end of my freshman year, I immensely regretted not going through recruitment so I chose to rush as a sophomore.

After the first day of recruitment, I was in love with every chapter on our campus. I couldn’t believe how wrong my initial opinions of Greek life were. Every bias I had about it meant to be a “sorority girl” was completely wrong and I wanted to be friends with every girl that I talked to through recruitment.

-Jazlin Hanson

 

Without Greek Life we would not have the country we have today. Every U.S. President and Vice President, with the exception of two in each office, born since the first fraternity was founded in 1825 have been members of a fraternity. 76% of Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity and 40 out of the 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were members of Greek Life.

I can firmly speak for every member of Greek Life when I say that we are anything but a detriment to the University and a stain on the reputation of CSU.

-Kimberly Canfield

 

Greek Life is not beneficial:

Editor’s note: We received no responses for this viewpoint.

 

Next Week’s Topic (9/20): How many times have you heard the phrase ‘hookup culture’? Especially on college campuses, it seems we hear about (and live) hookup culture all the time. One of the most common topics that people love to shout about is how slut shaming is destructive, especially to female societal standards. Women should be allowed to sleep around just as much as men without any negative connotations. In fact, everyone should be having tons of hookups because it is 2016, and we can do whatever we want. Sex standards are oppressive and outdated.

There is also a sentiment out there that contradicts this. Many people love to refer to our hookup culture as shallow, vapid, and having no real or substantial human connection. Oftentimes, the same people that say humans should be sexually prolific (meaning, having tons of sex whenever they want) are the same ones saying that our generation’s personal relationships are shallow and create fake people, fake relationships, and do not produce anything meaningful. So which is it?

Is hookup culture good for society by promoting freedom and choice, or does it lower our value as humans and lower our chances of finding and building meaningful relationships?

In order to create a submission, writers need to craft the following: Include your name, or anonymous, and your year of study. There is no word minimum. They may range from one sentence up to 300 words. Those most likely to be published will be clear, concise, and contain correct grammar and punctuation. Send your full response to letters@collegian.com with the subject line reading “CampusView Submission-[the subject of the week] -Your Name (or Anonymous).

 

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