Colleges often have ambivalent feelings about fraternities and sororities, and one can’t talk about them at any college without putting them into a brief national and media context.

At their best, fraternities and sororities build loyalty to the college, enhance the college’s social life, give members opportunities for leadership and camaraderie, and build the college’s reputation in the community through their good works.

At their worst, they foster an exclusionary loyalty that manifests itself in hazing, secrecy and discrimination; undermine a healthy social life through alcohol misuse; and damage the college’s reputation in the community with noisy parties and immature behavior.

At Their Best

Colleges are typically good at providing organized extracurricular activities such as student government, sports, theatre, newspapers and musical groups. What colleges have a harder time providing is unstructured opportunities for bonding and entertainment, something Greek organizations do well. At their best, Greek organizations can be an excellent supplement to the college’s efforts to provide a rich social life.

Greek organizations all have a social service component to membership that is mandated by their national organization. At their best, Greek organizations are a catalyst for community volunteerism and fundraising.

Finally, alums with ties to Greek organizations are typically very loyal to their college. At their best, the bonds that tie students to their fraternities and sororities tie them to their alma mater as well.

At Their Worst

Hollywood has provided more than its fair share of bad advertising for Greeks. The movie Animal House touched on virtually every negative aspect of Greek organizations, from the hi-jinks of the Delta House (reputedly based on an actual fraternity at Dartmouth in the 1960s) to the hazing, secrecy and discrimination of Omega House.

MTV’s Fraternity Life and Sorority Life have focused on the shallow and abusive behaviors of young women and men, while illustrating a dangerous reliance on alcohol as a means of social interaction.

The media message is not the historical and national reality. The negatives are neither as whimsical and benign as Animal House would have it, nor as shallow and melodramatic as MTV, which, like all reality shows, focuses on the extreme rather than the ordinary.

So, What About Albright?

There’s no question that the College benefits from Greek life being part of Albright life.

Three important factors have helped foster support for fraternities and sororities at Albright: First, Greek membership constitutes a balanced proportion of the student body. Thirty percent of women are members of sororities, and 25 percent of men are fraternity members -- a nearly perfect balance. Greeks are not so small as to be marginalized or have no impact on student life, and they are not so large that they dominate social life on campus or put undue pressure on freshmen to join in order to feel that they’re a part of campus life.

Second, Greek organizations at Albright do not have their own houses. Higher incidences of alcohol abuse and bad relationships with neighbors are related to Greeks having their own residences not under the auspices of the college and its security office. While Greek members at Albright often room together on campus, there are no fraternity or sorority houses.

Third, the College and Greeks work together. Each Greek organization, through its national chapter, works with the College to provide programs geared to leadership, community service and member education.

In addition to serving the Albright community with activities such as spring campus clean-ups, each fraternity and sorority provides services to one or more philanthropic projects. Chelsea Wallace ’06, a member of Sigma Kappa, says one of the things that attracted her to sorority life was the community service aspect. Sigma Kappa supports the Maine Sea Coast Mission, Inherit the Earth, gerontology and Alzheimer’s. “We go to a home for the elderly and play Bingo, do crafts and just spend time with them,” she says. “It’s nice to give back to the community.”

Tyler Travitz ’06, a member of Pi Kappa Phi, agrees. “We’re very community service driven,” he says. Pi Kappa Phi supports organizations that help individuals with disabilities, particularly PUSH America, the exclusive philanthropy of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. Most recently, the fraternity assisted Easter Seals of Eastern Pennsylvania construct a new, specially designed playground for children with disabilities. They have also held a Disability Walk at Albright to point out accessibility problems on the campus.

While there is generally a great deal of support for Greeks among the faculty and administration, some became concerned in 2002 and 2003 about freshmen joining Greek organizations before they had adjusted to college academic life first. Andrea Chapdelaine, Ph.D., acting vice president for academic affairs, said, “I definitely see the value of Greek organizations, but I also understand the concerns raised regarding academics. That’s true of all extracurricular activities, though.”

Sororities held recruitment during the spring semester. However, fraternities at Albright had traditionally held recruitment in the fall, allowing freshmen to join right away.

Records indicate that while the overall grade point average of Greek organizations is impressive, the grades of a significant number of first-year students showed a decline during the pledging process.

Because of this, in spring 2003, the Campus Life Council (CLC) recommended that the pledging/recruitment period be deferred until the sophomore year. Since the women have always held formal recruitment in the spring semester, the men agreed to alter their recruitment period and move it from the fall to the spring. “I think it was a good compromise,” says Sally Stetler, director of student activities. “It took the pressure off of freshman men.”

Those who are in fraternities and sororities say they gain a lot from the experience. “The thing that makes it so great is having people you can count on no matter what,” says Travitz. “Yes, there are parties and formals, but that’s not what I remember. The things that stand out are the late night talks with my fraternity buddies.”

Finally, what about “fitting in” if you’re not involved in a fraternity or sorority? It’s not an issue, says Adam Barrows ’06, an independent. “I hear that on other campuses, they (fraternities and sororities) are very demanding and tell members that they’re not allowed to converse with independents. If they do that here, then it isn’t working because I’m always interacting with someone who’s Greek.”

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