Casting Out Nines

Earlier, I mentioned the bonus question on this week’s feedback journals in GE 103 asked students to “list three positive contributions to the mission of Franklin College that fraternities and sororities make, that are not made by other non-Greek organizations.” The students have handed their journals in, and the results are pretty interesting.

The students all phrased things differently, but it was fairly simple to categorize their views of Greek contributions. I made up what I observed as distinct categories and kept a frequency count:

• Volunteerism/community involvement: 7 (20%)
• Socialization within the group: 6 (17.1%)
• Philanthropy (raising money for charitable causes): 4 (11.4%)
• Campus involvement: 4 (11.4%)
• No contributions exist/can’t think of any: 4 (11.4%)
• Accountability for grades: 2 (5.7%)
• Accountability for personal affairs: 2 (5.7%)
• Housing: 2 (5.7%)
• Leadership: 2 (5.7%)
• Diversity within a group: 1 (2.9%)
• Networking/socialization outside the group: 1 (2.9%)

To clarify the “diversity within a group” category, the one student with that response said: “By becoming a part of Greek-life, it provides you with a lot of diversity in multiple areas unlike Law Club which just focuses on one subject matter.” I think that’s a valid point.
The reason I asked this question — and have raised it in the past — is not because I question whether or not Greeks do good things on and off campus. I ask it because I want to understand why we have Greek organizations, when other organizations on campus seem to be doing — or at least capable of doing — the same things, with less expense in terms of both money and time on the students’ part, and with less competition for the attention of students when it comes to their studies. If you, as a student, can do the same good things through a club or freshman-year-experience cohort group that you can through a fraternity and sorority, and if the non-Greek option is less distracting from and more tightly integrated with your college education, then what legitimate reasons are there to go Greek? And what legitimate reasons are there for a college to continue to have Greek organizations?

Hence the nature of the question — I want to know what are the things Greek organizations do that fit within the mission of the college that are unique to Greeks. And there’s a secondary point here: If the primary reasons for having Greek organizations around fall outside the mission of the college, then why are we supporting them?

In looking at what my students said, I think many of them are answering the question the same way a lot of people would — they are listing the good things that Greek organizations do (or what they think they do). I’m not refuting that. But they haven’t answered the question: Is it true that non-Greek organizations do not or cannot do the same things? Here’s my take:

• Volunteerism/community involvement: Other organizations on campus do this, such as Intervarsity and FCA, our freshman cohort groups, and numerous others. We have a community service day every fall; the IVCF/FCA group just did a spring break trip to Mississippi to do hurricane relief work.
• Socialization within a group: This was typically phrased as “Greek orgs help me to fit in/provide me with brothers/sisters on campus”. It seems to me, though, that this will happen regardless of whether you are Greek or not — as long as you choose to stick with a group. Socialization can be difficult but largely it seems to be a matter of choice. You can make lifelong friends through the Math Club if you just stick with it and try, and if the chemistry is right. Being Greek or non-Greek in and of itself doesn’t appear to be crucial.
• Philanthropy: See first point. However, I will admit that the larger, broader organizational structure of Greeks should make it a lot easier to raise money for causes than smaller, less organized groups. Greeks have a brand recognition and a national audience. A lot of clubs on campus are barely organized at all and so they have a hard time doing anything at all.
• Campus involvement: See first point.
• Accountability (both kinds): It’s probably true that other co-curriculars — with the notable exception of athletics teams — probably don’t monitor GPA’s. (We don’t have an honors program.) I wonder whose role this really is, though. Shouldn’t parents have some say on that? Or the college itself?
• Housing: This was in interesting point, that Greeks serve the campus by providing non-dormitory housing, thereby freeing up space. The basketball team isn’t going to be able to do that. But wouldn’t that space still be there if the Greeks all moved out and the college took over their houses? Who owns those houses, anyway?
• Leadership: Don’t people get chances to learn and employ leadership through things like Student Congress and other co-curricular organizations?
• Diversity: I already conceded that this was a valid point. However, I think you can manufacture that kind of diversity through a well-designed freshman cohort group and/or belonging to more than just one kind of club on campus.
• Networking: I was surprised that only one person said this, because this has long been the classic argument for Greeks — the connections you make with alumni. I will agree that generally, alumni do not connect with current students outside Greek organizations. So this is something that probably most non-Greek cocurriculars DON’T do. But I think it’s something that they COULD do, with a little effort. It’s not totally out of the question.

So I am not too sure that much of the things my students said — which are said by lots of other people too, as positive aspects of Greek life — are really things unique to Greeks. Greeks can do these things with a degree or organization and support that perhaps many other social frameworks on campus do not have. But Greeks’ ability to do these things at all doesn’t appear to me to be unique.

Additions to the list, and counterarguments to what I’ve said here, are welcome in the comments. Again: What do Greeks do for the campus that cannot be done by other organizations that are more closely integrated with the college itself? And if there are no such things, what are the reasons for keeping the Greek system?