Professor's Negative Recommendations
 

Recently, I was introduced to woman who is an editor at a major magazine in New York City. During our conversation, she mentioned that that she was a graduate of the University of Indiana at Bloomington. I said that I heard that the university had one of the largest Greek communities outside of the old Confederacy.

She said that that was true. I asked her if she had been a member of a sorority on campus. She laughed and said no, but had thought about it. She said her mother's dearest wish was for her daughter to join ABC sorority, the sorority that the mother was planning to join before financial reasons forced the mother to leave college in the 1950s.

The daughter told me that she was told by one of her professors at the university, 30 years ago, not to join a sorority. The professor told her that she could be a journalist or sorority member, but not both. The professor told her whatever obligations that were required by the sorority would take away from the time needed to develop as a journalist. The professor added that sorority members weren't taken seriously by professionals.

The magazine editor added that she had often wondered if she could have done both -- be a sorority member and be professional journalist.

I am curious if anyone else has had a similar story to tell...

No.

the guy at an adjoining desk at a newspaper was Greek at USC, he covered county government, from that, made his contacts, went to work for a member of the board of supervisors, doing public relations. From that job, he did public relations for a state governor. Obviously, being a Greek didn't hurt his career, nor did it keep him from being viewed as a serious journalist.

<cranky IU alum>

There is no such school as the University of Indiana. The school you mean is Indiana University Bloomington.

</cranky IU alum>

(Sorry - that's a huge pet peeve!)

I have experienced and heard of where being in a sorority/fraternity has created better career networking opportunities.

I never considered it to be a hinderance. That prof sounds a little bitter for some reason.

One of my pledge sisters is/was a photojournalist who has interviewed some very famous people. Other Alpha Gams..

Lois Kroeber Wille Lambda Author and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in journalism

Lorraine Jensen Davis Epsilon Gamma Former Editor of Vogue magazine

I know of other Alpha Gams that I don't recall their names.

Sounds like the prof was either voicing his opinion based on erroneous sterotypes and/or he didn't get a bid when he wanted one and/or some Greek students didn't perform well in his class...of course there were probably some non-Greeks that didn't do either.

I had a professor my freshman year who started the semester off by saying that being in a fraternity or sorority dropped your IQ 10 points, and that's before all the beer killed whatever remaining brain cells you had. No one wore letters to his class so he couldn't hold it against us.

I think Toni Morrison would disagree! She joined her Sorority (AKA) in college (I wonder if that professor would characterize Soror Toni as an author not a journalist)

she was either denied or an Eternal....

IU sorority journalist
 

Strangely enough, some 30 years ago a young sorority woman did mix Greek life and journalism at Indiana University and did it very well. Jane Pauley, who is a Kappa, was involved in both print and TV journalism at IU. She went on to the Today Show as well as other anchoring and interviewing opportunities. She has also done considerable writing. Guess she had a different advisor, or she didn't pay attention to those who told her you could not do both!

Not being interested in starting a debate on her, one of Pauley's replacements on TODAY is also Greek.

Katie Couric is a Tri-Delt from UVA.

Ridiculous. No professional would take you less seriously for being great.

HOWEVER, there is a caveat: Many PROFESSORS don't take you seriously because they're usually far left anti-establishment assholes who are more prejudiced than their right wing adveseries.....which is why if you are greek I would recommend you not wear letters in certain classes....ESPECIALLY at the more hippie schools.

Wow. There's an interesting generality.

What a shame an Academian would act like that:(

My Law Professor is(was)TKE. But the Dean of Students and Head of The Business Department had sons who joined my chapter!:)

If this person was so learned, then they should have know that Greeks have higher GPA! Go on to higher jobs because of the training they learned from being a Greek.:)

I had to tell an alumni city councilman about how the school was treating all fraternities and sororities on campus for student government (he was a member of an IFC fraternity), boy that was the fastest correction to the student government I ever saw... The school was doing wrong by all the greeks.

Kate Snow from ABC News/Good Morning America is a Theta...

How did political beliefs get dragged into this? You don't have to be conservative or liberal to be anti-greek. There are plenty of anti-greeks from both sides of the fence.

Agreed.

I was a journalism major at IU and I can tell you that attitudes in the J-school have definitely changed. I had a ton of Greeks in my journalism classes. In fact, I took one class when I returned where I think everyone except two or three people were Greek. Several of the editors of the newspaper were Greek (I think we had two or three AXiD editors-in-chief in a row! I know that sorority had a large concentration of journalism majors.)

I'm not journalism but...
 

I am a girl in engineering, and know several other guys in engineering in fraternities and also some guys/girls that are greek that are hard-core science majors.

Many of them NEVER wear their letters to any class. MOST recommend to not wear letters or greek stuff the first 4-5 weeks of class.

Their assumption: professors will NOT take Greek students seriously. Even if you are in your upper-division classes, they will assume you will try to slide by, ask stupid questions, and be a nussiance to the class.

In my experience, many of my professors didn't know how to react to someone who is smart and greek (all of us!)... let alone a female in engineering :) My thought was always that it would be very positive to see a Greek student with letters it difficult classes.

OK, I just think this is all sub-pathetic. No one should have to cover up what they are.

Go to class, do a kickass job on the work, and make the anti-Greek professors look like the idiots they are. If they STILL treat you like crap...and treat other students doing the same level of work differently...then you've got a good anti-discrimination suit waiting to happen. Maybe then some of these prejudiced people will learn their lesson.

Attitudes against Greeks will never change until we stand up for ourselves and say "no, we are NOT that stereotype." Hiding the fact that you're Greek just seems to confirm that it's true.

You said a mouth full with your post.

This is the sad part when Greeks are impuned by so called Intllectual Professionals who are majors and in major parts of Colleges.

The narrow mindiness of these so called well educated people is underwhelming considering the roles that Greeks have played in History in all forms of Business, Sports, Politics and Enterntainment. Did I miss any field?

But at the same time who has given them the call for doing it?:o

Could be, that they were GLO members but are now embarresed to admit it?