In-Greek Slander
 

I know that for most of us, we tend to ignore the few gossip/slander sites that "rank" sororities and fraternities, as they don't deserve our attention.

But what alarmed me recently was talking with a girl who was considering going Greek but very turned off by the way some Greeks (presumably, as the sites are mostly anonymous) write cruel things about each other and systematically rank each other across campuses. Unavoidable probably, but these sites seem to reveal an off-shoot of Greek culture I find very sad: slander/rankings.

And it probably is unavoidable in some sense, as we tend to in-group, out-group each other and get caught up in group mentalities, and college kids are no different. But it's also alarming when you realize how prevalent it is and how it can affect the inner-workings of Greek life and some members' lives in their chapters, not to mention potential new members who may get their first impression from them and internalize them.

I know we can never fully get rid of them or turn them off for good, but I can't help but find them unsettling. It seems that when some go down, others pop up in their place, full-steam ahead. And they have a LOT to say. (For those unfamiliar, this mainly includes ranking chapters based on a number of petty assets including popularity and looks, putting certain chapters "in their place", slandering certain members - especially women, and the like. It's amazing how much effort goes into them.)

I'm just in a thoughtful mood and wondering if any of you have addressed this within your chapters or networks. It's always bothered me but I've noticed it's been mostly not spoken about, but it could also be a way of opening up discussion about what it really means to be Greek at many schools.

Do they bother you?

You're preaching to the choir.

People are naturally competitive. While I'm not a big fan of those sites because of the iffy way of collecting data, I'm also not against schools which point out to the student body which sorts of groups will benefit most members and which won't.

You mean by publishing grades, chapter numbers, etc? The problem is that statistics mean nothing when taken out of context, which pretty much ALL of those numbers are. Yeah maybe XYZ has the highest GPA of fraternities, but maybe XYZ also only has 20 members who all took nothing but cake classes.