I've been Greek for 15 years (good Lord!) and I think that as interest in Greek life has declined from the "high" it was on throughout the 80's and early 90's, the backbiting and competition has increased. Why? Simply because the recruit pool is smaller. It's easy to get along when you all are doing relatively well and don't have to fight tooth and nail to keep up numbers.
When I was active at my campus (which is also Kirsten's
) there was a certain amount of competition during derby days, greek week, homecoming floats....but at the end of the day, you saw everyone hanging out together as a system. I remember the best night my senior year when we all got back from spring break...everyone was at the "Greek bar" and there were no dividing lines whatsoever, it was so clear by the vibe in the room that we were unified. We used to scrape and compete with AST CONSTANTLY...but when one of our sisters was in a car wreck, before we could all even get to the house there was a bouquet of flowers and offers of help from AST if they could do anything for us. I had friends from EVERY SINGLE sorority on campus....and I am extremely proud of that fact. If all I had cared about was my sorority, and all I had gotten was friends in one sorority, it would do nothing to make me want to be loyal to the Greek system or to my school.
I wish the nationals would just quit pushing numbers and statistics down everyone's throats, and change it to "live and let live." We will never all be equal, and honestly if you form bonds that last it doesn't make a damn bit of difference if you were the largest or smallest, if you won Greek week 23 years in a row or if all the cheerleaders pledged XYZ instead of you. If everyone could be allowed to be happy being what they are there would be a lot less acrimony and division.