[PKTSU01]

I think that in general, the greek community is united as one large group within a given college or university. Then, there are the other factors that come into play.

popularity - there are elitist groups, the jock fraternities, the jappy groups, the unpopular groups and so on. The reason they exist is simple, people are drawn to different things and when you have pride in your group, it might be real easy to look down on another group because they are smaller or have less history or rep, whatever. This is human nature, and while it may be dumb, it comes with the territory of being in the greek system. These groups exist based on selectivity and opinions are going to vary widely.

competition - while not necessarily only competing for the same rushees, chapters are competitive because again, the pride factor comes in as well as rep. A sorority that prides itself on number is going to be competitive when it comes to rush, even to the point of talking down other sororities because they want to keep themselves competitive. Similarly, a fraternity of athletes wants to kick ass come greek week because it adds to their image and rep.

beliefs - While all groups are members of the greek system, it may be easy to forget that a given fraternity or soroity EXISTS not because of the educational instituition, but because of the national organization. Each organization is different and values different things and some of these things will come into play, even to the point of conflict between groups.

The major thing I noticed, especially at SU, was the attempt to have everyone think that ALL of the councils took an equal part in the greek community, which was total b.s. IFC and Panhel pretty much dominated the social scene while NPHC and MGLC groups did their thing with a different purpose. While the majority of the social fraternities and sororities were out being "social" the smaller NPHC and MGLC groups went about their business with a different purpose. To me, these groups made the major differences in the community and for their members.

Now, not to get anyone pissed, but if that;s how ya feel, you're entitled to it. It seems, to me at least, that IFC and Panhel are number oriented. If a social group isn't competitive in number, they'll fall off the map. Whereas the black and latino/a fraternities and sororities always seemed to be concerned about quality as opposed to quantity. There might have been 10 or so guys in APA, but they did more work for the surrounding community and had better PR than most houses with 40+ members.

I was just using this as an example to show how, even though diversity within the greek system is what makes it awesome, it also leads to misunderstanding of group purpose and existence, which in tunr leads to a divided greek system. This is just the reality of the situation though.