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Whether a lot of people want to admit it or not, some individuals to decide to rush or pledge a certain "social org" because they want an outlet to alcohol, parties and the opposite/same sex. You do not have to agree with it because the simple fact is that it's true. Of course as we grow older and move along in our college years we start to realize that there is more to being greek than just booze and sex. We realize that there is a deeper sense of brotherhood, there is a deeper sense of honor and giving back to the community. But I will happily say that most people that decide to rush an org are not doing it because of "study hours, philanthropy events, etc."
I know I wasn't when I first decided to rush but all of those things grew on me the more I got involved and the more I started to understand the greek system. I've also read a lot of those comments from what I assume are older greeks on GC. I will stand by my statement that "times change" and boy do they ever. It is not exactly like college when you were there, things are different, people have changed, our society has changed, whether it's something you accept or not.
Now we move onto the issue of "declining greek life." I'm going to relate this more to sororites and fraternites that are "dry." Of course we should take pride in our organizations and we should obey all the rules set by our national organizations. So why are greek numbers declining? I don't think it has much to do with hazing or risk management. I think it is because more people are starting to look at "social glos" as being more of a hassle than help. Let's face it, many "social glos" have lost just about all meaning of the word "social" and maybe it's time they start to classify themselves as something other than "social."
We'll use a young college woman named sue. Sue just recently turned 21 and she is living in her sorority house for the year. Sue is kind of down because she can't drink in her house. Sue is alos down because her boyfriend of two years can't spend the night, let alone, even be allowed to see her room, or be in the house without being escorted by her.
Now I know these are all rules governed and set by the national, but why should Sue do it? Why should Sue pay $3,000 a semester/year to live in-house while not having hardly any "freedoms" at all? Why do it when another young lady her age is living in an apt or dorm across the way, is able to drink or have alcohol in her apt whenever she pleases, is allowed to have small parties and her boyfriend can stay over whenever she wants. We are all young adults in college, just experiencing our first few years of freedom, most sorority girls I know feel they don't have such freedoms while living in the house (and I feel for those that are required to live in-house for at least one year).
In essence, it's like "Sue" is paying a lot more money than your average college student, so she can belong to a "social glo" but she has almost lost more "freedom" by doing so. I won't even get into the whole debate about having more than so and so members at a function being a liability. That is just more of a hassle for people not being allowed to hang out and drink with their brother/sisters outside of the house because it can be considered a "sponsored event." I mean hell, they can't even socialize with a group of their members anymore, so what's the point? Why do these individuals continue to pay the money?
These are questions that arise, and to be honest I feel that many of these issues are almost directly related to the declining number of glo members.
Again, times change and if national/international offices don't start to recognize and/or do something about these issues, I see a number of national/international glos closing in the future.
woo woo.
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