Fraternity/Sorority cliques

dchi_pride · #1 05-15-2001, 01:50 AM

I'm a D-Chi at WMU and I am very proud of my chapter and the accomplishment we have achieved in the last two years. We have come back from the brink several years ago and will have a new house within the next 2 years. On thing that upsets me at my school is the greek cliques that I see in my daily affairs. At work, class, bars and parties, I see many sororites that clique with one or two fraternities and vise-versa, and then turn their backs to everyone else. I have talked to friends in other fraternities and here the same for some of them as well. We hold an annual greek week ant WMU to promote "spirit and unity", sadly it turns out to be more of a popularity contest. We hold events with the best intentions that sometimes fall below expectations. Does this happen at you fraternity or sorority and what do you do to help alieve the situation and increase the unity?
PS- Much love and respect to the greeks at WMU who do show the love. You are not forgotten. Good times to come, peace!

dchi_pride · #2 05-15-2001, 01:59 AM

Just want to apologize for some the messy spelling in my post. I wrote this very fast while upset (a bad combo). Look foward to seeing your comments. -Thanks
-dchi_pride

Jae · #3 05-15-2001, 09:57 PM

Sir Edward Coke's soldiers here at Ohio State completely understand your problem. We were a small chapter from 1902 until about 6 years ago, now we are the largest fraternity at OSU! And although we have gained MUCH respect and party with all the big houses now, there are still 1 or 2 sororities that even though they'll schedule social events with us like to only party with 1 or 2 select fraternities. I think they just have a complex passed down from their older sisters about who is historically prestigious and not who realistically is better (sports, grades, fun). We just get involved in everything we can to make our name that much better. That's how we grew to be the best!

33girl · #4 05-15-2001, 10:51 PM

I think it is only natural for sororities to hang out with one or two fraternities most of the time - that's where most of your sisters are so that's where you will hang out. I know that in my sorority, it was pretty evenly divided between XYZ and ABC "groupies." That of course changed from year to year.

However we always tried to mix with every fraternity (there were 10, if I remember) at least once a year and not exclude anyone. But there was one sorority on campus who wouldn't mix with certain fraternities, and could only date the "better" fraternities, football players, etc.....Basically the guys who they labeled as "not good enough" just saw them for being the stuck-up jerks they were and moved on.

If it has really gotten bad, approach IFC and Panhellenic about setting up a mixer schedule (I am assuming your social chairs do it now) so everyone gets to at least meet everyone. It might not completely solve the problem but it may help to dispell some misconceptions. Also, if there are several small fraternities, two of you get together and have a mixer. Speaking as a female, it does suck to come to a mixer when there are 40 chicks and 20 guys.

dzrose93 · #5 05-16-2001, 09:33 AM

I've noticed that it's common for a sorority to bond closer with select fraternities, especially on large campuses. My girls at UGA tend to hang out with the frat that has a house next door to theirs. I would guess that they have gotten to know those guys better because of their close proximity to one another.

I went to a small school and we tended to hang out with 3 fraternities more often than we did the other 2 on campus. The main reason was that these 3 groups had houses right near ours and so they were always coming by to say hello. The other 2 frats didn't have houses and weren't around as much.

shadokat · #6 05-16-2001, 10:40 AM

The unfortunate truth to this is that some people just don't want to hang out with groups who they don't deem worthy. It's ridiculous. Like 33girl's school, we also tried to mix with every fraternity on campus (there were like 13). They tried to initiate a mixer schedule through our panhellenic, and it was rejected. Some of the women said they didn't want to be told who to mix with, but wanted to mix with only those they chose. Get over yourself, ya know!

I say if some group doesn't want to hang out with you because they don't think you're as cool or whatever as they are, screw them. They're missing out, not you!

SigTauJake · #7 05-16-2001, 01:47 PM

The same thing happens at our school, but no one seems to really care. We have 16 fraternities and 11 sororities. We mix with every sorority once a semester at least once. But when it comes to the weekends, thier is one sorority that comes out in stride to our house. Stories say that we have been best friends with this sorority for over 40 years, so there is a tradition that is hard to break. It is like hanging out with your best freinds, not strangers there just to party. We get our randoms from other houses, but these are the girls that come by our house at 1 in the afternoon just to see what is up. Most brothers date girls from this house, and we have had a lot of marriages come from these two groups. Four of our last 7 sweethearts were from their house. It just seems natural for us and them, but we still get to mix with every sorority on campus.

SSS1365 · #8 05-16-2001, 02:33 PM

It happens here too. Maybe it just happens everywhere. And no one seems to want to go to the mixers, and when we go, everyone pretty much stays in their own groups.

lvandenb · #9 05-17-2001, 01:43 AM

We have the same problem at our campus. We have a quite large greek system, 14 sororities, and 18 fraternities. Our greeks are way too into cliques. Most chapters have 3 or 4 mixers each semester, and they're almost always with the same people. It's pretty unfortunate since the greek system is supposed to promote unity, and at the same time acts more like a high school than a large university. There is even lots of gossipping about each other, as chapters that is. There are actually social "rungs" where 4 sororities are supposedly "on top", 3 "on bottom" and everyone else is somewhere in between. I joined a sorority to be part of something wonderful...not a popularity contest. I'm just thankful that I have my sisters in my life, and those who can't get past high school are the ones that are really missing out. In the real world, no one is really going to care who you had a mixer with back in 1985 anyway...so in the mean time, college is all about new experiences and meeting new people. How are you supposed to achieve this when you surround yourself with the same people all the time???

dchi_pride · #10 05-26-2001, 04:36 AM

I want to thank those who have replied so far. It is very important to me to see what we can do to help change the current situation of isolation among some Greek chapters. I ask a favor of everyone who reads this, if you see a Greek wearing letters of a fraternity or sorority at your school that you don't know very well, get to know him/her. Ask him/her what they are interested in, form study groups with that person. See if they would like to hold an event together. Go the extra mile to build a new bond. You may make a new friend or something even better!

D-Chi pride!

Miami1839 · #11 05-26-2001, 11:46 PM

Hootie,

I can relate to your experiences. It seemed like a lot of those problems were do to everyone assuming *L*. Plus the Stereotypes.

Kevin

Muffy Sorority Girl · #12 05-29-2001, 08:09 PM

Cliques among fraternities and sororities? It's unthinkable and has to be stopped!

33girl · #13 05-29-2001, 08:50 PM

To paraphrase the Baja Men....

Who let the wackos out??

LeslieAGD · #14 05-29-2001, 09:49 PM

I can definitely relate but I think a good way to combat this is not to tell your new members that your GLO hangs out with "XYZ" and "ABC" GLOs. When our winter class came through, I would take them out to meet the people I hung out with but I started hanging out with other fraternities too because I would go with them.