Book pledged: the secret lives of sororities

[sororitygirl2]

She wears A LOT of eyeliner! But, yeah, pretty hot...

[James]

Don't ruin it. I believe all photos are accurate! Playboy maxim etc .. thats what those women like everyday and I don't want to hear otherwise.

Originally posted by ISUKappa


make-up (and a good designer who knows their way around photoshop) can hide so much.

[James]

One thing i didn't like was Ms. Robbins suggestion that Greeks need to justify our existance through doing service.

I have seen that attitude a bit in the Greek World also, like we feel vaguely guilty for having a good time.

"Well we had 20 mixers this year and raised 2000 dollars for needy kids, which is what this is all about . . . .:"

I don't believe that Greeks need or should apologize for having fun.

We are social organizations.

What do you guys think?

[AchtungBaby80]

Originally posted by James
I don't believe that Greeks need or should apologize for having fun.

We are social organizations.

What do you guys think?

Agree. I am a member of a social sorority, therefore, we have social events. Should I feel bad? No. And I don't.


Oh, and um, James...we're gonna have to have a chat about your taste in girls. Ms. Robbins? I didn't think you were into drag queens.

[FAB*SpiceySpice]

I think Ms. Robbins is absolutely beautiful in all of the pictures I've seen of her, not that it even matters though...

I would comment in response to your posts James, but you've made me so angry that I don't think I could say anything very nice so I just won't say anything at all.

[angelove]

I'm surprised she didn't include any of the sisters' catty comments about her overdone eyeliner.

I wasn't thrilled with the chapter in which she gives away ritual. First, she's dead wrong on a lot of it, and some of what she gives away can be found in any pledge manual or website. I realize that disgruntled initiates of any GLO will give away aspects of ritual, but is it necessary to publish it in a book that yearns to be on the best-seller list? Did any group try to get an injunction against publication? (Are there any threads about what can be done to stop the spread of ritual information by disgruntled members, or even gruntled members who share it with their boyfriend/girlfriend? Just wondering ... feeling protective after reading the book.)

Second, the comparison and juxtaposition of ritual and spring break? "I just had sex with a Jamaican on the dance floor," and here's a sorority's secret whistle. I don't get it. It's obvious that she's trying to lump spring break "rituals" in the same categories of initiation and chapter, but it's quite a stretch.

I was very angry at the way she promoted BGLOs as morally superior to HWGLOs - pages and pages about their community service and how their alumni are so involved and so successful, with only a paragraph about hazing. Never mind that she talks about the AKA drownings at the beginning and at the end, and cites it as a horrible example of hazing, while giving the casual (or non-Greek) reader the impression that it was an NPC sorority that did it. (I don't mean to pick on AKA or any other BGLO - just trying to pick on Robbins' writing style or lack thereof and her incredible bias.) She criticizes NPC organizations for promoting careers within the sorority (which, again is contrary to my experience), yet praises a Delta who rose high in government after being Delta's executive director.

Robbins contends that being in a sorority doesn't help your career - just ask Sue Grafton, who is the only alum cited after Robbins sent questionnaires to many prominent alumnae. Where are the quotes from the others? Not juicy or negative enough for publication, I suppose.

I haven't looked it up, but does NPC really prohibit treatment or distinction of pledges and actives? (This wasn't the rule when I was in college, so I'm not familiar with it.) I do agree that you can't say you're going to treat everyone exactly the same while not letting pledges participate in ritual, wear crests, etc., but I'm not sure that NPC has this requirement. If in fact they do, it's not only inconsistent, but it's ridiculous and unnecessary. If you join the Junior League, you're treated differently your first year than once you're a full active member. If you join Kiwanis or Rotary, you have to do certain things for a period of time before you're eligible for offices, etc. Not allowing pledges to wear crests or even letters is not the same as hazing. I agree that we need to focus on real hazing that physically and emotionally endangers pledges.

Academics: maybe this was just an anomaly at my school, but Greek women always had a higher overall GPA than non-Greek women. Robbins would like us to believe otherwise.

Summary: easy read but definitely fiction. My fear remains that non-Greek parents will not let their daughters go through recruitment/rush after hearing about this book.

[James]

angelove. I think this was her making a value judgement about social organizations.

See my previous post. She seems to believe that we don't do enough service to really justify our existance. That we need to do certain things to prove our relevance.

Thats when she starts talking about how college resources are wasted on social greeks etc. And compares NPC/IFC parties which are closed, to nphc parties which are traditionally open to the whole campus. She sees it as a form of elitism completely neglecting the fact thats its a simple risk management issue.

College admins themselves close down chapters that throw huge parties.

So I disagree that we need to prove our relevance through acts of service and open parties.

Originally posted by angelove

I was very angry at the way she promoted BGLOs as morally superior to HWGLOs - pages and pages about their community service and how their alumni are so involved and so successful, with only a paragraph about hazing. Never mind that she talks about the AKA drownings at the beginning and at the end, and cites it as a horrible example of hazing, while giving the casual (or non-Greek) reader the impression that it was an NPC sorority that did it. (I don't mean to pick on AKA or any other BGLO - just trying to pick on Robbins' writing style or lack thereof and her incredible bias.) She criticizes NPC organizations for promoting careers within the sorority (which, again is contrary to my experience), yet praises a Delta who rose high in government after being Delta's executive director.

Robbins contends that being in a sorority doesn't help your career - just ask Sue Grafton, who is the only alum cited after Robbins sent questionnaires to many prominent alumnae. Where are the quotes from the others? Not juicy or negative enough for publication, I suppose.

I haven't looked it up, but does NPC really prohibit treatment or distinction of pledges and actives? (This wasn't the rule when I was in college, so I'm not familiar with it.) I do agree that you can't say you're going to treat everyone exactly the same while not letting pledges participate in ritual, wear crests, etc., but I'm not sure that NPC has this requirement. If in fact they do, it's not only inconsistent, but it's ridiculous and unnecessary. If you join the Junior League, you're treated differently your first year than once you're a full active member. If you join Kiwanis or Rotary, you have to do certain things for a period of time before you're eligible for offices, etc. Not allowing pledges to wear crests or even letters is not the same as hazing. I agree that we need to focus on real hazing that physically and emotionally endangers pledges.

Academics: maybe this was just an anomaly at my school, but Greek women always had a higher overall GPA than non-Greek women. Robbins would like us to believe otherwise.

Summary: easy read but definitely fiction. My fear remains that non-Greek parents will not let their daughters go through recruitment/rush after hearing about this book.

[angelove]

James - I agree with you & everyone else that GLOs are social organizations and that's why we joined. That said, I'll clarify my previous post in which I said that Greeks should do more community service - I think that everyone, Greek or not, collegiate or not, should do more community service (and not just the type imposed by court order). I don't think we need to prove our relevance by doing it - it's just a nice thing to do. Plus it would be a good opportunity for chapter PR reps to do press releases and get some positive media to counteract Robbins and her ilk.

I also was irritated by her value judgment re: fundraising, using the pancake breakfast as an example - if a group is raising money for a good cause, who cares how it's being done? If someone is willing to pay $10 to eat a pancake made of beer and flour, but the money is going to help poor children or illiterate adults, who cares? Charitable organizations don't always need volunteers - they need $$$$, and that's what Greeks provide. I wonder what Robbins' tax returns would show for charitable contributions ...

[sugar and spice]

On one hand, James, I agree with you. We're social organizations. Why should we have to justify that to people?

On the other hand, Greeks are always talking about how they're the cream of the college crop, and I think that is what irks some people. If we simply referred to ourselves as social organizations I think most people would be fine with it. What bothers them is us claiming that we're setting an example, holding ourselves to higher standards -- and then slacking on the service aspect of our organizations in order to spend more time getting liquored up.

[33girl]

I think the whole "85% of Presidents are Greek, more Greeks graduate yadda yadda" came about in just the past few years, as Greeks felt they had to justify their existence. It used to be "Greek life is OK for others, it's just not for me" or "Greek life is stupid but if they want to waste their time on it, who gives a crap?" Now it's more like "I don't like Greeks and because of this I don't think they should exist even if others want to be one."

That's not just Greek life though, that's a host of other things as well. "Live and let live" seems to be an extinct concept.

I think anti-Greek bias on some campuses comes from the fact that the Greeks might have better/more housing opportunities than independents, but that certainly isn't so everywhere. I also think there's a lot of misconceptions about who is paying for what in GLO's - I'm sure there are people who think if you're in a sorority you live in your house for free or something.

[adpiucf]

Greeks were largely social with little thought to anythig else (yes, there was philanthropy, but it has come a long way!) until the mid-80's when a report was published on the negative impact of Greeks on college campuses. At that point, HQ's had to reshape the image of Greek Life. ADPi was the first to do this, with the roll-out of the Total Membership Education program, or TME. It shortened the new member period considerably, established more PC terminology, set a zero tolerance level for hazing, increased academic expecations and tools for academic success, and provided yearround programming for members and non members on relevant issues facing college students (trainings on leadership, career networking, eating disorders, date rape, wellness and fitness, etc.)

I can't remember the name of that report... The White Papers, perhaps?

[swissmiss04]

I'm over halfway through the book...and almost totally disgusted. I don't think the boy drama at the Alpha Rho house really is significant in a book about sorority life. It's not anything unique to Greek Life. Independents also have boy drama. I wish Robbins had maybe focused a bit less on personal habits and more on aspects of these girls lives that are uniquely greek. She's acting as if these girls bad choices are made solely because they are greek.
I'm still not entirely sure that this book is based on the greek system at my school, but there are glimpses here and there. I think some of the details are universal to almost any large southern school.

[WCUgirl]

Okay, this book still isn't available at my library.

Can someone scan a copy into their computer and post it here so we can all read it?

[newbabysquirrel]

hello--
i'm sure what i'm going to say has already been said but its all good
i'm about half way through and not really suprised about anything, parts of it seemed drawn out like all of the boy ordeals finding dates. i bought it this afternoon and seriously read it for a good hour and a half. i've flipped through most of the book and can't say that i completely agree with her giving away rituals but, as someone said earlier, it may settle the minds of the people who think we do weird things at intiation/ritual stuff like a lot of the people i know who aren't in sororities or fraternities. i was honestly suprised so far with all of they hype; the sections people complain about are just that, sections of the book but i do like how it talks about how the sisters support each other. i figured it would be chapter x of school y did z and so forth. i think the thing is that we know its things going on but its hard to read in print just how anything is. i pretty much got it b/c our rush people were nervous about how it would affect rush and questions pnm could ask but from what i've already read, its the same things and stories i heard before i went into rush from various other sources such as the movies from lifetime.

have a wonderful summer!

[newbabysquirrel]

one more thing....i think she tried to take a huge topic and make into something simple and then put all of it into words. its so general in parts that it could be talking about college life in general