How do professors look at greeks?

[Akkus]

I heard that certain people (ex. cops) aren't very nice to greeks. How about professors at school?

[adpiucf]

Pretty much the same. As a whole, academia and the law don't view Greeks well, unless they themselves were Greek. You shouldn't let this stop you from joining. Many Greek groups throw semi-regular professor networking events or award their professors for their great teaching/mentoring as a way to promote good relationships.

The reason for the historically poor view of Greeks are the isolated yet well publicized acts of sheer stupidity and poor decision making involving alcohol, neglecting studies or being disrespectful. Cops tend to have a negative view of fraternity men because of noise complaints, DUIs and underage drinking-- things that go on at any college campus, but ones that are especially publicized if they occur at a fraternity house. There's a lot of mystery surrounding what happens in those selective Greek groups, so people like to pin stereotypes or are just perversely curious as to what they are doing.

[trideltrockstar]

I've seen very different reactions. It really depends on the personality of the professor. I had a Journalism professor who loved Tri Deltas - he'd really liked their writing in the past, so by the time I had him, I felt as though he almost liked me better because I was a Tri Delta. Other professors seem to have prejudices against Greeks in general however.

[Akkus]

In the future, lets say when you are applying to a graduate school, would you mention in your application letter that you've been a greek?

[Elephant Walk]

Our professors love us. And more than likely, so do our police officers. Usually if many guys in the house have the same professor/class (usually business majors), we invite him/her over, feed them, and help us prepare for a test. More than often, they are more than happy to help.

Police officers give us the same treatment, because we tend to know them all. We are forced to have police at our parties as sort of door security, so we spend time talking to them at the door. We bring pizza and bring out water or juice for them.

[KSUViolet06]

Where I go to school, the profs really don't have much of an opinion of us, good or bad.

[squirrely girl]

Originally Posted by Akkus

In the future, lets say when you are applying to a graduate school, would you mention in your application letter that you've been a greek?

i think that would depend on what type of graduate program you were applying to and how your membership experiences relate to the graduate program.

i mentioned it in mine because my membership has contributed significantly to my research interests and also to my perspectives regarding women's issues. i also brought it up at one of my interviews - so yes, i do believe there is a place for this information but only if it is relevant (its not like i was hoping another alpha gam would be on the admissions committee)

- marissa

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

Profs on the average love the Greeks here, heck we had a few that helped us out with pledging! Many here either used to be greek themselves, had children to pledge here, or were lil bros or lil sis'! We've had cops even have fun with events and there is even a thread on here of how some cops did a prank with my own sorority....

[kddani]

How do professors look at greeks?

[kathykd2005]

Originally Posted by Akkus

In the future, lets say when you are applying to a graduate school, would you mention in your application letter that you've been a greek?

I would definitely mention it in the future, particularly if you were involved with philanthropy work or other community work. I know that I have had very positive feedback from sharing my GLO experience on my resume. When I was in college, there were a few professors who didn't like Greeks, but they normally didn't squawk about it too much after Formal Recruitment or Rush was over... On the whole, they respected the Greek organizations and shared their own stories of Greek affiliation and antics. Once, I had a professor who told me he was the "Bastard of the Revels" for his fraternity, and had a party on a fire truck. Craziness.

[honeychile]

I'd mention it - but in a positive context.

-Volunteered at Ronald McDonald House, Regular Blood Donor,
-Excellent Time Management skills; was able to maintain a 3.5 GPA while serving as President of my sorority.

As for Professors, many GLOs hold an Academia Tea or Brunch or Open House. Everyone invites their favorite professor, and have the tea or brunch while discussing how to maintain better grade averages. Make sure that a chart of sisters & GPAs is displayed (one that skews the curve towards Major Office + Intense Studies = Great GPA). Announce the fact that you have Study Hours, and Midterm and/or Finals Study breaks. Keep the hours short (Sunday, 1-3 or such), so the professor doesn't feel duty bound to stay long, and tell them that their SO is welcome, too. This works quite well on most campuses - but PLEASE keep a list of which sisters wants to invite which professors (have at least one back up), and who RSVP'd. You do NOT want two sisters "claiming" the same professor!

[carnation]

It depends on how the Greeks behave. A few years ago, the campus where I teach had only locals and there are a couple of threads on GC in which I wrote about their awful hazing. Our college has many professors who are national Greeks and we were mortified by the image these idiots were giving Greeks. I would say that we spearheaded the move to change to nationals--I can still remember the day that most of one of my classes walked in wearing stupid outfits. They were pledging and this had already been going on for weeks. I snapped that day and told them to leave and that I'd throw out anyone who ever came into one of my classes dressed like that. Little did I know that several other professors had snapped on the same day; it was the beginning of the end for the locals.

We now have Phi Mu, ZTA, Chi Phi, and Delta Sigma Phi!

[KillarneyRose]

Don't know about professors, per se, but it was tough for me as a greek to break into the insular world that was the Pitt News Staff. When I started covering stories, I was the only greek on staff. By the time I graduated, it was maybe 20% greek.

It was difficult - I got saddled with the most benign, boring, tedious stories at first until I proved to the powers that be that I was a good reporter. I worked very hard to earn the respect of the editors and, to my surprise, I was asked to be copy editor my senior year.

And when one of my journalism professors heard that I was going into public relations upon graduation, he said "Why PR after you've become such a damn good newspaper woman?"

Journalists are generally pretty snarky toward the PR trade. I think they perceive it as glamorous and well-paid. No and noooooo.

[KAY10]

Hey, I just signed up on this thing, and I've been looking at other Greek signatures. Does anyone know how to get Greek letters to show up as a signature. I can't figure it out. My sig looks pretty weak. Oh well, can't win em' all.

[KAY10]

I really never had a problem with the professors that were Greek. I had a problem with the ones that weren't but only when I was on line, b/c my grades had dropped while I was pledging.