Quote:
Originally posted by adpiucf
People do not go Greek exclusively to consume alcohol. They do not Go Greek for the Study Hours, nor necessarily because they have already chosen a pet philanthropy. People go Greek to make friends and to be part of a group.
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A nice sentiment, but is it true? Certainly not all the time. As we're reminded by so many GDIs, they can make friends on their own, and they don't need to pay for it. So if someone chooses to make friends via the thousand-dollar-a-year way (GLOs) as opposed to "for free" (in the dorms) or for cheap (say, the running club), there's a reason why they choose to do it that way -- basically, they think that the experience they will have in a fraternity or sorority is going to be worth all the money they put into it.
I'm not saying that alcohol is the only reason why people join GLOs. But it's usually at least part of the reason, and at some schools it is more than likely going to be the biggest reason. Seeing as sororities and fraternities are usually pretty expensive, people join them because they think they will get something out of them that they can't get anywhere else, or at least not for a cheaper price. If that's the case, the only people who would join sororities and fraternities are the ones who can't make friends any other way. And we all know that's not true.
You can't deny the fact that Greeks drink more than non-Greeks; that's been shown in studies. I'm not saying that we haven't made significant strides towards becoming more well-rounded, either. I think it's clear to all of us that we do far more philanthropy than we did 50 years ago, for example. I imagine there's also more of a focus on academics. But the fact is that our biggest draw, as social organizations, are people who like to be social -- and as you pointed out, in the college environment, alcohol tends to be present as a social lubricant.
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