not so nice article about sisterhood

[Kappa crow]

don't believe people think this about greeks.

http://oracle.newpaltz.edu/article.cfm?a_id=1195

you can contact jill nolan @ Jillian_is@mostlysunny.com
the or the Oracle at oracle@newpaltz.edu

You Can't Always Get What You Want
Column By Jillian Nolan, Arts and Entertainment Editor

A Different Kind of Sisterhood


It’s that time of year again: sororities have begun searching for the few they feel deserve the honor of becoming a sister or for those who are willing to have flour and mustard dumped on them or swallow a goldfish to feel included.


As we walk around campus, the Greek-lettered shirts stare back at us making us wonder, “Why haven’t I joined a sorority? I want sisters.” But is sisterhood really what girls are signing up for?


Growing up with two brothers, I never thought I would feel the bond only two sisters can share. I came to college unaware of what was ahead of me. Did I need to join a sorority to fit in? Would more people want to be my friend if I was part of a Greek organization?


It didn’t take me long to realize that I was able to make friends without humiliating myself by chanting outside of Humanities. I was close with my old roommate Evelyn, and found I had a lot in common with Jen, my current roommate. I had many other friends, none of which I had to do push-ups to prove my loyalty to.


This year through working at The Oracle, I became close with Sam, the Editor-in-Chief, as well as other members of the editorial board. I realized that these girls were more than friends. These were the sisters that I’d found on my own. I know our friendships are based on something more than Greek letters.


It seems unlikely to me that someone who treated you like the dirt on the bottom of their shoe while you were pledging, making you embarrass and humiliate yourself, could really be a genuinely nice person in the end. Why is it that they can’t become sisters in the way that most people become friends: by finding a common interest.


While studying in the library last year I saw girls working hard until a sister clapped her hands. All the pledges scurried to fall in line as other students watched with smirks. Anxiously one girl said, “I’m so nervous! I wonder what they’re going to make us do tonight.”


I will admit, it’s a positive idea to make the girls study for a certain amount of time, but then to force them to stay up till all hours of the night making fools of themselves? Surely the whole concept of good study skills is being negated.


Two of my friends have had needless confrontations about petty drama started by sorority girls trying to protect their “sisters’” honor. What’s the point of that? Go back to high school. It sometimes seems hard to believe that they all know each other well enough to call themselves “sisters.” They may say that they are sisters because they’d always be there for the other members of the sorority, but why can’t they be there for girls who don’t pay dues?


If you are weak enough that you feel you need to belong to a Greek organization to have an identity, clearly you need to work on self-esteem and self-image. Insecurity and desperation are a poor basis for friendship.


There are clearly exceptions to everything mentioned above. There are nice, hardworking and friendly girls in sororities, but they appear to be few and far between. There are positive aspects to being in a sorority, community service being one of them. But perhaps a re-examination of why girls really join a sorority is in order. More often than not, girls are joining for the parties and the “security” that comes with letters they flaunt every day. You don’t really hear many girls saying, “Gee I’m gonna join a sorority because I want to help this town out.” If girls really want community service, there are other organizations on campus such as NYPIRG and Circle K that do community service. Unlike sororities, NYPIRG won’t ask you to pay them to get to do service, nor do they do hazing to get you to join.


We are here for four years to learn, not to prance around in letters pretending it makes you something better than you were before. And we are surrounded by people who are willing to be our friends without us whipping out our checkbooks to pay dues. It would appear that joining a sorority teaches you one thing: money and humiliation can buy you friends. But what happens when you get out into the real world? Will these sisters have the ability to make friends in a conventional way?