% of students greek or # of chapters on campus

[Lucky SC]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

Neither.

To me a strong greek system means that the Greeks are doing well - chapters aren't in trouble of going under, Greeks are visible on campus (ie random people on campus tell you that they know people in their classes or campus organizations are greek), and most importantly, Greeks are excelling in the classroom and on campus. This means the All-Greek/All-fraternity/All-sorority GPA's are higher than the All-Campus/All-men's/All-women's GPA's, and that greeks are overrepresented (at least by % of students who are greek) on things like Student government, Senior Honorary societies, Homecoming Royalty, New Student orientation leaders and the like.

Basically, a strong greek system means that students are better off and more successful if they join than if they don't.

ty i was wondering how long it would take for someone to agree with me and see what i was talkin about lol.

and i'm set in my ways violet, hands down i think the system is better down here atleast for the IFC, i dunno bout NPC. People go to schools like Alabama and go greek not because of the education at that school, but because generations and generations have, most of the people have been bred that they will do the same thing from a child.

Out of my direct family, i'm the first to go to college so not so much in my case except that i knew i wanted to go to an SEC school simply because of the athletics aspect. But many of the people i've met here at school have had family members past their grandparents go to the school and done the same greek chapter, to me that speaks volumes.

[violetpretty]

Originally Posted by Lucky SC

ty i was wondering how long it would take for someone to agree with me and see what i was talkin about lol.

and i'm set in my ways violet, hands down i think the system is better down here atleast for the IFC, i dunno bout NPC. People go to schools like Alabama and go greek not because of the education at that school, but because generations and generations have, most of the people have been bred that they will do the same thing from a child.

Out of my direct family, i'm the first to go to college so not so much in my case except that i knew i wanted to go to an SEC school simply because of the athletics aspect. But many of the people i've met here at school have had family members past their grandparents go to the school and done the same greek chapter, to me that speaks volumes.

I wasn't making an argument of "who is better". My argument was "does the Greek community have these things? If yes, they are strong." The original question was, "How do you determine strength?" not "Who is the best?"

Maybe generations go Greek at SEC schools because the Community is "strong" (by the criteria I outlined)and has been for a long time. I wasn't saying that "tradition" is the antithesis to a strong community (definitely not), but that "tradition" does not make or break a strong Greek community. I'll edit my post to more clearly reflect that.

I'll give another example that all of our fratty posters can agree with. Washington & Lee. Their Panhellenic community is only around 20 years old, but their Panhellenic is not weak by any means. They have a reasonable number of chapters, incredible percentage of Greeks, they are growing, they are chapters well-regarded by their HQs and the University. They (meaning Panhellenic chapters) do not have the age and "tradition", but W&L is almost always mentioned whenever the fratties talk about strong Greek schools. W&L has more "tradition" on the IFC side, but does the lack of Panhellenic tradition weaken the Panhellenic strength? No way! Is W&L Panhellenic only strong because of the IFC tradition and not because of their own merits? Absolutely not.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

I'll give another example that all of our fratty posters can agree with. Washington & Lee. Their Panhellenic community is only around 20 years old, but their Panhellenic is not weak by any means. They have a reasonable number of chapters, incredible percentage of Greeks, they are growing, they are chapters well-regarded by their HQs and the University. They (meaning Panhellenic chapters) do not have the age and "tradition", but W&L is almost always mentioned whenever the fratties talk about strong Greek schools. W&L has more "tradition" on the IFC side, but does the lack of Panhellenic tradition weaken the Panhellenic strength? No way! Is W&L Panhellenic only strong because of the IFC tradition and not because of their own merits? Absolutely not.

Well, I think the major reason W&L gets respect from "fratties" is the IFC, not Panhel. But yeah. I find it pretty hard to argue that W&L isn't one of the strongest if not the strongest Greek systems in the nation. Although the counterargument would be that the fraternities are plagued by risk management issues and generally don't care about what their nationals want (of course, that would only make them "stronger" in the eyes of some).

W&L Panhellenic is amazing because it's such a large system (percentage-wise), and because the chapters are generally pretty successful at winning awards, recruiting great membership, etc.

The recent addition of NPHC chapters to W&L has actually upped Greek percentage even further.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by Lucky SC

People go to schools like Alabama and go greek not because of the education at that school, but because generations and generations have, most of the people have been bred that they will do the same thing from a child.

Animals are bred. People are reared.

Originally Posted by Lucky SC

And to me the most important part of the whole thing is the social aspect, i mean as much as you would like to believe that (for example) a Sigma Chi is going to help out any other Sigma Chi around the country, that just aint gonna happen. You aren't going to hire someone based off of their fraternal background rather then job qualification. I think people put a little bit too much emphasis on the "perks" of going greek. It's overwhelmingly a social thing, you get a lot of driven people in them who do a lot on campus because that is the type of people they attract, driven people will strive for excellence no matter what and sign up for lots of stuff. No matter how strong your greek system is, its not gonna shape out the leaders of America, its kids in college having a good time, class is where that happens.

What personal experience has helped you to arrive at this opinion?

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

Hey, Lucky, I've usually enjoyed your posts, but I have to say, for someone who's basically only been on the periphery of the greek system so far, you're talking out of your a$$ throughout most of this post.

No kidding.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by ta kala

I have to disagree a little bit here. My experience with schools like W&L with such high percentage of Greeks is that many of the women go Greek because that's what you do - not because of the benefits it can bring you. When talking with them, it's hard for them to see the leadership opportunities and other things that will make them better people post grad. So while they are a strong system, with lots of people, I think you can't just look at percentage and growth.

And what exactly is your experience with W&L Panhellenic? Or do you just know about schools like W&L?

ETA: OK - I just searched and I see that you're a consultant for KD who's visited W&L. That's cool. I was a finalist for a consultant position with Pi Phi back in the day. I'll say one thing as someone with presumably way more experience (4 years of it) with W&L Panhellenic than you: please don't judge all of W&L Panhellenic attitudes based on your interactions with the KD chapter. Thanks.